As we see Workday move from strength to strength, the announcement of Workday running on AWS (Amazon Web Services) has only propelled its status as a world leading ERP platform.

AWS provides on-demand cloud computing platforms on a paid subscription basis, and the technology allows subscribers (individuals, companies and governments) to have a virtual cluster of computers, at their disposal available constantly, through the Internet.

Following this revelation that Workday will run on AWS, it was announced that customers including Fresche Solutions and Twitch are now – for the first time – running Workday applications including Workday Financial Management and Workday Human Capital Management – in the public cloud. This is just the start of the collaboration between Workday and AWS, as it is currently only available to Workday customers with Headquarters in Canada and also a select number customers in the US.  However at the start of 2019 it will extend to Germany, and then globally depending on the customer demand.

With business’s historically (and currently) reluctant to keep HR, Finance and other sensitive organisation data in the cloud, and whilst I am sure this will lead to an even greater need and focus on data security, this is another encouraging step in company confidence in the cloud.

So what are the benefits of AWS and Workday?

• Freedom. Workday running on AWS equips customers with more freedom to choose how and where they run Workday applications – be it on the public cloud in Workday’s standard datacentre’s or in a private environment hosted by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This is likely to increase the accessibility of Workday and I don’t doubt that we will see an uptake in Workday customers as a result.
• Satisfaction. Workday is renowned for exceptional client satisfaction, and they have achieved an impressive 98 percent customer satisfaction rating. Workday running on AWS equips customers with the ability to choose how and where they run Workday, which is more than likely to result in even more, satisfied customers.
• Flexibility. Workday has introduced Zero Downtime, to ensure constant flexibility to Workday customers and allow them to plan, execute, and analyze whenever the business requires. Workday has committed to applying weekly service updates meaning minimal disruption. The result? Workday remains always-on, there is Zero Downtime!

This is yet another significant milestone for Workday. As the offering continues to grow I am interested to see how they harness the power of AWS and I am interested to see what is next for Workday?