The cloud customer in focus
We needed to ensure that the architecture was flexible enough to accommodate technology changes, the growth of our customer base and regulatory changes without impacting our users. This resulted in the core of our multi-tenant architecture: we offer all customers one software version, one uniform user interface, one central data source, one uniform security model and one single community.
Cloud-native and SaaS
Workday invests more than fifty percent of its development effort in the underlying technology and platform. The architecture, our concept of software as a service and the design as consumer-friendly platforms are our key differentiators from the competition. As a result, Workday's architecture and solutions are cloud-native and global at their core.
Many things are summarized under the term cloud, some of them old things in new cloud packaging. From an enterprise software perspective, I understand cloud to be equivalent to Software as a Service (SaaS). Essentially, it's about both: the software and the service.
SaaS providers that have emerged from the cloud have an operating model that is focused on providing the best service to the customer. Customer success is at the heart of everything SaaS providers do, the software is a means to an end and must be architecturally designed for this from day one.
In addition to flexibility and speed, SaaS solutions also have the advantage that IT departments can save time and money on software development and maintenance. However, new working habits and ways of thinking are required to take advantage of these benefits.
At Workday, we believe in "no-compromise SaaS with no exceptions," which means that we write truly cloud-native software. Software written for on-premises use cannot be converted to cloud-native software, as this would require a completely new architecture.
No "finished" with SaaS
For Workday, Continuous Delivery is a credo: it's not about finishing software products, it's about our developers constantly innovating. This means that we regularly update our code, package new functions and make them available to our customers twice a year without any additional installation effort.
A Workday survey: What factors have emerged as key drivers for implementing a continuous planning model? From the Workday global study "Enterprise Agility: Roadmap for Digital Acceleration" (2021), page 9
Customers can then decide which functions they want to use and when. This seamless transition to new features is particularly important for enterprise software, especially in the areas of finance, planning and human resources, which Workday offers. Customizing and updating software without costly updates or re-lease changes is the foundation of SaaS for us.
In addition, Workday customers receive security updates every Friday. In addition, we've built Workday on object-oriented database technology that provides unlimited drill-down capabilities, eliminates the need for predefined database relationships, and never loses the context of business logic.
Following our "Plan - Execute - Analyze" cycle, we are expanding our specialist SaaS application with a single piece of software instead of connecting several different and separate application modules.
Customer satisfaction
Similar to other cloud-based companies and organizations that offer subscription-based services to their customers, at Workday, our key performance indicator (KPI) is customer satisfaction, not revenue. That's why we proactively reach out to customers to see what changes we can make to our software to better meet their needs.
This not only includes optimal customer care before the sale, but also after the sale - our customer success teams support all customers and ensure that they achieve their entrepreneurial added value. A high customer satisfaction rate of 97 percent shows that Workday is on the right track here.
Feedback from our customers helps us to fine-tune our products and create added value. We are committed to driving innovation in the B2B environment. Adoption analytics help us to provide quick feedback on how customers use the features as we continuously deliver them. Compared to traditional software release cycles, this gives us much faster feedback.
This approach also applies when certified partners implement Workday for our customers. We monitor customer needs very closely and each new product release is based on a detailed analysis of customer experience and usage.
As a subscription provider, it is essential for us to offer long-term added value for our customers, as they could switch to other providers. This distinguishes us fundamentally from providers of a traditional software model, which is based on the sale of a license and the collection of a recurring maintenance fee.
Workday also has a community
All customers automatically have access to the Workday Community - an inspiring, interactive platform for collaboration and support.
As all existing customers use the same version of Workday, more than 150,000 community members can share experiences, best practices and ideas for new functions. And more than 2,500 suggestions have been submitted for the further development of the product.
"There is this great online community where you are encouraged to contribute new ideas. That's why we were not only sure that we had taken an excellent first step by choosing the best tool. We were also convinced that this tool would be ahead of the competition for quite some time", says Denis Sacré, former Vice President of the HR department at Sanofi, enthusiastically.
In several hundred regional or product and interest-based user groups, you can network with industry peers, partners and experts to get answers to your questions, find configuration solutions and learn how other customers have realized their goals.
In addition, the Workday community is actively involved in deciding which new functions should be developed further and makes suggestions for improvements.
Real cloud architecture
There are a variety of terms around cloud computing, with cloud being referred to as a tool, a platform or simply a strategic differentiator. All of us who were around in the successful days of on-premises know the impact that architecture has on software deployment options.
