Video: Welcome to Elevate Online | Duration: 210s | Summary: Introduction session for Elevate Online. Video: The Agentic AI opportunity: lifting productivity for better economic, business and employee outcomes | Duration: 1360s | Summary: In a business environment where productivity is constraining economic and business growth, we have an unprecedented opportunity to augment employee productivity with digital labor, in the form of AI & Agentic AI. By adopting an AI-mindset, we stand to reap the gains on offer from AI, and avoid the fear-based narratives. Now is the time to prepare your organisation for this seismic workforce shift, examine the reskilling and workforce planning required, and explore how you will take your organisation on the journey.Resources:Ebook: Critical Success Factors to Enterprise AI AdoptionWorkday Blog: 10 Hard Truths About Enterprise AI Adoption Video: Forward thinker customer fireside chat with Hungry Jack’s | Duration: 2185s | Summary: How does a leading brand like Hungry Jack's fuel consistent growth? Join us for an exclusive fireside chat with their CPO to uncover their strategic approach to building a powerful workforce management plan. Learn how they've seamlessly integrated recruitment and talent development to drive organisational expansion. Discover key insights into attracting top talent, developing future leaders, and fostering a resilient workforce. This is a unique opportunity for executive leaders to gain actionable strategies for leveraging their people as a core driver of success.Resources:Workday Customer Stories Video: Workplace mental health and productivity: contemporary solutions to life's polycrisis with Beyond Blue | Duration: 2178s | Summary: Hear from Beyond Blue CEO Georgie Harman on how this period of existential adaptation is shaping mental health in the workplace, and how employers can optimise the mental health of their people.Resources:Workday Blog: From Stress to Synergy: HR’s Burnout ImperativeWorkday x Beyond Blue Case Study Video: Riding the next wave: Agentic AI and the future of business with Workday Illuminate | Duration: 2346s | Summary: Businesses stand at the edge of a powerful new transformation—one driven by Agentic AI and defined by unprecedented speed, scale, and adaptability. In this session, we’ll explore how to make the critical decisions today that will set your organisation up for success tomorrow. Cut through the hype to understand the real potential of Agentic AI, and discover how Workday Illuminate is a strategic catalyst in navigating this next era of intelligent enterprise.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Whitepaper: Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityGuide: Innovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: Unlock Deeper Talent Insights with HiredScore | Duration: 2552s | Summary: Optimise your hiring for efficiency and impact with HiredScore. This workshop will explore how HiredScore’s AI-powered talent orchestration platform improves recruitment productivity and drives better hiring outcomes. Participants will learn to leverage HiredScore to automate processes, accelerate time-to-hire, and enhance the overall quality of their talent acquisition.Resources:Ebook: AI-Powered Talent Acquisition and Mobility: Speed to Iconic OutcomesWorkday Blog: Why HR Needs an AI-First Mentality Video: Harnessing AI for Contract Management | Duration: 1306s | Summary: Discover the power of artificial intelligence in contract management. This workshop explores how Evisort’s cutting-edge AI technology can revolutionise your contract processes. We’ll delve into AI-driven contract analysis, risk assessment, and data extraction, demonstrating how Evisort transforms contracts from static documents into strategic assets.Resources:Gartner Magic Quadrant Report: Gartner has named Evisort a Visionary in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CLMForrester Wave Report: Evisort makes a splash in the 2025 Forrester Wave™ for CLM! Video: Workday Extend in Action: An Innovation Journey | Duration: 1542s | Summary: Discover the real-world power of Workday Extend in this session. Learn firsthand how Workday Extend can be leveraged to build custom solutions, streamline processes, and address unique organisational needs. This session will provide practical insights and inspiration for unlocking the full potential of Workday Extend within your own organisation.Resources:Workday Extend: A Jump-Start GuideDatasheet: Workday Extend Video: HR: Customer conversations with Bunnings, Guzman y Gomez and Anglicare | Duration: 2225s | Summary: Learn how leading organisations are embracing HR transformation to drive success. Hear their stories and gain valuable insights in this informative session.Resources:Report: Elevating Human Potential, The AI Skills RevolutionWorkday Blog: From Upskilling to AI7 Eleven x Workday Case Study Video: Leveraging Payroll as a Strategic Resource | Duration: 1280s | Summary: Are you ready to transform your payroll function from a transactional back-office function into a genuine strategic asset? In this exclusive Elevate on-demand session, join Allyson Skene, Workday's VP of Global Product Vision and Experience, as she unveils how modern payroll can redefine your organisation's success.Resources:Maximise Payroll Performance with AI & Automation WebinarCustomer Story: CognizantCustomer Story: Federation UniversityReport: Global Strategic Payroll