Workday eyes higher education market

Software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based enterprise resource planning vendor Workday says it is moving into the higher education market with a wave of new functionality and a focused, industry-specific business unit, writes InformationWeek.

Co-founded in 2005 by higher education veteran Dave Duffield, Workday has sought customers for its HR, benefits and payroll-centric SaaS app across many industries.

With this announcement, the company has introduced Workday Public Sector, a separate business unit that will guide product strategy and development, sales and marketing, and services and support specifically for government and higher-education.

According to Market Wire, Workday also revealed strategic design partners and early customers Georgetown University, Cornell University, Brown University, and University of Southern California.

The administrative systems running at most colleges and universities were designed and deployed decades ago and no longer meet the needs of today's modern institutions.

Additionally, the cost and complexity of maintaining and upgrading these systems has become untenable at a time when higher education institutions must optimise budget and resources.