Professional and Business Services

Analytics and Insights Workday News and Culture

Announcing the Winners of the Workday Partner Industry Innovation Awards

The Workday Partner Industry Innovation Awards honor industry-specific solutions from our services partners built on top of Workday Prism Analytics and Workday Adaptive Planning.

Workday Staff Writers

Human Resources

Workday Podcast: Talent Maturity in the Professional Services Industry

Many professional services firms are looking for top talent with new skill sets to meet their clients’ changing needs and help them prepare for future disruption. Jeanne Urich, managing director at Service Performance Insight, reflects on 2020 and shares where firms currently rank in the talent maturity model benchmark.

Craig Hines

Customers and Community

How CrossCountry Is Partnering with Workday to Enable Transformation

The CFO, CHRO, and COO at CrossCountry Consulting discuss some of the challenges their organization faced and how Workday helped address them with our suite of human capital management and financial management solutions.

Ghadeer Redler

Customers and Community Finance

How Veolia Unlocked Finance Agility During a Global Crisis

Even during a pandemic, many forward-thinking businesses have continued with their digital transformation initiatives. Yael Leblanc, group finance transformation director at Veolia, a global environmental services company headquartered in France, discusses why the shift to a new finance system proceeded as planned despite the global lockdown.

Steve Dunne

Finance Human Resources

Workday Podcast: Payroll Is Evolving to Deliver Greater Impact and Business Value

The payroll function is becoming a more strategic partner in order to support business strategy, data compliance, employee engagement, and more. Colin Brennan from Alight Solutions discusses this shift and what it means for organizations and their employees.

Ellen Murphy

Planning

Global Study: Are Proserv Companies Falling Behind in the Race to Organizational Agility?

The COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated what we found in our global study, conducted before the crisis: The majority of professional services businesses experience competing challenges moving to real-time planning.

Ghadeer Redler

Customers and Community

Workday Podcast: Building a Culture Fit for Agility

In times of hypergrowth, it can be difficult for companies to stay nimble. Chris Skinner, CEO at TopBloc, shares how his professional services firm was able to remain agile through a time of rapid growth.

Julie Jares

Customers and Community Workday News and Culture

Workday Elevate Digital Experience for Europe: Rising to Today’s Challenges with Confidence

We invite business leaders throughout Europe to join us for the Workday Elevate Digital Experience, where you’ll hear from Workday and our customers on how to gain insights, navigate change, and keep your organizations moving forward.

Workday Staff Writers

Finance

What Is a Financial Management System in 2021?

Here’s a quick guide to the new demands of the finance function, what you need to know about financial management systems, and how the right financial system can help companies adapt to a changing world.

Workday Staff Writers

Customers and Community

Crisis Management and Recovery Tips for Professional Services Firms

Three professional services executives in the Asia-Pacific region share their strategies for remote workforce deployment, risk and scenario planning, and staying agile in the face of ambiguity.

Workday Staff Writers

Customers and Community

How Customers Are Using Workday to Respond to COVID-19

Chief Customer Officer Emily McEvilly shares how customers are using Workday to help them maintain business continuity and solve challenges created by the pandemic. Emily also discusses how customers have influenced new product configurations we’ve created to help them manage their businesses and workforces.

Leighanne Levensaler

Customers and Community

Focus Through Disruption: How Alight Solutions Delivers Client Services Remotely

In today’s new world of remote work, professional services firms need to quickly pivot their service models to meet their customers’ changing needs. Read Alight Solutions’ best practices for delivering client services remotely.

Patrice Cappello

Customers and Community Human Resources

How Upskilling Is Critical to the Changing World of Work

Businesses must adopt new skills within their workforces to keep up with frequent advances in technology. Three HR leaders share how companies can stay ahead of emerging tech developments through upskilling and reskilling.

Workday Staff Writers

Customers and Community Human Resources

Workday Podcast: Future-Proofing the Professional Services Workforce

How can professional service firms prepare for the jobs of tomorrow? By upskilling and reskilling their current workforce to meet changing market needs.

Julie Jares

Customers and Community Finance

CFO Perspective: How Employee Engagement Influences the Bottom Line

Your workforce is your biggest expense—are you investing back into it? MATRIX Resources' CFO shares how building a culture of high employee engagement can influence a company’s bottom line.

Ghadeer Redler

Analytics and Insights

Workday Podcast: How the Best Stay on Top in Professional Services

With fierce competition, it’s tough for any business to get to the top and stay there. Industry analyst Jeanne Urich explains how the most successful professional and business services firms do it.