Video: Forward thinking HR: Future proof your workforce | Duration: 2796s | Summary: The future of work is here, and it's being driven by the rise of AI and the need for agile, skills-based organisations. This session provides Australian HR leaders with a roadmap for understanding the key challenges and opportunities for HR leaders, driving strategic workforce planning to ensure you have the right talent, in the right place, at the right time, embracing AI to automate, augment, and enhance HR functions, and are building a culture of continuous growth and development.Resources:Report: Forever Forward HR Leader APJReport: AI Skills Revolution7 Eleven x Workday Case Study Video: CFO ADAPT Insights: 3 things top performers do for the most success in AI | Duration: 2245s | Summary: Drawing on ADAPT's recent research on Agentic and GenAI across 800 Australian business leaders, Dr Michael will explore the key factors that contribute to AI success for CFOs. AI is now a strategic priority with 70% of respondents planning to increase their investment, however, only 25% of organisations have automated workflows, highlighting a gap between AI readiness and actual implementation. Learn the 3 things top performers do for AI success, how to track long-term value and ROI, and which internal measures set the leaders apart.Resources: Workday Blog: How AI Is Changing Corporate Finance in 2025Workday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementReport: Global CFO AI Indicator Video: Moving the Office of the CFO Forever Forward | Duration: 2380s | Summary: The potential for accounting and procurement teams to make strategic business impact has never been greater. Together, we’re charting a course to unlock this potential and harness the power of data, people and processes. Join this session to learn about the latest enhancements in AI, analytics and user experience, and see where we’re heading next.Resources:Report: CFOs and CIOs as Change Agents Leading the Operational Efficiency TransformationReport: 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud ERP for Service-Centric EnterprisesQuick Demo: Workday for Finance Leaders Video: Getting Started with AI for FP&A | Duration: 950s | Summary: In today's dynamic environment, FP&A professionals are challenged to optimize forecasting, data analysis, and reporting capabilities. AI is redefining the strategic potential of the FP&A teams, enhancing efficiency, accuracy, and allowing FP&A teams to operate at their best.Join us to hear the tangible impact of AI on FP&A and practical tips for preparing your team and technology to embrace this transformation.Resources:eBook: Getting Started with AI for FP&A: Practical Steps Toward Greater Business ImpactAdaptive Planning DemoAdaptive Planning Free Trial Video: From black box to finance powerhouse: how Insignia reshaped their future of finance | Duration: 2342s | Summary: What if finance didn’t just report the numbers — but shaped the story? Join us as we unpack how Workday Accounting Centre transformed Insignia from operating in the dark to leading with clarity, control, and confidence. Plus, get a glimpse into how agentic AI is set to revolutionise finance even more. This isn’t just a tech upgrade — it’s a bold new future for finance.Resources:Workday Accounting CenterQuick Demo: Harness the Power of Data for More Complete Insight Video: Riding the next wave: Agentic AI and the future of business with Workday Illuminate | Duration: 2346s | Summary: Businesses stand at the edge of a powerful new transformation—one driven by Agentic AI and defined by unprecedented speed, scale, and adaptability. In this session, we’ll explore how to make the critical decisions today that will set your organisation up for success tomorrow. Cut through the hype to understand the real potential of Agentic AI, and discover how Workday Illuminate is a strategic catalyst in navigating this next era of intelligent enterprise.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityInnovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: Technology: Customer conversations with RMIT University, Guzman y Gomez and Commonwealth Bank | Duration: 2193s | Summary: Learn how leading organisations are embracing IT transformation to drive success. Hear their stories and gain valuable insights in this informative session.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Whitepaper: Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityGuide: Innovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: Let's get practical: turning Workday's AI innovations into action | Duration: 2234s | Summary: Hear from our forward-thinking enterprise architects on how to turn these strategies into action. Learn through real examples how Workday’s latest innovations - including Illuminate features, our Agentic System of Record, and the AI-powered Extend Marketplace - are helping CIOs master their strategic balancing act: driving AI innovation, simplifying their system landscape, and governing risks around data integrity, auditability, and responsible AI management.