On this episode of the Workday Podcast, Carolyn Horne, Workday’s president for the EMEA region, joined Steve Dunne to talk about how organisations in Europe have seized the moment and grasped the mantle of digital change.
Audio also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed untold confusion on the world, organisations of all sizes were starting to understand that digital was changing the dynamics of global business, with many leaders struggling to keep up with the pace of change.
According to KPMG research, cited by Workday, 63% of CEOs said their processes and execution moved too slowly. Meanwhile, a McKinsey study found that 80% of organisations said it was taking too long to make decisions, and 67% that they were losing ground and feared they may become irrelevant if they do not adapt, and adapt soon.
In this episode of the Workday Podcast, Carolyn Horne, Workday’s EMEA president, discussed how organisations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are dealing with the demands of digital acceleration, and how during the pandemic, many realised that the pain of staying the same was actually greater than the pain of digital change.
Below are a few highlights from the conversation, edited for clarity. You can find our other podcast episodes here. Be sure to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts so you don’t miss an episode.
“We saw hundreds of European businesses realise that their old systems of record, based on ageing technology platforms, could not respond to the challenges of a global lockdown and a fundamental need for operating their business remotely.”
“It’s important to reiterate that change was happening before COVID-19 hit, and business leaders do see the huge value of digital, yet so many are locked into old ways of working and legacy tools that have been accumulated over many years. We know from experience that that’s no easy thing to transform.”
“If you want to operate at a new level of speed and agility, you can’t be saddled with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system of the past. This model is backwards-looking and uses fragmented data and calcified processes, and too often it’s created by merely porting outdated software to the cloud. That isn’t transformation; it’s replicating old failings.”
“What has been so striking about the last two years is the pace at which customers have turned to Workday. Their appetite for this new class of software—which is really more of an operating system for business than a collection of code in the cloud—is truly impressive given the challenges they are facing.”
“Businesses need the right talent if they are to emerge from the pandemic and thrive. That’s about having an engaged workforce and keeping employees motivated and satisfied in their careers, but it’s also about bringing in great people.”
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