Workday Staff Writers

Planning Technology Innovation

Why Professional Services Firms Must Digitize These 5 Areas

Many professional services firms steer clients through digital transformation journeys, yet rely on disconnected and manual processes to manage their own businesses. Digitizing these areas can help firms be more competitive.

Mark David

Human Resources

Norconsult Embraces HR Disruption Head On

With continued global expansion, Norconsult, a leading multidisciplinary consultancy firm for social planning, engineering design, and architecture, disrupted its approach to HR to better engage its people.

Steve Dunne

Customers and Community

Industries at Workday Rising: Collaboration and Connection

This year, we’ve significantly expanded the number of industry-specific sessions we’ll have at Workday Rising. Here’s a sample of some of the stories our customers will share about successes in their industries.

Jeremiah Barba

Analytics and Insights

How Your Professional Services Firm Stacks Up Against the Competition

In the webinar, “Best in Class KPIs: Benchmarking Your Professional Services Business,” Jeanne Urich, managing director of SPI, shares compelling data from her company’s 2019 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark.

Julie Jares

Planning

3 Workforce Planning Tips for Project-Based Businesses

Here's how professional services organizations can develop capacity flex—the ability to rapidly increase or decrease staffing levels or to shift quickly from one project to another.

Adaptive Insights Staff Writers

Human Resources

Workday Podcast: Modern Professional Services Automation Helps Firms Work Smarter

Margo Visitacion, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, discusses the challenges facing professional services firms, and how technology solutions such as professional services automation (PSA) can help firms work smarter rather than harder.

Mark David

Customers and Community Finance

Energy Efficiency Expert CLEAResult Increases Productivity and Visibility with Workday

CLEAResult, a professional services company, shares how it improved operational efficiencies by moving to a single system for finance, HR, planning, and professional services automation (PSA).

Julie Jares

Planning

Professional Services Firms: Five Critical Factors for Better Capacity Planning

Pop quiz: How many resources do you need in a week, month, or season from now? Here are the most important areas to consider for capacity planning.

Adaptive Insights Staff Writers

Finance Technology Innovation

Counting on Change in the Accounting Industry

For the accounting industry’s long-term health, KPIs need to change. Here are a some ways firms can move in the right direction.

Mark David

Finance Human Resources

How IT Consulting Firm BNB Has Gained Insights and Increased Profitability

The chief operating officer at Business Network Builders (BNB) explains how using Workday has helped the IT services company increase project profitability, improve employee engagement, gain insights into resource needs, and more.

Patrice Cappello

Planning

Customer Voice: How Workforce Planning Supports Rapid Growth

Rapid global growth is never easy—but it can be much smarter and more efficient with workforce planning. That's the experience of international law firm Pinsent Masons LLP. Andrew Brett, financial accounting manager, shares how the firm uses workforce planning to better manage growth—and the insights it's gaining in the process.

Adaptive Insights Staff Writers

Human Resources

Professional Services Outlook 2019: Q&A with Jeanne Urich of Service Performance Insight

What four key trends will impact the professional services industry this year? Jeanne Urich of Service Performance Insight (SPI) shares these and more ahead of SPI's publication of the 2019 Professional Services Maturity Benchmark.

Mark David

Finance

Solving Global Business Challenges with Workday: Q&A with Aon’s VP of Finance Solutions

In Gaelic, the word Aon means “Oneness,” a fitting name for a company that has grown through more than 500 acquisitions to become one of the leading professional services firms in the world. As the company has grown, so has the complexity of managing the business. Jim Kendall, vice president of finance solutions at Aon, discusses the challenges of running a fast-changing global business, his views on innovation and risk, and how a global, unified finance and HR system has made an impact on the business.

Workday Staff Writers

Human Resources Technology Innovation

The New Era of Professional Services: Q&A with Jeanne Urich of Service Performance Insight Research

The professional services industry is experiencing strong growth, yet new opportunities bring new challenges. Jeanne Urich, managing director at Service Performance Insight (SPI), discusses trends impacting the industry, the role of professional services automation (PSA), and what firms should expect from their PSA providers and solutions.

Mark David

Finance Planning

Planning and Forecasting for the Professional Services Firm of the Future

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball that allows you to gaze into your firm’s future? With the proper business processes, measures, and systems in place, you can more easily forecast which clients and services lines are expected to deliver the most revenue and allocate budget and resources to support them.

Mark David

Customers and Community Finance

Ryan, LLC on Finance, Technology, and Its Roadmap for the Future

Ryan, LLC helps its global clientele of Fortune 500 companies alleviate the challenges of complex tax codes. Their workforce must be able to keep up with changing regulations and requirements, which requires the right talent and systems. Justin Bitner, director of financial management systems at Ryan, discusses the benefits of Workday's unified system and the approach they take to change management.

