Workday Rising 25 - Workday’s "bold, bodacious” AI vision, viewed from the ‘cheap seats’

December marks Carl Eschenbach’s third year at the helm of Workday, first as co-CEO with company founder Aneel Bhusri, then as sole custodian from January 2024. This week he’s been at the forefront of the company’s most high-profile event of the year, Rising, as the Workday faithful gathered in San Francisco to hear about the current and future direction of the company.

Watching from the ‘cheap seats’ in the UK - ‘cheap seats’, copyright Dennis Howlett, formerly of this parish - I was struck by the confident articulation of the firm’s commitment to AI, which was a natural extension perhaps to the pragmatic approach to the subject that Bhusri used to adopt when questioned. Workday has never been part of the hype cycle hysteria that has over-shadowed the past couple of years, but has instead spent its time and money carefully and strategically.

At a meeting with analysts ...