We enjoy learning about companies that are tightly linked to specific ISV ecosystems. HCM and ERP platforms are extremely relevant for all organizations, especially large enterprises. We did deep dives in SAP (https://alten.capital/blog/sap-services-partner-ecosystem-analysis) and Oracle (https://alten.capital/blog/oracle-cloud-services-partner-ecosystem) already. Workday belongs to this list of top enterprise ERP and HCM solutions.
Workday (https://www.workday.com/) was started in 2005 by the co-founders of PeopleSoft after they sold to Oracle, with a strategy to participate in the SaaS/cloud market. The company started with a focus on cloud HCM and promptly added financials. They went public in 2012 and reached $6.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023 (20% growth rate). Workday discloses their professional services revenue, approximately 9% of total revenue, with negative gross margins.
With more than 10,000 worldwide customers and 17,000 employees, they serve more than 50% of the Fortune 500 and midsized organizations. As other relevant software companies we have covered in the past, Workday has developed a services partner ecosystem that accelerates the adoption and maintenance of their products. They have plans to increase the number and capabilities of their services and advisory partners by 2026.
Workday’s services and advisory partner ecosystem is not as mature as others we have seen, with approximately 87 services partners worldwide.
The majority of the partners are based in the US (60%) with a significant number of employees in Asia (80%). Europe has a third of the partners.
Half of the partners have fewer than 500 employees. The big consulting players are all in the list and account for most of the employees in these tables. Workday does not inform the number of certifications per partner but similar to other ISVs they have training and education programs in place
At Alten Capital we invest in technology services companies. We are fond of services providers that lean on the demand and growth of specific software solutions. Please reach out to us to find ways in which we can collaborate.