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Whitepaper: Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityGuide: Innovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: KPMG: Navigating the AI Revolution: from hype to strategic implementation | Duration: 2209s | Summary: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transitioning from a futuristic concept to a tangible force reshaping businesses worldwide. Organisations today face the challenge of moving beyond the hype and strategically implementing AI to achieve genuine AI readiness. This fireside chat, featuring Steve Pratley, Partner and Finance Transformation Lead at KPMG, we will delve into the key drivers pushing organisations to prioritize AI, the common hurdles encountered in implementation, and the essential components of an AI-ready organisation. We will explore KPMG's approach to guiding clients through this complex landscape, including practical examples of successful AI integration and strategies for leveraging innovation for a future powered by Agentic AI.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Whitepaper: Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityGuide: Innovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: Reshaping Expertise: The Evolving Role of the Professional | Duration: 1318s | Summary: AI, client expectations and talent shortages – the pressure is on for Professional and Business Services firms. But what if these challenges were actually opportunities in disguise? Backed by new research, we’ll explore the real-world strategies firms are implementing to conquer margin pressures, attract top talent and leverage AI for transformative growth. Learn how to turn disruption into a competitive advantage and achieve results.Resources:Trust in AI | Global insights 2025 - KPMG AustraliaWhitepaper: Create Competitive Advantage for Professional Services by Leveraging Technology and Workflow Automation Video: Industry Insights - The role of AI in transforming customer experience in Financial Services | Duration: 980s | Summary: For too long, financial services organisations have talked about the power of data and the need for technology modernisation. But talk alone won’t drive transformation – and turning vast data sets into timely, actionable insights is critical. In this session, we’ll explore how forward-thinking FS leaders are modernising their technology, activating data, and embracing the latest AI innovations to enable smarter decisions, faster reporting, and greater agility—so teams can seize opportunities in real time.Resources:Trust in AI | Global insights 2025 - KPMG AustraliaGlobal CFO AI Indicator Report Video: AI-Driven Healthcare: Shifting Care Forever Forward with mecwacare | Duration: 2580s | Summary: The healthcare industry faces unprecedented environmental and regulatory challenges, including rising costs, workforce shortages, and the increasing demand for personalised care. To navigate this complex and changing landscape, health services and Not-for-Profits are leaning into the need to build AI powered, sustainable and human centered operations. Tune in to hear how organisations are leveraging technology to expand their positive impact for clients and the community.Resources:Podcast: AI in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Operations and Patient CareWorkday Blog: AI Agents in Healthcare: Top Trends and Use CasesCustomer Story: AnglicareCustomer Story: Genesis Care Video: Illuminating the future of Higher Education with Workday Student | Duration: 1966s | Summary: Join us for an insightful session delving into Workday Student. We'll unveil how our powerful AI platform is revolutionising Higher Education by delivering actionable insights and driving transformative outcomes. Discover the tangible value Workday Student brings to educational institutions, empowering them to streamline operations, enhance student experiences, and achieve strategic goals. This session will begin with a business update, followed by an exploration of the customer value Workday Student delivers. Following this, we will outline the customer roadmap for Workday Student and conclude with a showcase of Workday AI Illuminate and its impact on higher education.Resources:Workday Student DatasheetWorkday Student OverviewWorkday Blog: Transfer Credits: Supporting Student Mobility in Higher EducationWorkday Student Quick DemoWorkday Student Customer Testimonials Video: Student: Customer conversations with University of Arkansas System | Duration: 2156s | Summary: This session offers higher education leaders, IT professionals, and administrators a real-world case study, providing actionable insights for your institution's digital transformation.Resources:Workday Student DatasheetWorkday Student OverviewWorkday Blog: Transfer Credits: Supporting Student Mobility in Higher EducationWorkday Student Quick DemoWorkday Student Customer Testimonials Video: The power of Workday Student, overview and product showcase | Duration: 2825s | Summary: This session will showcase key capabilities of the Workday Student product, and how they can benefit your institution. We’ll focus on the student experience, key administrator personas, and institutional insights from reporting through to analytics.Resources:Workday Student DatasheetWorkday Student OverviewWorkday Blog: Transfer Credits: Supporting Student Mobility in Higher EducationWorkday Student Quick DemoWorkday Student Customer Testimonials Video: Get hands on with Workday Student | Duration: 1336s | Summary: Discover the Student experience by getting hands on with Workday. Join us for an interactive session that will have you exploring the student journey in Workday on your mobile device followed by an interactive quiz to test your knowledge.Resources:Workday Student