People Stories
By: Laura Marwood
Tags: People, Sap, Career Development, Career Change, Technology

Changing Career After 25 Years: From Claims Analyst to building Intelligent Claims Management Software

An article by Kimberly M, Product Manager @SAP S/4HANA Consumer Industries Cloud

Back in summer 2006, I started a short-term contract position at Siemens in Wendell, NC. My assignment involved assisting with software integration. The agency had recommended me for the position based on my previous experience working with SAP’s Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable modules.

Fast forward to mid-2007. My employer back triggered an initiative to transition the company to SAP. Although lots of my co-workers were grumbling about this prospect, I was personally pretty excited. I was a part of the integration team and became the go-to person for the accounting team. I was considered the SAP pro.

In 2014, I started a new role as a Deductions Analyst with a major pharmaceutical company. In this new role, we were using SAP software, having recently shifted from another system the company had been using for several years. My new colleagues were less than impressed by the new system, the reason being that they had not been taught the full capacity of what SAP had to offer. I took it upon myself to upskill my teammates on some of the SAP capabilities they were unfamiliar with; functions and features that could be utilized to make our jobs easier; features such as VF03, the capability of printing multiple invoices at once or the ability to offset items within F-32 & how to utilize the dynamics selection feature in FBL5N. I knew these transaction codes so well I could recite them in my sleep!

Fast forward March 2020. With a lot of excitement, but some apprehension, I walked into a new world I assumed was outside of my realm. I started a new position as a Product Manager at SAP S/4HANA Consumer Industries Cloud. The team was creating a new Trade Promotional Product. The intelligent product was automated to assist users with the tedious task of identifying correct trade promotions. My role would be to provide perspective to the team from a user’s standpoint. During the interview process, I had asked my future manager: “And once the product is finished, what could be next for me within SAP?” My future manager assured me there would be vast opportunities available for me within SAP.

Approximately a month into my role, my manager encouraged me to start researching product ownership. He gave me some reading materials and a few websites, and I registered for a two-day training class. Within four months of my start date with SAP, I had completed two training courses by Scrum Alliance on Product Ownership, and I successfully completed a virtual University course on Product Management and happy to say I received a grade A. I recently completed my first user story and was so delighted when my domain area Business Acceptance Criteria was signed off and went into development.

My journey over the last six months has been nothing short of extraordinary. I have been challenged, frustrated some days, but always looked forward to what the next day would bring. I learn something new every day. I work with people who cheer me on, who have helped me build my confidence, who truly appear to want to see me succeed and push me in that direction, who offer help and training with no hesitation. I have worked for some great companies in my time and met some awesome people but… SAP is on a different level.

I had often read that a career change after the age of 45 is nearly impossible … I am over 50 and I’m so grateful that SAP made this possible for me.