This article will discuss the key capabilities of the Workday platform and our list of the best Workday consulting firms to consider in 2024, as well as how our Workday consulting team at Surety Systems can come in to help.
We’ll take you through a quick overview of Workday itself, offer a little insight into the difference between implementation partners and consulting firms, provide a list of the Top 5 Workday Consulting Firms, and then help you understand the main characteristics that set Surety Systems apart from the rest.
Let’s dive in!
What is Workday? And How Can It Help?
Workday is an enterprise solution that combines the power of human capital management (HCM), financial management, enterprise resource management (ERM), and information technology in a unified suite of cloud applications.
With a flexible, adaptable foundation and easy-to-use tools, Workday simplifies workforce management for companies across all industries, improving decision-making, optimizing business operations, and improving employee engagement. This way, companies can manage their core business processes more efficiently across teams, deliver successful client outcomes, and maximize their Workday investment.
- Human Capital Management (HCM): Workday Human Capital Management serves as the foundation for managing all aspects of HR, including employee data, payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, performance management, and learning and development.
- Finance Management: Workday Financial Management provides tools for managing financial processes such as accounting, revenue management, expenses, procurement, and financial reporting.
- Payroll: Workday Payroll facilitates payroll processing, including calculations, deductions, tax compliance, and direct deposits, while ensuring accuracy and compliance with local regulations.
- Talent Management: Workday Talent Management includes modules for recruiting, onboarding, performance management, goal setting, succession planning, and career development to attract, retain, and develop talent within the organization.
- Benefits Administration: Workday Benefits helps organizations manage employee benefits programs, including enrollment, eligibility, plan selection, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
- Recruiting: Workday Recruiting provides tools for managing the entire recruitment process, from job requisition and candidate sourcing to applicant tracking, interview scheduling, and offer management.
- Learning Management: Workday Learning Management supports the creation, delivery, and tracking of employee training and development programs, including courses, certifications, and competency assessments.
- Analytics and Reporting: Workday Reporting offers robust reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing organizations to gain insights into workforce trends, financial performance, and other key metrics to support data-driven decision-making.
Workday Implementation Partners vs. Consulting Firms
Understanding the difference between Workday partners and consulting firms can be a make-or-break factor in the success of your Workday projects and your organization’s operations as a whole. Let’s take a look at a few key differences in the responsibilities of each support role:
What Does an Implementation Partner Do?
When it comes to undergoing a successful transformation to new Workday solutions, companies often lack the internal knowledge and experience to handle the complexities of the implementation process and allocate resources effectively enough to achieve success.
Workday implementation partners exist to help companies plan for and execute Workday implementations that drive critical business outcomes and ensure minimal disruption to their existing internal operations.
Workday partners help organizations manage all aspects of their Workday implementations, including initial planning, system implementation, configuration, customization, testing, and deployment. These Workday partners exist in different sectors and are responsible for handling different implementation services, including:
- Advisory partners: Guide customers through product selection, digital acceleration strategy, change management, and other advisory services.
- Channel partners: Offer deep knowledge of complementary solutions to maximize the value of your Workday systems.
- Service partners: Provide industry expertise and other support services to help organizations deploy Workday for the first time or add new Workday capabilities.
- Software partners: Help customers design, build, and deploy solutions to facilitate more efficient integrations with Workday and other solutions.
For more information about the top Workday implementation partners, click here.
What Does a Consulting Firm Do?
So, you’ve taken your new Workday system live, but now you’ve run into some configuration issues that are hindering your team’s ability to complete tasks efficiently. What do you do? Who do you ask for help?
The answer? Workday consulting firms.
Consulting firms can add value to your Workday projects by providing additional support before, during, and after your Workday platform has gone live. One of the most important roles of a Workday consulting firm is acting as a supplement to the client’s internal teams and implementation partners during their implementation. Bringing in additional client-side consultants to fill in the gaps left by an underprepared internal staff or an underperforming implementation partner can make or break the success of your implementation project.
These firms also offer personalized Workday consulting services to meet your Workday needs long after your implementation process has been completed. Workday consulting firms can handle everything from adding new applications to your Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) suite to configuring your Workday Financial Management solution to meet new financial regulations, or just providing ongoing support.
A Workday consulting company or firm doesn’t stop at the implementation process, offering continual support for new Workday applications, features, and capabilities to ensure internal teams meet core business objectives and maximize their Workday journey and digital transformation efforts over time.