The architecture is also crucial for cloud-based software solutions that are used as a service. We therefore speak of a "true cloud" - a real cloud that helps CIOs and their teams to react quickly to changing requirements.
The past year has shown that complex IT projects need to be implemented smoothly in days, not weeks. IT departments today expect software to provide a digital experience that improves over time, without disruption or long wait times, and supports continuous innovation. CIOs need solutions that can be easily adapted by the IT team itself, rather than external services or costly re-engineering projects.
This genuine cloud architecture is defined by the following five key parameters: it must be resilient and scalable, configurable and durable, open, integrative and agile.
These five attributes characterize a true cloud SaaS solution that supports the CIO's goals of sustainable business continuity, rapid delivery of innovation and creating a trusted and engaging employee experience.
The question of what the next generation ERP landscape will look like comes up again and again. Most ERP systems were implemented in the early 2000s and sooner or later reach their end of life, while the enterprise software market has changed dramatically in the last decade and the choice has become much more complex than ever before.
In the past, monolithic ERP was the first choice, later best-of-breed solutions developed and finally SaaS matured into comprehensive domain-oriented solutions. In addition, a multitude of terms relating to cloud computing makes it even more difficult to define a strategy.
I believe that the combination of a number of true cloud domain-specific SaaS solutions will be the ERP of the future. This landscape is based on the fact that, firstly, the majority of processes remain mainly within a domain, secondly, almost all reporting and most analysis is based on the data within a domain and, thirdly, derived actions are executed within the domain.
From a business perspective, such a landscape facilitates the different transformation speeds that drive each area, while enabling organizational agility within the business units due to the integrated nature of processes and data.
Cloud ERP evolution
However, replacing the traditional monolithic ERP will not happen overnight. Changing the enterprise architecture is a journey, not the destination. True cloud also supports business transformation, but this can only be achieved with a complete system change and a transformation of working habits. Trying to implement a pure software solution for the sake of SaaS will not be successful.
We are aware that many companies are considering a hybrid system - cloud-based Saas in combination with on-premises - because parts of the application landscape are not worth migrating due to a lack of benefits. Such a hybrid set-up is an intermediate step for most of our customers.
Only a "Full SaaS" helps customers to migrate completely to the cloud and benefit from the advantages: From the end of labor-intensive software maintenance and costly implementations to flexibility and the ability to accelerate business transformation.
Conclusion
Companies also need to focus on organizational agility in order to respond to market changes. To do this, they need to overcome their initial resistance to adopting new ways of working, which means in particular moving away from the long-term planning and multi-year release cycles that are still second nature to most companies.
While the understanding of the value of SaaS and true cloud is growing, my conversations show that there is still a lot of room for established companies to take advantage of the added value.
The Workday Cloud world of the five elements
Fail-safe and scalable
The cloud solution must not only be adaptable, but also trustworthy, resilient and scalable. This is a basic requirement to provide IT teams with business continuity, regardless of the scope of the changes.
Many cloud systems promise reliability and scalability or claim that they can bring new innovations. A true cloud architecture makes it possible to adapt technologies over time, increase scalability, become more resilient and leverage the best operational, security, innovation and user experiences without compromising business continuity.
Configurable and durable
The architecture must be designed to be quickly configurable and these changes must be permanent. This means that the IT team works closely with the business and can make changes to the solution that do not require expensive custom development, lengthy service commitments or even reprogramming.
This concept of configurability and self-service is key to an IT organization that can respond to rapidly changing business, user and security requirements within days, not months.
Open
Every organization has multiple cloud and legacy solutions supporting their business. To enable business change and create an engaging experience, a cloud solution is required that is fundamentally open and supports the flow of information and orchestration of processes across these systems while appearing seamless to the user.
Appealing
A cloud architecture must provide an engaging, trusted and open experience built on a foundation of data and analytics that securely enables decision makers to gain timely insights and be supported at every step with powerful collaboration and analytics tools.
This gives decision-makers real-time insights that significantly increase the value of their judgment. Without leaving the system, you remain capable of acting and efficient, additionally strengthened by machine learning.
Agile
A true cloud architecture is based on the principles of cloud-native technologies and processes. It evolves continuously as new technologies emerge or business transformation takes place.
Service users benefit from the continuous, i.e. weekly, provision of innovations and can decide for themselves when to use them. As all users always work with the same software release, outdated systems are a thing of the past.
Fundamental to a true cloud architecture is the continuous development of the underlying technology in order to scale the customer base and size as well as the application footprint of the solution. In addition, the architecture must continuously offer the highest level of security and data protection.
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