DatasheetWorkday Student OverviewWorkday Blog: Transfer Credits: Supporting Student Mobility in Higher EducationWorkday Student Quick DemoWorkday Student Customer Testimonials Video: Unlock Efficiency and Elevate Experiences: Local Government Success with Workday | Duration: 1285s | Summary: Join us to hear how local government customers who have chosen Workday to drive significant improvements across their organizations. This session will highlight tangible results in enhanced service delivery, reduced operational costs, and a more streamlined and positive employee journey. Explore how Workday can help your council achieve similar outcomes.Resources:Report: Navigating Seismic Change in the Public Sector: Embracing a New Era in Public ServiceEbook: How Six Governments Shifted Their Finance and HR Operations to the Cloud Video: Laying the Foundation: Strategies for Successful Workday Implementations in State and Federal Governments | Duration: 1692s | Summary: Workday implementations in state and federal governments are not just about technology; they are about enabling organisational transformation. This session examines how to align Workday deployments with broader strategic goals, fostering a culture of innovation, and building a future-ready foundation. Discover how to leverage Workday to drive efficiency, improve service delivery, and empower your workforce for years to come.Resources:Workday Public Sector for AustraliaGuide: Six Reasons Why Government Organizations Choose WorkdayEbook: Workday for Government Video: Forward thinker fireside chat with Bunnings | Duration: 2468s | Summary: Discover how forward thinkers are turning change into a catalyst for growth. Hear a firsthand account of a successful transformation at Bunnings and gain valuable insights into building a culture of adaptability in this fireside chat.Resources:Workday Customer Stories Video: Technology: Customer conversations with Reserve Bank of New Zealand & Xero | Duration: 2252s | Summary: Learn how leading organisations are embracing IT transformation to drive success. Hear their stories and gain valuable insights in this informative session.Resources:Workday Blog: Top AI Agent Examples and Industry Use CasesWorkday Blog: The Agentic Wave: A New Era of Workforce ManagementWorkday Blog: If Agents Become Your Digital Workforce, How Will You Manage Them?Whitepaper: Responsible AI: Empowering Innovation with IntegrityGuide: Innovations in Artificial Intelligence: Delivering the Power to Adapt Video: Finance: Customer conversations with Heartland Bank | Duration: 2025s | Summary: Learn how leading organisations are embracing Finance transformation to drive success. Hear their stories and gain valuable insights in this informative session.Resources:Workday Blog: Finance Digital Transformation: What Does It Even Mean?Quick Demo: Workday for Finance Leaders Video: Evolving with Confidence: Southern Cross’s Workday Journey with Datacom | Duration: 1757s | Summary: In this fireside chat, Jess Hayes shares how Southern Cross Health Society is evolving its Workday instance to meet the demands of a regulated, people-first environment. From simplifying compliance workflows to transforming learning delivery, this session highlights how strategic enhancements—delivered in partnership with Datacom—are driving measurable impact. Whether you're navigating regulatory change, scaling learning programs, or looking to get more from your Workday investment, this session offers practical insights and proven strategies from a team that’s done it—with the right partner by their side.Resources:Case Study: Southern Cross Health Society leads with data-driven decisions.Case Study: Anglicare empowers its people to make better financial decisions.Workday Blog: Navigating the Aged Care Act: Key Priorities for Providers in 2025 Video: Beyond the balance sheet: How the University of Canterbury is reimagining with Accenture | Duration: 2347s | Summary: What if finance didn’t just report the numbers — but shaped the story?For the University of Canterbury, modernising core finance systems is just one part of a broader transformation journey. In partnership with Accenture, the university is using Workday to go beyond modernising core processes by tackling complex challenges that unlock tangible value. Discover how the University of Canterbury is using Workday across its operations while elevating finance from a back-office function to a strategic enabler, driving clarity, control, and confidence.Plus, get a glimpse into how agentic AI is set to revolutionise finance even more.This isn’t just a tech upgrade — it’s a bold new future for finance.Resources:Press Release: University of Canterbury Selects Workday to Build World-Class Digital Capability Video: Driving next level productivity | Duration: 2678s | Summary: Rapid business change requires agile workforces. Learn to leverage AI tools for streamlined workflows, personalised development and talent discovery. We'll cover best practices for fostering continuous learning and collaboration, enabling you to navigate disruption and build a resilient, future-ready workforce through Workday’s AI Illuminate.Resources:Workday AI AgentsReport: AI Skills RevolutionWorkday Blog: From Upskilling to AI Adoption: A Leader's Guide

