Workday invests £550m in UK ops

Human resources and finance platform vendor Workday is to invest over half a billion pounds in its UK operations over the next three years

The US headquartered firm – whose UK-based clients include The National Archives and the Department of Education, said in a press statement released yesterday that it would use the funding to invest in digital skills initiatives as well as supporting smaller tech firms.

Workday added that the investment – up 40% on the previous three years – would also be used to increase its existing headcount in the region and to create new roles.

Since opening its first office in London in 2011, Workday said that it has experienced “considerable growth” in its UK operations and customer base.

The firm claims to support over 35% of the FTSE100, with high profile customers including Rolls Royce and gym chain David Lloyd Clubs using Workday for their digital transformation journeys.

Other key growth initiatives include giving UK customers the option of accessing Workday applications locally on Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) – which will come into practice at the start of next year.

By combining artificial intelligence and data analytics capabilities, the vendor claims that the AWS integration will provide strategic insights in real time, helping to enable UK companies to drive growth and achieve business results.

Workday added that it also wants to expand its roster of advisory partners in the UK, which already includes Accenture, Cognizant, Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC as well as UK tech companies Kainos and CloudRock.

Skills investment

The firm also plans to beef up its skills and training offerings. Workday recently launched a range of new apprenticeship schemes in the UK, including a sales programme for professionals that want to move into tech, offering a full-time salary and fully funded three-year bachelor’s degree.

To expand on this the firm said it would launch a new range of bachelor’s and master’s degree apprenticeship programmes in partnership with the Henley Business School as a pathway for its existing employees to build their management and leadership skills through formal study.

Other moves by the firm include investing in early to growth stage enterprise tech companies, provides them with funding, access to Workday’s customer base, and support with integrations to Workday to help accelerate their growth.

Current UK SMEs supported by Workday Ventures include talent platform Beamery, training platform eduME and professional apprentice platform Multiverse.

The significant investment prompted the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt to comment: “This is another big boost for Britain’s trillion-dollar technology sector and shows our plan for the UK to become the world’s next Silicon Valley is working.”

Daniel Pell, vice president and country manager, UKI, Workday said: “This level of investment not only supports the growth of our customers in the region but marks a key milestone in Workday’s efforts to drive the UK economy forward.”

The firm’s annual EMEA event, Workday Rising, is due to take place in London later this year.