Top Workday Consulting Firms
The comprehensive nature of Workday, paired with its ability to add new features and capabilities over time, makes it a software that requires top-tier management and maintenance services from a hand-selected group of implementation partners, global systems integrators, and other regional firms.
Here’s a list of the Top 5 Best Workday Consulting Firms in 2024:
Mercer
Mercer is a Workday services partner that offers Workday support services to help customers implement Workday, provide specialized knowledge for closer alignment on each project, and facilitate continuous adoption of new Workday features and functionality over time. Mercer is among the leading managed services firms, providing strategic consulting expertise to guide implementation and integration projects and provide a more holistic approach to Workday deployment across teams.
Alight Solutions
Alight is a leading Workday partner capable of helping customers manage Workday implementation, integration, or upgrade projects to maximize the value of their Workday investment. Alight provides deployment, optimization, and maintenance services to ensure each Workday customer has the tools and support needed to manage their core Workday services across the entire organization.
Collaborative Solutions
Collaborative Solutions is one of the top Workday implementation partners responsible for handling Workday implementation, integration, upgrade, and optimization tasks to support organizations through every step of their Workday journey. Collaborative Solutions can assist organizations with everything from initial planning for a Workday HCM implementation to deployment, application management, and post-implementation support.
Workday
Workday offers support solutions that address industry-specific challenges and drive better digital innovation with the use of Workday products. With support from Workday directly and their trusted partners, companies can improve the agility of their Workday solutions, outline strategies that meet business needs, and realize the value of their Workday applications at a much faster pace.
Surety Systems
Surety Systems is one of the leading boutique technology firms in the industry, providing support for every step of a company’s Workday experience, including implementation planning, digital transformation, change management, deployment, and post-implementation support for all Workday system needs. Surety Systems works to help companies leverage Workday solutions to facilitate successful business change and realize the full potential of their Workday landscape, regardless of where their current project needs lie.
What Sets Surety Systems Apart?
Surety Systems offers a unique experience that sets it apart from other Workday partners, global systems integrators, and managed services firms.
From helping companies choose the right Workday solutions for their needs to outlining implementation plans, handling complex system integrations, providing support for HR reinvention processes, and offering ongoing support long after Go-Live, Surety Systems is here to help.
Time-and-Materials Basis
Our Workday consultants operate on a time-and-materials basis, so you only pay for the actual hours worked and not a bucket of hours or additional project management fees tacked on throughout the project timeline.
So, whether you need a consultant who can act as a PM for your new implementation project or someone who can handle 20 hours of work on complex Workday configuration tasks each week, we have the best-fit consultants to meet your needs without breaking the bank in the process.
Your Workday System, Your Way
One of our main mottos at Surety Systems is “Your technology. Your priorities. Our expertise.”, meaning that regardless of where your Workday project needs lie, we are guaranteed to assemble a project team that meets your unique needs.
No project is too big or too small for our team. We work to find senior-level consultants who have been there and done that for every project.
From lower-level Workday analysts to configuration experts, experienced project managers, and everything in between, we’ve got the right consultants for your needs whenever and wherever you need them. We also don’t work just to meet our bottom line; your needs stay at the top of our priority list, no matter what.
Continual Support Over Time
Our Workday consulting services don’t stop when your Workday implementation process ends.
We’re here to provide additional Workday support throughout your entire Workday lifecycle, meaning we have you covered through complex integrations, new features, software upgrades, and more. And, unlike other Workday partners and consulting firms, our team does whatever it takes to find the best-fit consultants for your unique project needs, not just the cheapest or most convenient option.
We also have extensive experience with multiple different ERP systems, so we can even support your legacy systems while your internal teams focus on moving everything over to a new Workday solution. This way, your company doesn’t miss a beat when you move to the new system.
Improved Time-to-Value
You need it, we have it — whenever and wherever you ask for it.
Our team understands that urgent project needs arise, and you need someone who can fill the gap as quickly and efficiently as possible. We guarantee quicker turnaround times for your project and more efficient consultant assignments without skimping on the quality of the consultant or the work.
Getting Started with Our Team?
Our team of senior-level Workday consultants has skills and extensive experience in the Workday ecosystem, making them the perfect fit for any Workday project needs. And, with the right kind of know-how for your project needs, our Workday consultants can help your internal teams make more informed decisions and maximize your Workday investment in the long run.
Interested in learning more about our Workday team? Contact us today for more information!
