Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - Workday Extend: Build people and money apps with low-code tooling (BIZ108)

Summary

• Steven Gee, a product manager on the Xtend team, presents Workday Extend, a low-code tooling platform for building enterprise applications for finance and HR.
• Workday is an enterprise cloud service used by over 50% of Fortune 500 companies, boasting a 97% customer satisfaction rate.
• The partnership between Workday and AWS has been ongoing for 10 years, with Workday running on AWS and having a private listing in the AWS Marketplace.
• Workday Extend allows for consolidation of disparate systems into the Workday ecosystem, enabling easier IT management and enhanced security.
• The platform is built for agility and innovation, allowing organizations to respond quickly to changes such as pandemics, wars, or cyberattacks.
• St. Luke's and Target are highlighted as case studies where Workday Extend has been used to quickly build applications in response to a ransomware attack and to enhance employee loyalty, respectively.
• Workday Extend's low-code tooling includes App Builder and Page Builder, which simplify the development process with drag-and-drop interfaces and automatic code generation.
• AWS AI services like Amazon Comprehend, Translate, Textract, and Recognition are integrated into Workday Extend, enabling advanced features in applications.
• Chevron's use case is presented, showcasing an application that allows for leadership program nominations in multiple languages using AWS AI services for translation.
• Workday is fostering a developer community with forums, tooling, tutorials, and conferences to support the development of applications within Workday Extend.

Insights

• Workday Extend is positioned as a strategic solution for enterprises looking to streamline their finance and HR systems by consolidating multiple applications into a single ecosystem.
• The emphasis on low-code tooling reflects a broader industry trend towards democratizing application development, enabling non-technical users to create and modify applications without deep coding knowledge.
• The integration of AWS AI services into Workday Extend applications demonstrates the potential for enterprise applications to leverage advanced technologies to solve complex business problems, such as language barriers in multinational companies.
• The case studies of St. Luke's and Target illustrate the practical benefits of using Workday Extend, including rapid application development in crisis situations and improving employee engagement processes.
• Workday's focus on building a developer community around Extend suggests a commitment to continuous improvement and user support, which could be a key factor in the platform's adoption and success.