SAP has become the latest tech giant to announce layoffs.
The enterprise software company plans on reducing its workforce by 2.5 percent, or roughly 3,000 employees. It may also divest Qaultrics, the business software company it acquired in late 2018 for $8 billion. Christian Klein, CEO of SAP, referred to the layoffs as a “very targeted restructuring,” according to CNBC.
A number of prominent tech companies have announced mass layoffs over the past few months, including IBM, Google, Meta, Twitter, and Salesforce. Like SAP, IBM blamed its cutbacks on the need for restructuring; the other giants have largely pinned their respective decisions to cut employees on fears of an oncoming recession and a dip in consumer and business spending. (According to new data from Cledara, some companies cut back noticeably on their software spend in December.)
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in an email to employees after announcing layoffs.
Despite the current round of cutbacks, these companies’ strategies will all necessitate fresh hiring for years to come. For example, SAP still needs to compete aggressively against Oracle, IBM, and other companies for enterprise customers, and it can only do so if it has tech specialists developing new and exciting products. Google, Meta, and other consumer tech companies will likewise need to spend billions on talent in order to retain their market share (and expand into new arenas such as the “metaverse.”)
If you’re considering a job at a company that utilizes SAP products as part of its overall tech stack, stay aware of the potential need for certifications. SAP offers more than 100 official certifications, which can make the certification process—or even where to begin—seem especially daunting. Fortunately, online tutorials and documentation can help you get what you need.