Elaine Ip

Customers and Community

How Booz Allen Hamilton is Turning its 2020 Vision into Reality

Attracting and retaining the best talent can be particularly challenging in the professional services industry, where firms are looking for people with unique skills and even security clearances. In this interview, Sarah St. Clair, vice president of people services at Booz Allen Hamilton, discusses the firm’s people-focused culture and how Workday helps support it.

Elaine Ip

Analytics and Insights

Scale or Derail: Three Ways to Improve Your Firm’s Efficiency

Effectively handling growth means thoughtfully approaching scaling, which is about more than just piling on more people and resources. That can actually slow your professional services' firm down if you don't create sustainable business practices and processes that revolve around consistent, reliable data.

Patrice Cappello

Technology Innovation

In Good Company: Innovating in Professional Services

In this episode, Steve Bandrowczak, chief operating officer and chief information officer at Alight Solutions, explains how new technologies and changing consumer expectations are disrupting the professional services industry, and how CIOs and IT leaders can position their firms to succeed.

Elaine Ip

Human Resources

In Professional Services, It’s All About Having Mad Skills

In the world of professional services, nothing is more vital than having a deep pool of “mad skills” available for clients. Learn how successful firms have accomplished this by having a talent management strategy incorporated into their resource management tools and processes.

Mark David

Human Resources

Expert Advice: Why Law Firms Are Focused on Talent Management

A firm’s biggest asset is its legal talent. Chief talent officers from Dechert LLP and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP discuss how law firms can improve their approach to talent management, and why technology plays an important role.

Elaine Ip

Human Resources

Why Professional Services Firms That Emphasize Learning Lead the Pack

Research shows the professional services industry faces growing attrition and decreasing growth, yet one important solution that's often overlooked is an effective learning program. Here's how various learning approaches can keep employees engaged throughout their careers.

Mark David

Human Resources

3 Ways Professional Services Firms Can Prosper

With the release of SPI’s 2017 benchmark report, it’s clear the professional services industry continues to face challenges. Read on to learn three ways leading professional services firms are moving their organizations forward.

Mark David

Finance

5 KPIs Every Professional Services Firm Should Track

The professional services industry faces some challenges, including declining new-client revenue and higher employee attrition. Mark David covers five key performance indicators that firms need to track to ensure top performance today and position themselves for the future.

Mark David

Finance

Why Change is an Opportunity for the Professional Services Industry

The professional services industry is dealing with a substantial decline in new client revenue. Mark David discusses three focus areas that will help firms increase profits and productivity.

Mark David

Workday News and Culture

Talking Vertical: Workday’s Approach to Industries

Workday VP John Webb discusses our industry strategy, and reveals what makes Workday—and our customers—unique in how we approach this effort.

Workday Staff Writers

Analytics and Insights

5 Questions on Workday Professional Services Automation

Today we introduced Workday Professional Services Automation (PSA), a new solution I am very excited about. Here are some of the questions I've received from customers, prospects, and partners about Workday PSA and how it's differentiated.

Betsy Bland

Customers and Community

Workday Recognizes Innovative Customers with First-Ever Inspire Award

This week Workday presented Allied Global with our first Workday Inspire Award. This award recognizes outstanding customers that are doing an amazing job of leveraging business insights from Workday to deliver quantifiable results for their organizations.

Workday Staff Writers

Finance

Diary of a Deployment Part 3: Going Live with Workday Financial Management

Last March I wrote about how quickly the deployment took off after selecting Workday—we had converted a full year of historical data and were testing transactions within the first 10 weeks. In my second post, halfway through the deployment, I shared how we were using Worktags to tag keywords and events in our data so we could later report and analyze it in different ways and from different views. In this third installment, I want to share some immediate benefits and changes that we're already seeing or expect to see in the near future.

Mark Stinson

Finance

Diary of a Deployment Part 2: Business Insights with Workday Worktags

You may have read my post yesterday about the first few months of our Workday Financial Management deployment and what we accomplished in that short time. Today’s post is about Shelter Insurance Companies’ goal for more transparency across our business, which we expect to achieve with the data transparency and analysis capabilities within Workday.

Mark Stinson

Finance

Diary of a Deployment: Workday Financial Management at Shelter Insurance

Late last year, Shelter Insurance Companies selected Workday to move our finance operations off legacy technology and into the cloud. We are nearly halfway through and expect to have Workday Financial Management fully deployed in September. Workday invited me to contribute to the Workday Blog, and I’ve taken them up on the opportunity to share our experience with others.

Mark Stinson