Partners, trust and AI

Robert Korec, E3: Mr. Brandt, in a keynote at the Workday Rising event, a customer from the very beginning was critical of his experience with SAP HCM. Several years have passed since he switched to Workday. What are the arguments that motivate customers to switch to Workday today?

Matthew Brandt, Workday: Our vision is to offer a global platform. We have large companies that use our finance and HR capabilities. There are now many large companies that run Workday as a full suite ERP. The reason they have made the switch, whether from SAP or another platform, is usually because they want something that is more flexible, more customizable, that people can use the software without the need for extensive training or intensive study of user manuals.

E3: What does Workday offer that traditional ERP systems struggle with?

BrandtWith Workday, you can make changes without having to initiate an extensive, expensive IT-driven project to change charts of accounts or cost centers. This sets us apart from traditional competitors and was the reason I came here 14 years ago. We now have over 10500 customers worldwide. When we update our software - we do two major updates a year - we deliver all our updates to all our customers.

E3: What distinguishes the Workday partner ecosystem from that of SAP?

Brandt: We have a single global partner organization in which we have consolidated all partner funds, i.e. service partners such as the large SIs Deloitte, Accenture, but also the regional country and industry-specific integrators as well as technology partners. Software partners that build on our platform or integrate with us and all other partners, such as global payroll partners, are all part of our global partner organization and fall under my area of responsibility.

E3: How did you manage to build a partner ecosystem from scratch?

Brandt: In 2005, we had the advantage of being able to build the ecosystem from scratch without having to pay much attention to existing customers. Together with CEO Carl Eschenbach, we made the conscious decision to build up the partner ecosystem slowly and continuously. We have a curated, managed ecosystem. This sets us apart from SAP or Oracle or ServiceNow, which have built a very open ecosystem where anyone can become a partner.

E3: Is it difficult to become a partner at Workday?

Brandt: Our approach is different. There are very high requirements to become a partner. We focus on very high quality implementation. That's why our ecosystem of implementation partners is small. Companies of our size normally have three or four thousand implementation partners. We have one hundred. That is relatively small. We want to grow to two hundred or three hundred in the coming years - no more. Our customers expect very high-quality projects from us. And we can only achieve that if we have a carefully managed ecosystem of implementation partners.

E3: So class instead of mass?

Brandt: Yes, it's a different strategy. Most of our larger competitors are opening up their ecosystem and simply flooding the market with partners to sell more software. We have taken a different approach and are still growing fast enough. And if we have too many partners, you inevitably get inferior projects. That means customers are unhappy.

E3: How will the Workday partner ecosystem evolve in the coming years?

Brandt: We are keen to grow our services, our service ecosystem, responsibly according to geographical aspects. This is particularly complex in Europe because you have to act individually in each country. We need Italian partners, we need German partners, we need French partners.

E3: Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach presented the next generation of AI with Illuminate. How difficult is it to meet the expectations of users from the private sector in the B2B world?

Brandt: Artificial intelligence gives us another way to experience Workday. At the end of the day, it's about the core system, the central HR and finance system that large organizations need to trust us to run. Regardless of how you access it, whether through your cell phone or a web browser or through an agent, the data and processes must always serve their purpose. Five years ago we weren't talking about artificial intelligence at Workday Rising, and five years from now there will be new things. At the end of the day, companies still have to hire and pay people, do the accounting for their business, close the books.

E3: Trust is a big issue when it comes to AI. One way to establish this trust is through national guidelines. How does Workday manage to meet the different requirements?