Are you getting the most from Workday?

In my role as director of Business Transformation at Change Associates, I've been involved in a number of successful Workday implementation processes. And although we are strictly system agnostic, I am a great admirer of the system and its capabilities.

I've also become something of a student of implementations that have not gone so well and those where the investment did not pay off over time.

And there are many of them.  

I often wonder how many senior careers have been damaged by project sponsors recommending an excellent system but getting the implementation wrong or not planning for the work that needs to be done to maximise the solution post Go Live.

As we described in our research report, Delivering on the HRIS Promise, there may be many reasons why HR Information Systems don't always meet expectations.

Poorly designed or inconsistent HR processes, dirty data, excessive configuration, and insufficient focus on user adoption are common causes of the most catastrophic failures. And the best time to nail these elements is before Workday has been rolled out.

In reality, more subtle issues will only become apparent once a system is being used in anger. And while the issue may appear small in itself, the knock-on consequences can be significant.

By my estimate, around a third of Workday implementations get the best out of the system, around a third fail to live up to expectations, and the final third work well enough but are, for the want of a better phrase, suboptimal.

It's the last group that most concerns me. 

For a competent organisation to invest so much time, energy and money in a system that has the power to be truly transformational, and then fail to realise its full potential is frustrating.

But not insoluble.

Because if the best time to iron out Workday issues is before launch, the second-best time is right now.

'Go Live' is a significant milestone but not the destination. Organisations need to be able to maintain and adapt their systems to support business change. So it makes sense to have the capability in place to make ongoing improvements as part of this process.

At Change Associates, we recognise there's an opportunity to help organisations that are using Workday but are not getting as much out of it as they could.

So, we're creating a six-step support programme called Optimising Workday.

OPTIMISING WORKDAY

This new service, which can be adapted according to each organisation's specific needs, is built on the following six steps.

1. Core System and Process Review

We review the way your Workday tenant has been implemented to ensure processes, data, your support organisation and governance work well together.

2. Infrastructure Review

We look at how Workday integrates with other systems and technology.

3. Adoption Acceleration

We recommend ways to make Workday easier and more satisfying to use so more of your staff use it.

4. Support Structure

We look at your user support structure, including how you work with vendors, for ways to control costs, optimise user satisfaction, and get the right results.

5. Road Map Planning

We plan the future development of your Workday tenant to ensure it continues to meet your evolving needs.

6. Release Management

We analyse your update and release management procedures and highlight ways to be more efficient.

The work is underpinned by our business transformation and change management expertise and informed by many years' experience of successful Workday projects.

We're confident we can make a big difference to those organisations that would like to get more from Workday. So, if you think we might be able to help you, please get in touch so we can arrange a virtual coffee. I'd be genuinely interested in your feedback.