Workday Introduces Next-Generation Skills Technology to Help Organizations Support Evolving Talent Strategies

New Open and Connected Ecosystem Helps Enable Organizations to Bring Skills Data In and Out of Workday to Deliver More Personalized Employee Experiences

PLEASANTON, Calif. and ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --  Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a leader in enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, today introduced next-generation skills technology that allows organizations to easily and securely bring skills data in and out of Workday. Through this new capability, companies can gain deeper insight into workforce skills and deliver more personalized employee experiences. At Workday Rising, the company's annual customer conference, Workday detailed how it is building an open and connected skills ecosystem with a single source of truth for skills data.

As organizations look to accelerate skills-based talent strategies, they need visibility and insight into the skills that exist and those they will need in order to make data-driven decisions around talent and staffing and to adapt to changing business needs. However, connecting skills data from multiple sources – e.g. learning systems, labor market data, skills assessments – to internal business processes is time-intensive, costly, and can require custom integrations.

Building an Open and Connected Skills Ecosystem
With technology designed in collaboration with customers Accenture, Sun Life, and more, as well as software alliance partnerships including Aon, Degreed, and SkyHive, the Workday skills ecosystem helps organizations to import relevant skills data from third-party systems into Workday.

With intelligent technology that normalizes external skills to the Skills Cloud ontology, Workday uniquely delivers skills interoperability at scale, helping organizations to better manage skills data flows and gain visibility into how skills are being used across the business. Organizations can also export skill-level data from Workday to external systems – creating a bi-directional flow of skills – providing them with a consistent skill set across the business to continuously evolve their skills-based talent strategies.

With these latest innovations, organizations can:

• Gain Richer Insight into their Workforce and Make Strategic Talent Decisions. Combining skills data from multiple sources helps organizations determine how to best leverage the resources they have, make data-driven decisions around talent and staffing, and plan for future workforce needs.
• Improve Business Agility and Adapt to Changing Business Demands. With access to accurate and timely skills data, organizations can understand what skills exist – and do not – so they can better respond to business needs.
• Drive Meaningful Employee Experiences. With skills data from both Workday and external sources, organizations can connect workers with internal opportunities – such as projects, gigs, new roles, and more – to deliver more personalized experiences and help nurture career growth.

Launched in 2018, use of skills included in Skills Cloud – which is included with Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) – has grown from 25 million instances across all customers' tenants to more than 5 billion today.  

Comments on the News
"In our industry, talent with the right skills is essential in serving patients and adapting to rapidly changing global health issues," said Eric Ervin, executive director, HR tech solutions and strategy, Merck. "Leveraging Skills Cloud and the skills data from external sources gives us visibility and insight into the skills of our workforce. This enables us to deliver engaging and personalized employee experiences that help further our purpose to save and improve lives."

"During one of the most disrupted talent markets of our time, teaming with Workday on their innovative Skills Cloud helps us enable our clients to execute their skills-based talent strategies," said Colin Anderson, digital HR, planning and analytics lead, Accenture. "This also supports our long-held commitment to providing our people with opportunities to develop market-leading skills that help build and grow their careers."

"Solving the skills problem at work is very complex, as skills are constantly changing and organizations need a way to manage them across the business," said Josh Bersin, global industry analyst and CEO of Josh Bersin Company. "Workday's strategy is to build a cohesive skills data model that maps skills from various systems such as labor market data, recruiting, and learning, and ties them together for a single source of truth. This is a natural step for Workday, given the growing adoption of Skills Cloud and the massive demand for skills-based talent solutions."

"Workday has always believed skills are a key enabler for greater agility and adaptability, and these latest innovations double down on our commitment to providing organizations with the tools they need to accelerate their skills-based talent strategies," said David Somers, group general manager, office of the chief human resource officer product, Workday. "Working closely with our customers and partners, we are delivering an open and connected experience that empowers customers to leverage a consistent set of skills across their business, which will help them to drive meaningful talent management and employee experiences." 

For More Information

• Read the blog, "How Workday is Delivering Next-Generation Skills Technology at Scale," by David Somers, group general manager, office of the chief human resource officer product, Workday.
• Register and attend Workday Rising sessions in the Digital Discovery Program:
• Office of HR: The Power to Adapt Through the Evolution of Work [RBVK2096], Sept. 13, 12:00 p.m. EDT.
• Talent and Skills in Workday: Strategy & Vision [PSV2131], Sept. 13, 1:30 p.m. EDT.
• Workforce Analytics and Planning—Enabling the Power to Adapt: Strategy & Vision [PSV2112], Sept. 13, 1:30 p.m. EDT.
• Employee Voice and Experience in Workday: Strategy & Vision [PSV2104], Sept. 13, 2:45 p.m. EDT.
• Global HR, Workforce, and Pay: Strategy & Vision [PSV2108], Sept. 13, 2:45 p.m. EDT.

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 50% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.

© 2022 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 Workday's plans, beliefs, and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2022, and our future reports that we may file 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's discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available.

SOURCE Workday Inc.