Workday remains a fast-growing provider of cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning), HR (human resources) and financial services applications. The company typically competes against Oracle and SAP SaaS applications in the enterprise and Oracle NetSuite in the midmarket.
Workday's SaaS application business continues to expand. The company's total revenues were $887.8 million for its Q2 of fiscal 2020, up 32.2 percent from the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Still, the company had a net loss of $120.7 million for Q2 of fiscal 2020, larger than the $86.1 million net loss for Q2 of fiscal 2019.
Despite the cloud application company's rapid growth, Workday hasn't built much of a formal channel partner or reseller program. Still, the company has "a broad base of strong partners," Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri told Wall Street analysts during an August 2019 earnings call. "Of course, we've got all the big systems integrators. I think the two big trends in this last 12 months has been they’re embracing of the financial product line and they're embracing of Adaptive."
Workday acquired Adaptive Insights in in 2018 to help customers "better plan, execute, and analyze across the enterprise all in one system."
Workday's Top Deployment Partners: In Brief
No doubt, a lengthy list of big IT consulting firms, global systems integrators, and boutique technology firms now assist customers with Workday application deployment, optimization and maintenance services. But which companies are the Top 10 Workday implementation partners?
Actually, the list is nine companies long -- according to the Forrester Wave: Workday Implementation Partners report for Q3 2019. The list, according to Forrester, is broken down as follows:
- Leaders: Accenture, Deloitte and KPMG.
- Strong Performers: IBM, Alight Solutions, Collaborative Solutions and PwC.
- Contenders: OneSource Virtual and Hexaware.
Workday's Top Deployment Partners and Systems Integrators: More Details
Here's a closer look at each of those top Workday implementation partners, sorted alphabetically.
1. Accenture: The systems integrator got an early jump on the Workday deployment market by acquiring DayNine in September 2016. At the time, Accenture gained 400 DayNine professionals with 1,250 Workday certifications. That talent joined Accenture’s existing Workday group working within the Accenture Cloud First Applications team. The deal was the latest in a growing list of Accenture buyouts focused on SaaS platforms like Workday, Google G Suite, ServiceNow and more.
2. Alight Solutions: The company focuses on technology-enabled health, wealth and Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions. Alight acquired Wipro's Workday and Cornerstone OnDemand business for roughly $110 million in February 2019. Alight gained roughly 350 employees in the deal. Alight had 28 global centers at the time of the deal.
3. Collaborative Solutions: The enterprise cloud consulting firm in October 2018 acquired Australia-based Theory of Mind, a Workday services firm in the Asia-Pacific region. Even ahead of the deal, Collaborative Solutions was one of the longest-tenured consulting partners with Workday. The firm has supported more than 500 customers -- ranging from 200 to 200,000 employees across 125 countries.
4. Deloitte: The global systems integrator and consulting firm made one of the earliest Workday partner acquisitions -- buying Aggressor in 2012. Roughly 100 Aggressor employees joined Deloitte's human capital consulting practice at the time.
5. Hexaware: The company provides Workday application lifecycle management support worldwide. The services include application management, functional configuration, technology integration, business process configuration, testing, change management, program management, and maintenance services.
6. IBM: The company in September 2015 acquired Meteorix, a Workday services partner that had more than 200 certified Workday consultants at the time. By August 2016, IBM and Workday inked a strategic partnership. Under the terms of the deal, IBM Cloud became the foundation for Workday’s development and testing environment.
7. KPMG: The company has acquired multiple Workday and HR software consulting partners -- including a Workday Consulting Practice from AXIA Consulting (2014). Additional buyouts included Towers Watson’s HRSD practice, EquaTerra, Optimum Solutions, The Hackett Group’s Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning practice and Zanett Consulting Solutions.
8. OneSource Virtual: Founded in 2008, OneSource Virtual focuses on Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) -- with a laser-like focus on Workday deployments, consulting, training, and in-application payroll administration, benefit administration and application management services. The company raised $150 million in 2015. Moreover, OneSource has landed on the Inc. 5000 list for seven consecutive years through 2019.
9. PwC: The company has also been a buyer in the Workday consulting market -- acquiring Balkon in 2014. The deal, at the time, made PwC the largest Workday Services Partner in Canada.
