University Alliances (UA) spotlights Ho Wai Meng Samuel, a young professional working for IBM Consulting. Samuel took UA Program courses during his studies at National University of Singapore and is now applying those skills in his work with SAP-related clients.
The goal of the UA Spotlight Series is to exchange insights with professors, lecturers, students, researchers and the entire SAP ecosystem and community.
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Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you currently located? A fun fact or hobbies that you would like to share with the community?
I live in Singapore and come from a family where I am the middle child with an elder brother who is 10 months older and a sister who is 10 years younger. I enjoy playing the piano, diving, badminton, wakeboarding, and golf which are all a few of my hobbies.
Which university did you graduate from? What was your major? When and how did you first hear about SAP? Which classes used SAP software and/or curricula in the classroom?
I graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing with a major in Information Systems and minor in Management.
In my first year at the university, I heard about SAP by reading case studies. Subsequently, during the course of study, I had the opportunity to interview an Executive who manages SAP projects, delivery, and implementations. From that meeting, I became intrigued to learn more about SAP and started exploring career opportunities.
In my second year of university, I signed up for the SAP Best Practices Enterprise Resource Planning (BPERP) Training/Certification course. Afterwards, during my summer vacation, I took on an internship position at Accenture. My responsibilities included participating in Cut-over/Go-live activities for Singapore Power Project and also in Blueprinting activities for the Unilever Unity Project, U2K2. I was the Chief Trainer for NUS SAP Student Trainers Team and conducted SAP seminars for NUS. I continued to conduct SAP BPERP workshops in NUS.
When I was in my third year of university, I continued to conduct SAP BPERP workshops. In addition, I conducted transition activities from teaching SAP BPERP to SAP Integration of Business Processes in SAP ERP ("TERP10") workshops and SAP seminars. I learned more about SAP via an ERP module in NUS and took SAP TERP10 training and then became certified.
In my last year at the university, I conducted SAP TERP10 workshops.
Where do you work now (name of organization or identify it by the industry – i.e. major manufacturing organization)? What SAP-related skills do you use in your job? How have your experiences with SAP solutions in the classroom helped you in your current job (and career)?
Upon graduation, I work as a SAP HCM consultant with IBM Consulting (June 2010 to present). Currently, I am a project team member (Time Management modules) in the SingHealth Project and the project team lead (Time Management, Cross-Application Time Sheet & Employee/Management Self-Service Systems modules) in the National Healthcare Group project.
The credentials from my certifications and prior knowledge of SAP were invaluable in the job interview process. While on the job, prior knowledge of SAP and familiarity with the SAP User Interface helps me to learn faster and better. As a result, I could start contributing to project delivery at an earlier and quicker pace.
As a result, I was awarded IBM Service Excellence Award last year!
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