Author: Lizzy Wolff
If you’re considering implementing SAP Commissions, you’ve probably noticed that pricing can be shrouded in mystery.
Want to know a secret? It’s because the number can be big and scary if you’ve never explored this kind of software before.
Consultancies are hoping to get your buy-in and understanding of value before revealing the big hairy figure to you. But we all see the elephant in the room. After all, getting buy-in for a software implementation is difficult when you don’t have an investment figure to present.
While coming up with a comprehensive quote involves many factors, it is possible to get a ballpark figure by looking at the top factors that impact pricing. At Canidium, we have been implementing commissions software since 2008 for a multitude of industries and company sizes. We understand project pricing and will share the factors that impact it.
This article will demystify cost. By the time you’re finished reading, you will understand how to gauge the price of your SAP Commissions project.
This article will cover:
- What SAP Commissions is and does
- Companies that are good fits for SAP Commissions or similar software
- The top 5 factors that impact the cost
- Typical costs based on these factors
What is SAP Commissions and what does it do?
SAP Commissions is a cloud-based incentive and compensation management software. It allows organizations to design and manage custom compensation plans that improve employee engagement, loyalty, revenue, and sales.
With the help of an implementation service, SAP Commissions can provide an interactive dashboard that lets managers track current period payout, recent transactions, quota fulfillment, new bookings, revenue, and more through analytics, charts, and graphs.
Companies that might need SAP Commissions
You might be asking, does my organization actually need a solution like SAP Commissions?
The answer is quite simple. If you can afford it and you spend too much time manually calculating commissions, you could benefit from commissions software.
More precisely, the companies implementing SAP Commissions meet these two criteria:
- Company has a sales team of approximately 120 payees or more.
- Company’s salespeople have a variable component to their pay on top of their base salary.
Large enterprises most likely have some sort of “system” implemented already. In these cases, it is typical to look at the IT landscape and evaluate the effectiveness of the current solution.
Smaller companies that intend to scale to these conditions will often implement commissions software sooner rather than later. This is beneficial during the implementation process because there is less data to prepare and migrate.
The top 4 factors that impact SAP Commissions implementation cost
- Inbound feeds: An inbound feed is a data source that needs to be drawn from. The number of transactional inbound feeds will help determine what size your project is. Examples of inbound feeds include commission spreadsheets, HR/employment records, sales data, and product data.
- Number of plans that need to be built: The more intricate the compensation structure, the bigger the project. For instance, if you require only 10 plans (typically one plan per role) your project may be considered small. If you require upwards of 25, your project would be considered large.
- Complexity of reporting and dashboards: Depending on the intricacy of your reporting needs, the price can vary. For example, your organization may require the software to generate statements, operational reporting, accrual reports, and dashboards. It may also include outbound data to payroll.
- Adjustment of testing needs: The longer testing takes the more it costs. If your project becomes more complex, both internal testing and user acceptance testing will take longer. This may increase the number of hours needed. It may also extend the deadline of your project adding to your operational costs.
Ballpark Cost Figures
Many implementation partners grade implementation sizes in small, medium, and large. We find that this simple model allows customers to gain an understanding of where they fall. They can also better understand what is included in the cost.
In the table below, you will see how these are priced and what is included in each.
Disclaimer: These guidelines pertain to stand-alone implementations. It is very common to combine an SAP Commissions implementation with several other system updates and waves of change management and process augmentation.
Only experienced consultancies can quickly give you a range or ballpark figure on your project. Many are simply unwilling.
Without estimated figures, it is difficult to create buy-in for software in any organization. No company will get itself invested in a project without first understanding the range of cost.
At Canidium, we pride ourselves on our transparency in the pricing process. Canidium has been doing this since 2008 and we have seen almost every use case imaginable.
If you’re looking into SAP Commissions, reach out to us via this form to figure out the true scale and cost of your project.
If you’re still learning about SAP Commissions software, you may be interested in this article about the Top 3 Pain Points of SAP Commissions Implementation.
Image attributed to Unsplash.