Press Release

Workday Sees Continued Momentum with Higher Education Customers, Empowering Institutions Amid a Changing World

The Ohio State University, University of Arkansas System, and Washington State University Meet Go-Live Dates with Virtual Deployments During Pandemic

PLEASANTON, Calif., March 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, today announced continued momentum with higher education institutions, including new customers Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, University of Central Florida, University of Louisville, University of Maryland, and University of Oklahoma. In addition, institutions including The Ohio State University, University of Arkansas System, and Washington State University were able to shift to virtual deployments amid the pandemic, helping meet their go-live schedules and maintaining business continuity.

Responding to Today’s Higher Education Needs
The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenges for higher education, including shifting how institutions engage with students as well as budget uncertainties due to reduced enrollment and in-person learning. As a result, many institutions are accelerating their business and technology transformation efforts to better respond to the dynamics of today's changing world.

With the Workday suite of applications, including Workday Financial ManagementWorkday Human Capital Management (HCM), Workday Adaptive Planning, and Workday Student, higher education customers are able to quickly respond to change while helping ensure critical business operations continue to run smoothly and securely. To date, more than 70 percent of Workday higher education customers are live on Workday and realizing the benefits of a cloud-based system in delivering better student and staff experiences.

With Workday, higher education customers are able to:

  • Improve business continuity and strengthen agility in times of change. Institutions are better able to adapt to new business processes, support new policies and delivery models, and securely conduct important HR, payroll, finance, and student transactions from any location. For example, throughout the pandemic, Workday customers have been able to onboard new employees and run payroll remotely, quickly create leave and absence codes to comply with new legislation, complete financial close and external audits virtually, and track all COVID-19-related expenses without requiring manual processes or spreadsheets.
  • Receive data-driven insights for continuous planning and forecasting. Teams are able to perform continuous financial and student enrollment “what-if” scenario modeling, and better understand the health of campus operations and the academic performance of students. For instance, institutions can simulate the impact of international student enrollment on net tuition revenue and other potential impacts of the pandemic.
  • Empower and engage students with a single system. Faculty and staff can benefit from a single view of academic, financial, and advising information through one system with Workday Student. With active engagement tools, students can be kept updated with automated announcements, alerts, push notifications, and personalized action items. For example, students are able to receive notifications on the Workday mobile application and can take action on financial aid and registration tasks.

Comments on the News:

“Higher education is continuously evolving. The impacts of the pandemic have accelerated change as institutions prioritize the health and safety of their community, all while identifying new ways of keeping students engaged during such a disruptive time,” said Indy Bains, vice president, Industry Solutions Marketing, Workday. “To help meet this dynamic environment, institutions need agile systems that enable them to keep pace and meet the demands of faculty, students, and new regulation. With Workday, higher education customers have a system and partner that can help them adapt – whether it’s managing campus housing, refactoring and forecasting enrollment scenarios, and monitoring academic performance of students – all while keeping their focus on the needs of their people.”

“Washington State University is unifying five unique campuses through our OneWSU initiative, and with the successful and collaborative deployment of Workday Financial Management and Workday HCM, we now have the technology foundation to help enable the OneWSU strategic plan and execution goals,” said Stacy Pearson, chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration, Washington State University. “The transformation from a legacy system to a single, comprehensive cloud-based system across all campuses, research centers, and extension offices, is greatly improving processes and provides the timely information needed to support and engage our employees.”

“With 7,000 faculty and staff, and 23,000 students across three campuses and 12 colleges and schools, our legacy system was not allowing us take advantage of enhanced customer experiences or self-service, insights for better decision making and effective university operations,” said Rehan Khan, vice provost and chief information officer, University of Louisville. “Unifying our HR and finance systems with Workday will be a game changer for us as we continue to implement our cloud-first strategy using a core strategic platform for our digital transformation journey. With Workday, we will streamline operations to meet the changing demands across our campuses, enable better services to our faculty and students, and be better prepared to navigate any uncertainties.”

“The cloud is becoming an imperative for higher education, particularly with the rapid changes institutions have faced over the past year,” said Vicki Tambellini, president and chief executive officer of The Tambellini Group. “Our research shows the number of institutions selecting cloud solutions is expected to increase by more than 200 percent over the next five years. Workday has demonstrated momentum with customer selections and go-lives in higher education, and in 2021, we believe Workday Student will lead the Student Cloud market with an anticipated 20+ institutions in production.”

About Workday
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, helping customers adapt and thrive in a changing world. Workday applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management, and analytics have been adopted by thousands of organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 45 percent of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.

© 2021. Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the Workday logo are registered trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding the expected performance and benefits of Workday and Workday Strategic Sourcing’s offerings. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “seek,” “plan,” “project,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If the risks materialize or assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in Workday’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021, and future reports that may be filed with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in this document, our website, or other press releases or public statements that are not currently available are subject to change at Workday and Workday Strategic Sourcing’s discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday and/or Workday Strategic Sourcing services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available.

Media Contact:
Vanessa McNulty
media@workday.com

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