Jon Reed Interviews Dan Lubin on the "Human Side of SAP Implementations."

In the kick-off to his new podcast series hosted by SearchSAP, Jon interviews Dan Lubin, Director of Information Technology at Abiomed, about the lessons learned during Abiomed's SAP All-in-One implementation. Hosted by Jon Franke of Search SAP, this podcast is a straight-talking review of the "human side" of Abiomed's SAP implementation. Listen in as Jon Reed asks Dan Lubin how Abiomed managed to implement SAP in 28 weeks, overcoming team burnout and hitting all their milestones. In this thirty minute interview, "the two Jons" and Dan cover key topics such as: - The scope of Abiomed's SAP implementation and how this Danvers, MA company leverages SAP for its international medical device business. - The winning formula Abiomed used to staff its SAP project, and how it combined external consultants with internal team members. - Why offshore resources are important for Abiomed and other midsize companies to fill skills gaps on their SAP project, and how Abiomed used an onshore/offshore mix to meet their "blended rate" cost targets. - Why the typical functional consultant tends to have too narrow a skill set for Abiomed's project and what the skills profile of their ideal functional consultant looks like. The importance of understanding the integration points between modules is emphasized. - How users honestly responded to the new SAP environment and what Abiomed did to ensure that users were on board with a more standardized and structured approach to handling their business processes via SAP. - What the Abiomed team did to overcome burnout and help users get through the most labor-intensive parts of the implementation cycle. - What types of SAP full time employees were recruited to the project and what kinds of expertise they brought with them that rounded out the Abiomed team in areas such as security, validation, and testing. - The "lessons learned" from the SAP implementation and why internal investment in project management is crucial. The results of following (and not following) SAP best practices, the impact of training and why the mundane but vital task of user documentation is of critical importance. - Tips for success: Dan clarifies the difference between knowledge transfer and training and explains how to approach both from the standpoint of managing a budget and making sure that knowledge transfer is an organic result of a well-run implementation. - Would Dan implement SAP again? Dan clarifies a quote Jon cited from SAPPHIRE, challenging Jon on its accuracy, and explains why he would absolutely do the SAP implementation over again and why Abiomed has gained so much from its SAP install and the user community "ecosystem." Dan closes by noting the anticipation for the pending Abiomed European implementation.