Transcript for "Unlock Efficiency and Elevate Experiences: Local Government Success with Workday": Hello, and thank you for joining our local council session for Workday Elevate online. My name is Esther Monks, and I'm a Workday industry adviser for public sector, health care, and education across the Asia Pacific region. In this session, we're exploring how local government can unlock efficiencies and elevate experiences. This is a critical and timely topic right across Australia and Aotearoa, New Zealand. According to recent public sector network surveys, councils are faced with rising demand for quality services from our growing communities, while 61% of councils are navigating financial sustainability as an immediate priority. This widening gap between constituent expectations and financial realities is compounded by the need for employees to have the right skills and tools for the job. As over 80% of councils embrace artificial intelligence over the next two to three years, local governments and cities around the globe are already turning to Workday to help their employees move away from administrative tasks and harness harness AI actionable insights as they embrace technology, foster innovation, streamline operations, and ultimately, deliver better outcomes for our residents. To discuss how local councils are embracing this challenge, I'm thrilled to be joined by Paul Leahy, regional director, public sector Australia, John O'Doherty, senior manager, services supporting the public sector across ANZ, and joining us from the beautiful Beaufort in North Carolina, Lynn Hurley, principal managing partner who supports cities and councils across The US with their transition to cloud. Thank you so much for joining me. Paul, I might start with you. What are you hearing from local councils across the region? Yeah. Thanks, Esther. Great to be here. Yeah. What what we're seeing for from local councils is that, there's sort of a once in a generation change that they need to go through. So in in the past, they've had really monolithic, old, and fragmented systems, and there's a real challenge around supporting those. So people are, not in the workforce anymore for some of those systems that need to be supported. And those systems are really hard to find data, and it's but there's there's really multiple versions of the truth across those organizations. So what they're grappling with is this challenge of they have this generational change that they need to go through to uplift their capability, for their people, but they don't have the systems to do that. And they're also presented with, you know, challenges like AI and and so on. And so what what they're really trying to do is, take, those old systems and look for new systems to replace that. So there's a there's a significant opportunity for councils, and there's significant challenges to sort of address that. And I think that really resonates, Paul, with, you know, some of the adapt research that we're seeing across the region where the top priorities for IT leaders is really around their technology modernization and simplification. With that as well, they're looking at optimizing costs and creating data driven organizations, which, are the top three goals and initiatives that anchor around local council priorities. Lynn, why are cities and councils turning to Workday as that strategic partner for them in their tech modernisation journey? Esther, that's a great question. Thank you also for inviting me to join you today. It's fun to be with you all. There are a couple of things happening. I think I'd like to add to what Paul said earlier too. Part of it is attracting a new generation of workers as well, And Workday is, is is very current in terms of our technology. We are mobile first. We're thinking about, efficiency of reporting and access to all data across the spectrum of human resources, payroll, and and finance. And the younger workers are excited about having a technology that meet that meets them where they are instead of the old clunky technology that these cities and councils and counties here, are have been dealing with for maybe thirty, thirty five years in some cases. Yeah. That's a it's a really interesting point, and I think that that point around deskless, workforce as well, I mean, we we see that across other industries that are really turning to work day like health care, for example, where people are out, you know, in in the frontline of of clinical care. It's the same story with local councils. But what are the sorts of benefits that local councils are realizing as they go through this transition? Well, you know, it's interesting. One of the things that we're seeing here especially is reporting, ease of reporting. So as they're trying to get data to give to other governing bodies or perhaps for budgeting purposes, they are able to get data much more quickly and much more effectively. Paul mentioned multiple sources of truth with these older systems. In Workday, everything is in the same place, and so it's just one source of truth. Yeah. That's a really powerful point. And what what about when we think about, things like internal controls? Paul mentioned these legacy systems and and many disparate siloed environments. What happens when you bring that together in a single environment? Well, it's fascinating. And I have a little story for you if you if you, indulge me for a moment. We had, we had a customer here actually in my home state of North Carolina, county, and they had a number of disparate systems. And it was easy to not separate duties. So one could create a