Workday and partners tailor new solutions to enterprise demand for industry fit

Workday has responded to enterprise demand for tailored solutions by announcing its Industry Accelerator program. The SaaS HR and finance management software provider’s new solutions are for banking and capital markets, healthcare, insurance, and technology. Workday has also named four members of its service partner ecosystem as initial Industry Accelerator partners: Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC.

These four service providers are strong Workday partners. We ranked them in the top five for innovation in our Workday human capital management (HCM) Top 10 report. They fared even better in our Workday financial management (FM) Top 10 report, securing the overall top four slots and appearing in the top five for execution, innovation, and voice of the customer categories. Workday FM customers we spoke with positioned a service partner’s industry sector in the top six reasons for selecting a service partner. Our Top 10 research also supports Workday’s specific industry selection. Table 1 ranks the top three industries that participating service providers indicated as the fastest growing industries in their Workday HCM and Workday FM practices.

Exhibit 1: Fastest growing industry sectors in Workday HCM and Workday FM business

Source: 1. HFS Top 10: Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) Services 2021.
Aggregate responses of 11 participating service providers
2. HFS Top 10 Workday Financial Management (FM) Services 2021.
Aggregate responses of 10 participating service providers

New program strengthens partners’ industry sector investments

Workday has developed tailored solutions in the past: Workday Student module targets higher education institutions in the US; Workday Launch is a deployment methodology for medium-sized enterprises globally, and some large enterprises in the US. Additional customization was largely up to its closed (invitation only) service partner ecosystem of 40 service providers. Many of these have built pre-configured tenants and solutions for specific industry sectors. For example, the Fab Four have all developed Workday solutions or pre-configured tenants for financial services. Several also have digital platforms that facilitate the development and hosting of industry solutions, such as Accenture’s myConcerto and KPMG’s Powered Enterprise. Moreover, Accenture and Deloitte adopt an industry-led go-to-market approach. Other partners have been busy developing industry solutions in the past few years, including IBM, Mercer, Alight, Kainos, and OneSource Virtual.

Joint strategic decision-making is at the heart of stronger ties targeting more industry coverage

Workday’s Industry Accelerator initiative helps partners build on their existing industry solution investments. It fosters closer collaboration and shared investments, leading to shared decision making. For example, KPMG leverages its existing industry-specific Workday Powered Enterprise solutions in healthcare and banking as the basis to build out more robust industry accelerators jointly with Workday. KPMG will work closer with Workday to make joint strategic decisions on the direction of the accelerators in alignment with Workday’s longer-term product roadmap. KPMG will collaborate with Workday to understand the requirements and concerns of the broader Workday customer base outside of those already supported by KPMG. It will also partner with Workday to create an ecosystem of third-party integrated solutions to address industry-specific requirements.

The Bottom Line: Service partner know-how plus industry-specific tech could deliver more focused business outcomes for the enterprise.

Workday’s latest move seeks to improve awareness and increase credibility with enterprises in these chosen industries across geographies. Workday also wants to use its powerhouse consulting partners to position Workday as a credible digital transformation partner for customers. A collaborative go-to-market, with Workday’s technology and the service partners’ industry best practice solutions and experience, should, in theory, deliver a more successful business outcome for customers.

Also noteworthy is the global nature of the chosen four initial partners. We estimate that two-thirds of Workday’s business comes from North America. These four partners can potentially increase wallet share outside of North America, especially with the more “international” industries of banking and capital markets and technology.

However, this is not all baked and ready to deliver today. Workday will continue to identify opportunities with the initial Industry Accelerator partners. The independent software vendor must also clarify its roadmap with other service partners, who will likely continue to invest in their industry services and solution offerings. Enterprises should work closely with Workday to help identify the most appropriate service partner for their industry requirements. Enterprises with existing Workday partners should also explore their industry solutions first.