Dive Brief:
- HR software provider Workday Inc. has inked a seven-year deal to use IBM Corp.’s cloud-computing services "for some internal operations," according to The Wall Street Journal.
- IBM landing Workday, a major HR technology brand, comes in the wake of industry analysts doubting IBM’s ability to compete with giants such as Amazon.com, Microsoft and Alphabet Inc. (Google's parent company) in the highly competitive market for computing power delivered over the internet, the Journal reports.
- Workday, which produces cloud-based enterprise human capital management (HCM) and finance software, will use IBM’s SoftLayer cloud-computing service to "test and develop" new programs, according to the Journal.
Dive Insight:
The Journal reports that IBM SoftLayer counts a range of large customers including SAP AG,VMware Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. IBM told the Journal that typically clients don’t say how they use SoftLayer services.
David Clarke, Workday’s senior vice president of technology development, said he hopes to make Workday’s software development and testing more productive and efficient by using IBM’s cloud services. Workday may expand its use of SoftLayer into other areas later, the company said in a press release.
IBM and Workday already had an existing business relationship, as the former offers global Workday Consulting Services and in 2015 acquired Meteorix, a Workday services partner. In addition, IBM uses Workday’s HCM software to manage its employees.
Workday is a popular HR tech provider which has recently made a number of acquisitions in the space, including Platfora and Zaption. The company may likely be seeking ways to better integrate and expand such programs into their business.