purchase order and then also approve that purchase order and then approve the payment. Just one person. And we had a situation here where the the county, CFO, basically, the chief financial, officer for the county was defrauding the county for a number of years. And when they moved to Workday, the controller discovered as all of the data was being moved into Workday and consolidated into one system, the controller found this fraud and was able to prove it pretty fast. And so that CFO is now, a ward of a a higher government prison, unfortunately. But this is the type of thing that we find in a number of different places and maybe not to that magnitude, but disparate systems do create places for mistakes, opportunities for things like fraud, and also just missing data. And so when you move that all to Workday, we're finding that that efficiency, also creates security and auditability, and, certainly, our audit trail shows down to the millisecond what folks are doing in in the system and so it's very easy to keep track of of everything that's happening, especially in terms of finance for, for a local councilor or or county. Yeah. The ex auditors in me is, is cringing at that story. But, you know, I think local council employees who work for local councils, want to do the best for their for their constituents. You know, we we generally trust that they want to do good, but, obviously, it helps so much when you've just got a framework, you know, to to be able to work within. We had a slide up there around, some of the statistics of our public sector community. John, I would just love to touch on that deployment statistic with yourself. You mean, 95% on time, 98% on budget is unheard of within the the technology implementation landscape. How are Workday customers really delivering, that consistently, to go live? Thanks, Esther, and nice to be here. Well, it's an opportunity to really thank our partner ecosystem. We have a great partner ecosystem, really solid one, in which we work very closely because we're able to share common tools and methods. And it's really thanks to that partner ecosystem, which is quite a a closed one here in Australia and in New Zealand where we invite these partners to join us. It's thanks to them that we've got these excellent deployment statistics, 95% on time, as you say, 90% 98% on budget. And part of it is that we share a philosophy, which is generally called the launch philosophy. And the launch philosophy allows us to start with a high level of preconfiguration, and preconfiguration allows us to to really build a starting point for deployment. It's a strong foundation of business processes that are in use by thousands of other organizations worldwide. And so we know that starting with this really solid baseline of preconfigured business processes and other configurations, which we know are used by other customers because we contract that as software as a service, And using that to launch the deployment is a way of of certainly reducing risk, but also accelerating the deployment along the way because the the team members in in these local governments that are reviewing our deployments and then the prototypes, as we call them, they can really visualize the future state of their organization at Workday through these prototypes and looking at what's been preconfigured and then tailoring that to their own needs. And so that that really helps the decision making process move along really nicely. And then you overlay things like Workday education and knowledge transfer from the partner community. That that speeds the deployment process and also makes the organization feel more comfortable about Workday when they've gone live and ready to support Workday. And so the overall journey is is not only the deployment statistics that you mentioned, but it's really about overall success with Workday and, again, come back to the partner ecosystem and this launch philosophy that makes it happen. Yeah. That makes absolute sense. And, Lynn, local councils, they're not in the business of of technology implementations. They're in the business of providing constituent services. So how what are some of those critical success factors, that that local council should really focus on to make it a success? That's a great question, Esther. One of the things that I was thinking of as I was listening to John is hands in the system as early as possible. So folks being involved in design directly, working through what's being presented sort of out of the box, as John mentioned, the the preconfigured, and and then really thinking about what the differences are just for themselves, but testing hands on keyboard testing. Workday thinks of testing as training. We want you in the system. We want you learning as fast as you can. And also then presenting what has been configured to other folks around the your your council or your or your department, such that you become the owner of the system, the the folks who are gonna be using it rather than the partner saying, here, we'll train you how to do this. We want the the employees to be leading those those charges. And, the other piece of this is as we move out into, releases, as we roll out more technology, that'll happen over the course of the implementation. Even if your implementation is just a year, there will be two releases of new innovative technology that may or may not impact what you're doing right in your implementation. And