More output isn’t better business: Workday's CFO Zane Rowe on how finance chiefs should really measure AI
Good morning. For Workday CFO Zane Rowe, the promise of AI isn’t just about automating tasks. It’s about giving employees the freedom to rethink how they work, uncover new insights, and add more value to the business.
TL;DR
- Workday CFO Zane Rowe sees AI as a way to empower employees to rethink their work, uncover insights, and add more value.
- The company is exploring agentic AI internally, with the tax team developing AI agents to improve employee work.
- Workday's finance transformation team tests its own products and explores new technologies, while also gathering customer feedback on AI adoption.
- AI offers opportunities for improving business insights and redesigning processes, with tools like Decision Intelligence helping finance teams model scenarios and understand performance drivers.
- Workday announced new 'autopilot agents' to automate routine workflows, an expanded 'Trusted Agent Platform', and a partnership with Anthropic.
- Rowe measures AI success through an outcome-based approach, prioritizing better work, stronger decisions, greater organizational capacity, and improved customer value over traditional ROI.
- The goal is for AI to enable finance teams to uncover insights, anticipate problems, advise leaders, and improve decisions, shifting focus from information production to driving business forward.
- CFOs are focusing on how AI can ensure teams are motivated and engaged, allowing them to perform the work they originally intended.