People are the future: 3 key takeaways from Workday Rising San Francisco

Last week, approximately 15,000 gathered in San Francisco to celebrate the 15^th year of Workday Rising. Every year, Workday hosts two Rising events—one in the U.S. and one in EMEA—bringing thousands of customers and partners together for several days of learning, networking, and fun.

The overwhelming theme of this year’s conference, held from September 26-29, was about the future of work, with technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning taking center stage.

Both technologies—but especially artificial intelligence—have made giant leaps in the last year, leading many to worry about their potential risks. While these risks are real, something that Workday’s co-founder and co-CEO Aneel Bhusri acknowledged during the conference’s opening keynote, it was clear that Workday views both not as replacements for humans but as ways of extending their capabilities.

In other words, while Workday’s technology continues to evolve, people will remain central to the future of work.

As a Workday service partner for over a decade, we were excited to be back with the rest of the Workday Community to help promote that vision. With our patented, in-tenant service delivery model, we have always prioritized human-centered innovation in the workplace, and this year was no different, as you’ll read further down.

Let’s jump into a few key takeaways from this year’s U.S. event.

AI and ML will continue to streamline processes and improve human productivity

This point was driven home during the conference’s innovation keynote as members of Workday’s product marketing team explained how integrating AI and ML into Workday’s applications will help reduce human error and streamline time-consuming tasks, like writing job descriptions, so employees can focus on more strategic work.

But there’s more to AI and ML than just streamlining redundant or time-consuming steps. Both technologies also have a role to play in helping companies with their core operations and objectives. For example, AI will make it easier for companies to quickly set up and staff new teams using the information already stored inside Workday. And similarly, seasonal data and sales history can help companies be more strategic about their staffing levels, helping companies in hospitality and retail create work schedules that align to their staffing needs at busier times of the year.

Companies can do even more with Workday Extend

Workday has a long history of empowering its users to learn from other users through the Workday Community website and through every Rising conference. Workday Extend complements that long history by putting additional power into the hands of customers. Through this solution, companies can create their own Workday apps to enhance their experience and streamline their operations.

As revealed last week, Workday will use AI and ML to continuously improve Workday Extend’s capabilities, adjusting models to make them easier to use, with no coding experience required, and empowering customers to easily create apps that fill industry-specific needs.

Read Workday’s press release to learn more about how they’re using AI and ML to enhance Workday Extend’s capabilities.

Payroll can play a larger role in helping companies recruit, engage, and retain employees

As employee expectations around financial well-being evolve, companies will have to figure out how they’re going to offer what today’s talent is looking for in as simple and unified a way as possible. And that means using technology to offer employee-centric solutions that move payroll forward.

That’s why we used this year’s conference to introduce myFlexWallet—a new all-in-one digital wallet that gives employees a single place to track real-time pay, access earned wages, use payroll cards, manage savings goals, and more.

But it isn’t just workers who benefit from this expansive set of features. myFlexWallet empowers companies to attract, engage, and retain employees, with a partner who can also handle all their payroll processing needs.

In addition to speaking to people at our booth, we also addressed a payroll audience during a session called “How Payroll Leaders Are Maximizing Their Investments in People and Data.” Michael Roseman, our chief operating officer, led the conversation and was joined by special guests from two of our customers, Wide Open West and The Trade Desk. Over the course of the conversation, our speakers addressed a number of great audience questions, including questions about the challenges of reconciling payroll with the general ledger and the potential tax implications of earned wage access. You can view the session on-demand from Workday here.

Looking ahead to what’s next

The last few years have shown just how important human connection is. That’s why we value every opportunity to come together with so many Workday customers and partners.

We’re proud to be part of an ecosystem focused on delivering innovative solutions for helping people work better, and we’re looking forward to connecting with even more customers and partners at Workday Rising Europe in Barcelona on November 14-16.

If you’re curious about myFlexWallet and want to learn more about its capabilities, we are hosting a webinar about it on October 19. Registration for that event is now open. Sign up here to reserve your seat.