Some of us are old enough to remember Workday’s pioneering analyst summit in August 2010. I wrote back then
“Few vendors have the guts to be open to such a smart and opinionated bunch as Workday was during its Technology Day yesterday. Like a marathon tennis match with plenty of volleys and lobs and aces, the back and forth was something to watch. As you can see from the Twitterstream and blog posts from the day a wide set of angles were covered - object models, user interface design, change management processes, analytics and integration tools (in a SaaS market where both are still weak), stuff from the labs - tablet and voice interfaces, mobile applications - and more.”
So, when we were invited to the latest iteration of their Innovation Summit for analysts last week, I had two questions:
- How many of my peers would show up given continued pandemic travel restrictions and worries?
- What would count for innovation at a company which is now almost 80 times as large and for an event whose theme was a confident “Made for this Moment”?
The first question was relatively easy to answer. I ran an informal survey when I arrived and tweeted to a colleague
“…talking to a few analysts here, we have become more selective about attending in-person events. Travel experience is still not that business friendly. Puts more pressure on vendors to rethink events. Well-crafted analyst summits like #wdaysummit are ideal format.”
It helped that this was their first in-person summit in 3 years and they took elaborate COVID testing precautions. They shipped a Lucira kit for PCR quality testing at home. We ran a test 24 hours before our flight to Silicon Valley and repeated that test upon arrival at the event hotel. About 20 analysts showed up.
The second question turned out to be far more complex. Ray Wang of Constellation Research would have liked to have heard about the metaverse, DeFi and more contemporary tech trends. Other analysts had other questions like “what about treasury management?” I myself would have liked a bit more about how Workday is reacting given the "made for the moment" theme to current events in Ukraine and the energy transition focus it has created in every country and industry.
I have been lucky to feature in my Analyst Cam and Burning Platform video episodes several Workday executives and products in the last 2 years. So, I expected a nice recap during the event.
What we did hear a lot about is Workday's architectural journey, their distinct M&A strategy and how their solutions enable what Workday calls the “Power to Adapt”.
I particularly liked the presentation by Sayan Chakraborty, EVP, Product & Technology where he said “We believe great applications can only exist alongside a great platform and from this combination - you get the 'power to adapt’”. Rather than try to just absorb acquisitions, Workday tries to benefit from the contemporary thinking at startups they acquire. More on how Workday’s architecture has evolved over 15 years in this episode of Analyst Cam with Sayan Chakraborty.
Pete Schlampp, Workday’s Chief Strategic Officer, told us about their growth in packaged solutions. “Since starting this program last year, Workday and our partners have published 15 Packaged Solutions supporting the oCFO and oCHRO, with another 20 slated for FY23.” Packaged solutions are small bundles of contemporary features like VIBE they had presented to me here .
I have been pushing Workday to get more into operational areas in industries where they have plenty of presence – most in the services sector. For now, I am not worried about Workday’s disciplined approach and continued focus on the financial, hcm and planning/analytical areas. Workday has been delivering plenty of innovation in these areas. They also have miles to go with their current focus. During the session, they talked about their global growth – there is so much more of the world to grow into. By my estimate only 5% of its employee base is in the APJ region. Same thing with the SME market – there are plenty of opportunities in subsidiaries of large companies and the higher end of the SME spectrum.
In my analyst role, I get to hear competition bashing on a regular basis. Workday is a frequent target. My question to the haters is “Why are you letting Workday so dramatically narrow your definition of addressable market? There is so much white space around them for you to exploit”.
Frankly, I wish they would speak like C0-CEO Aneel Bhusri did at the event. He generously complimented his peers and said he was proud of the software industry for how it had responded to the pandemic.
