Deloitte SAP partners head to PwC

PwC poaching ‘will not stop’ global leadership in SAP or customer relations, says Deloitte.

Deloitte said it was disappointed to be losing some of its colleagues, but remained deeply committed to its SAP business and would be investing further in the business.

Deloitte has waved goodbye to four of its partners in its large SAP implementation practice after the executives decided to retire and set up digs at arch rival PwC.

But the big accounting firm is confident the loss of the partners should not dent its reputation as the global leader in SAP or its relationship with clients.

PwC has poached four of 16 of Deloitte’s partners in the SAP implementation business unit, The Australian can reveal, as it builds up its own practice in the wake of recent staff losses to another national accounting firm, EY.

However, despite the walk out of a quarter of its SAP implementation practice, Deloitte remains confident it can hire from within to create new partners for the business as well as maintain its good relationship with SAP and its clients that rely on the services and related consulting services.

It comes as Deloitte recently brought to an end to a 20 per cent pay cut imposed on staff during the coronavirus pandemic and restored full pay levels from October 1.

The pay cut at the time, announced as the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, did not apply to people earning less than $65,000 and did not leave anyone with less than $65,000, was similar to other cuts made by the Big Four firms as their consulting work declined rapidly during the lockdown and recession.

Global leader in SAP

Deloitte believes its position as the No.1 provider of SAP implementation services in Australia won’t be tarnished by the loss of four partners at once to rival PwC.

“Deloitte is recognised by analysts as a global leader in SAP. We currently have more than 23,000 SAP professionals globally, over 3000 of those in Asia Pacific and more than 300 SAP experts in Australia, including 12 experienced SAP partners,’’ a spokeswoman told The Australian.

“Deloitte is the number one global alliance partner to SAP and we were recently recognised by SAP in Australia as their SAP S/4 Hana Partner of the Year – Large Enterprise Customer; and SAP S/4 Hana Cloud Partner of the Year – Large Enterprise.

“When you are recognised for your talent and expertise in the market it will be sought after by your competitors, which is not unique to these times.”

The spokeswoman said while Deloitte was disappointed to be losing some of its colleagues, it remained deeply committed to its SAP business and would be investing further in the business.

“We are accelerating our investment in our SAP alliance relationship and in the growth and development of our SAP team to best serve the SAP needs of our Australian clients.

“Our depth of talent globally, regionally and locally will allow us to continue to lead the market in cloud transformation and to serve our clients with distinction.’