June’s live Cloud Wars Expo event featured dozens of industry leaders allowing the Acceleration Economy team access to the inner workings of the greatest growth market the world has ever known.
In this News Desk interview, Acceleration Economy VP and Principal Analyst Aaron Back welcomes Sharon Schell and Joe Wilson from Workday for a conversation on both hospitality and retail industry solutions.
Highlights
00:01 — Aaron introduces Workday Director of Industry Strategy Sharon Schell and Chief Technology Officer Joe Wilson.
01:17 — Moving from on-premise to the cloud requires industry-specific solutions. Meeting customer expectations requires purpose-built solutions.
03:29 — The line between digital and physical experiences is blurring for both retail and hospitality customers. How do organizations find the optimal mix of customer engagement?
04:45 — Customers are trying to leverage platforms to simplify their technology portfolios. One customer told Wilson that his company ran 650 individual applications. Streamlining apps and processes boosts data usage, sustainability, and security.
07:08 — Sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have,” but a requirement for retail and hospitality brands. Employees and customers care about companies “with soul.”
09:15 — Sustainability and profitability were once opposing forces for all but the largest companies.
09:50 — Workday’s sustainability mindset is not an “either-or;” the company’s commitment to net carbon zero includes combatting data silos.
11:31 — Digital natives care about seeing the sustainable impact of their purchase. Wilson gives the example of eliminating single-use plastics.
12:10 — Aaron turns the conversation toward cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and customer preparedness.
13:10 — Wilson emphasizes reducing risk by simplifying app portfolios. Every Workday customer contributes to identifying and eliminating threats to the same platform. Using the same platform builds trust in the Workday infrastructure and facilitates a partner ecosystem.
15:30 — Workday is built so co-innovators can collaborate and innovate on the platform by “speaking the same language” with all the same versions, products, and features. Everyone benefits from collective innovation and solutions to real-world problems; Wilson uses an example of vaccination reporting.
17:42 — Schell details the network of Workday customers’ willingness to collaborate, even among direct competitors, in order to serve customer needs.
Access more than 40 hours of cloud education content featuring 100-plus speakers at Cloud Wars Expo On-Demand. All content is free to Acceleration Economy subscribers with an on-demand pass.
