Evaluating Potential Workday Implementation Partners

So, you’ve decided to go with Workday’s human capital management services (HCM). Good for you. Scores of businesses of all sizes use the app to help with HR, talent management, benefits, payroll, time tracking, and even recruiting.

But you need help with implementation and beyond. More specifically, you need someone who can handle Workday deployment and provide post-production and app-management support. To foster swifter deployments, get a better return on your investment and ongoing process improvement, you also want someone who has technical expertise and deep knowledge of financials and HR best practices.

Well, the right Workday partner can handle all that and more. But how do you know which one to work with? Here’s what you need to know about evaluating potential Workday implementation partners.

What is Human Capital Management?

Let’s start here. Human Capital Management is a set of practices for all the functions listed above but for the most part, HCM is a tool for managing your people. There are plenteous HCM solutions out there, but Workday’s suite leads the pack.

What are Some Workday Features?

To start, one of the coolest things is mobile access, and at no extra cost. All users can gain access to information from any device.

Other features include:

• HR management. You can use HRM to better manage and organize your people. And there’s also absence and compensation management.
• Talent management. With this suite, you can better manage, develop, and reward employees. Management functions here include career and development planning, performance management, succession planning, goal management, and onboarding.
• Benefits. You can use the solution to help you manage your benefits plans — according to your organization’s particular needs.
• Recruiting. You can use the solution to locate, engage, and choose the best talent for your company. With a single system, it manages the whole recruitment process and fosters collaboration and transparency across the entire hiring personnel. In a flash, you can see what positions need filling and the kind of candidates you desire. Then, using real-time data, you can establish recruiting strategies.
• Payroll. Workday’s solution here permits you to, say, conduct batch calculations, make numerous payroll calculations, do audit reports, and be flexible with earnings and deductions. And with Workday’s Cloud Connect for Third-Party Payroll, it’s easy for your payroll team to integrate with third parties.
• Big data analytics. This marries Workday data with several non-Workday info sources for a longer and all-encompassing view of what’s going on. Analytics templates can help with retention, workforce planning, and payroll-cost analysis.

But How Can I Get Help Putting All this in Place?

That’s where Workday implementation partners come in. Workday has handpicked 60 or so systems integrators and regional firms that now make up the global community that is Workday Services Partners. These partners not only help organizations launch Workday, but they also help them continually adopt new capabilities. And no worries about their qualifications: Workday’s services partners are trained through and through on Workday offerings and have the expertise to help you get the most from your Workday investment.

How Do I Know Which Partner is Best?

Although all Workday implementation partners share the same base-level qualifications, they each have their own approaches, strategies, and attributes. Take Mercer, for instance. The consulting firm prides itself on getting Workday up and running for you in a short timeframe, and with few requirements and no company knowledge. And lest you, during the partnership, are tempted to fall back to your old ways, Mercer can keep you accountable to your vision. Mercer gets into your culture and understands and respects your objectives. Perhaps most importantly, Mercer can guide you through the whole implementation process – and beyond.

Can You Tell Me More About Mercer?

Sure, the international leader in talent, retirement, health, and investments helps clients globally with the wealth, health, and performance of their employees. The firm itself has some 20,000 employees in more than 43 countries and operates in more than 130 nations.

What’s Mercer’s calling card? In the main, what Mercer offers is the melding of formidable human resources consulting and business know-how plus Workday Advisory and Deployment service capabilities. Its HCM experts all over the world work to streamline and help you put in place your strategic initiatives. These are world-class teams that can bring their methodologies to bear to help you maximize your Workday deployment and overall investment.

What Else Should I Consider Before Choosing a Partner?

Workday’s partners run the gamut, in terms of industries, size, profile, etc. Some, because of their geographical location, won’t be available to you anyway. Other partners have loads of experience in implementations worldwide.

That said, ask yourself these questions before making your decision:

• Can you work well together? You do want a good cultural fit. Do you have the same values?
• Are they familiar with your business? What you don’t want are blanket best practices that are used like a template. After all, every business is different, even within the same segment.
• Do they “get” your strategy? It’s crucial that your prospective partner understands your organization and workforce strategies and can spell out what Workday can do to support them. Technology by itself won’t cut it.
• Can they handle project management? See whether the firm you’re interested in has the project management tools and methods to manage the project. Implementation methodology alone is not enough.

Evaluating potential Workday implementation partners is not to be taken lightly. While Workday does have a reliable and trusted cadre of implementation partners, you still must do your homework before signing up with one. We are partial to Mercer for its deep knowledge of Workday and its experience and expertise.

But whatever you do, don’t try to go it alone. You want to make the most from this important investment that will ultimately make it much easier for you to deal with the complexity of your HCM and finance operations. That means enlisting help from an implementation partner that’s right for you.