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Is it Time to Renew your Workday Subscription?

Simple steps to getting more out of your Workday, enhancing digital transformation, and reducing your overall cost.


Renew Workday Subscription

With over 3,000 live customers, roughly 33% of all Workday Customers will need to renew, renegotiate, and re-sign their Workday Subscription and related services agreements within the next 6-9 months. The question is: Are you getting the most out of your Workday Solution, Services, and Subscription?


This article focuses on simple steps and considerations that may help save thousands of dollars and drive integrated Workday value as part of your subscription renewal process.


All Workday customers have standard renewal language built into their existing agreements. This often includes a combination of terms and conditions such as:

  • A pre-negotiated/ set percentage change

  • CPI percentage (Consumer Price Index)

  • Pre-set headcount (FSE) parameters

  • Other Point in Time Adjustment Factors

  • Credit requirements

In the real world, only two things cannot be negotiated - (1) Death; and (2) Taxes. And while many try to negotiate these, very few succeed. And that means, everything else including software subscriptions, software services, and related technology services are all negotiable (regardless of the contract term).


Each year, companies leave tens of thousands of dollars of real money on the negotiating table. For some companies, the renewal cycle simply sneaks up on them and they are left in somewhat of an "over the barrel" negotiating position. For others, they lack the knowledge or experience: (a) of the original contract; (b) of the complexities inherit to subscription agreements (such as amendments, supplemental materials, original MSA, Price adjustment schemes, etc.); and/or (c) they simply inherited the contract and not entirely sure what can be negotiated.


Simple steps before your Workday Subscription negotiations


Most vendors drive to maximize their subscription fees, increase the number of modules purchased, and ensure growing recurring revenue. The customer is simply trying to get the right solution at the right price. It is our experience, that with some simple planning, preparation, and leveraging appropriate expertise (procurement, legal, 3rd party advisory firms, etc.), your renewal can yield (a) significant improvements in your contract, your budget, and your technology footprint.


Having initiated millions of dollars in Workday Subscription and Service contracts, we have proven methods for helping customers (a) save money, (b) get more from their Workday; (c) drive more value from their Workday investment.


1.) Develop a timeline for renewal

  • This should be 3-6 months prior to your renewal

  • It is worth noting that there are times when Workday or other vendors may send you an “early renewal” offer. Basically, offering you an innovative or compelling offer to renew earlier than the end date of your existing contract.

2.) Identify key stakeholders to participate in the process

  • Functional Leadership (HR, Finance, IT)

  • Operational Support Staff (e.g. Shared Services, COE staff)

  • Compliance

  • Procurement/Sourcing

  • Legal

3.) Assess your Technology Contracts

  • Review all elements of your Workday contracts (there are often three to four key documents you need to be reviewing). Note: we have worked with customers that were unaware of SKUs they had already purchased but never activated.

  • Collect other relevant and related technology contracts (finance, HR, 3rd party vendors and service providers.

  • Inventory your existing vendors, functionality, contract terms and termination dates, fees, costs (total cost), fee adjustment language.

  • Estimate your current and projected TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) across your related technology stack. Your TCO will include subscription costs, 3rd party costs, AMS providers, change requests, orders, internal staff costs, etc.

4.) Conduct a (quick) functional review of the existing vendors system and capabilities. Work with your HR, Finance, Payroll, and IT teams to:

  • Assess headcount for the past 3 years (note: we have found customers who have paid for projected headcount increases but never achieved those numbers. As a result, some of them overpaid for employees that never existed).

  • Project headcount for the next 3 years.

  • Interview key functional staff around what is working/not working with the current solution. The focus of this activity is primarily to identify /determine if (a) you are using the product properly and/or (b) determining if more vendor product can resolve the problem or gap. This will become part of your negotiations.

The above should take approximately 4-6-weeks. The outcomes from effective negotiation planning and preparation can result in significant savings and improvements of your Workday solution and investment.


Conclusion


If you are facing your Workday/technology subscription renewal, take the time to plan, prepare, and position yourself for success. Be clear, be persistent, be bold.

We are happy to conduct a complimentary planning session to discuss:

  • Subscription reduction considerations

  • Reduced Total Contract costs

  • Enhance their Workday investment

  • Get more from their technology and services investment

  • Optimize their Workday experience

  • Targeted cost saving considerations

  • Contract renewal recommendations

  • SKU Recommendations and considerations

  • Potential to optimize your Workday solution


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