so we want customers during the implementation to be reading their release notes and taking ownership of what's coming, and then strategically thinking about how they'll either deploy it in the phase one or how they'll be thinking about it after they go live. And so all that engagement really helps with adoption, and it helps with our customers to be thinking continuously about innovation that comes along with Workday. Thanks, Lynn. And what about the role of of governance in these types of projects? Oh, this is my favorite topic, Esther. So governance is critical. A good governance structure that engages everyone in decision making at their level. So we want most of the decision making, most of the day to day decision making during a deployment to happen in each of the functional areas, each in the whichever part of, the system is owned locally. So if it's in finance, perhaps it's those who manage the suppliers. We want them to make the decisions for design for their functional area. And, that helps certainly, alleviate, bottlenecks in decision making. So what comes up to the executive, sort of the executive council there or the steering committee, is the big heavy decisions that might have something to do with policy, with some sort of legislative regulation, that they will need to manage from a, a higher level. And then the other piece of this from a governance perspective is that there's an executive steering committee who are thinking about resources, bottlenecks and resources. Maybe there's, someone who needs to go on leave and there's no one to replace them to do their their work, either on the project or their day to day. So someone needs to be paying attention to that and making sure that those, those work streams continue to move forward. So it's it's a a structure that both moves obstacles out of the way and then makes decisions very quickly. Thanks, Lynn. Paul, I wanna shift the topic a little bit into the the topic of AI. You know, it's all the buzz at the moment, and we heard a stat before around 80 of local councils adopting AI. I mean, from your conversations, where are you seeing that the use case is currently being applied? Yeah. That's a it's a great I mean, everyone is talking about AI, and it is, really interesting about what the impact that could have for local governments. And we see a real sort of spectrum. So there's lots of councils, I think, in Australia that we see that are just struggling with what we talked about earlier, which is they really have, you know, really antiquated systems, and they're trying to just modernize those systems so that they free up resources and so that they can focus on the service delivery that they're supposed to be doing. That's their primary purpose. So I think you've got the category of of of councils that are in that bracket. And then you have councils that have, I suppose, maybe they're slightly ahead generationally, and they've done some transformation before. They have more modern systems. And those councils, I think, are better prepared to take advantage of AI. And what that means is that they can utilize AI. And in the case of Workday, what we'll do is help, you know, automate some processes for them, help help a human actually do their job so that they take out, some of that time and effort in back office functions that they typically now do in old and antiquated systems. So what we're finding is that those councils that are that are a little bit more mature and have, I suppose, advanced a little bit are now embracing what AI can actually do so that it frees up more time for them to actually deliver the frontline services that they actually need to deliver. Whereas those, I suppose, there's another, you know, block of of councils that are still struggling with that generational change that that they have to do from a systems point of view. Now for some of those, if they embrace AI, I think it will actually accelerate their move generationally. However, if, if they if they hesitate and only focus on just, that, system move, then they're probably missing an opportunity. So there's an opportunity for those those other councils that are less mature to embrace AI and embrace the technology that's actually there so that they can move themselves forward as well. Yeah. Thanks, Paul. And I think, you know, in chatting to councils over the last month or so, you know, really focusing on that constituent facing artificial intelligence application has been key for them, being that it's their domain expertise and then partnering with organisations like Workday to really accelerate that back office. John, I'd love to bring it back to you. Paul mentioned, processes and and starting to streamline those processes, and you met talked about the idea of of taking standard out of the box processes. How do those two align when you think about the opportunity that AI presents around really, you know, accelerating the way we're doing thing versus assisting and then transforming? What we're doing with the deployment is really building a foundation. And so with the deployment, we we're loading very key ingredient in in AI, which is clean data. And so we we build the the the foundation of the project. We load the customer's data. It's it's now cleaned up. And then as the the customer, the local council begins to use Workday, they're building an ongoing model of their data in which AI can continue to learn, and it's data that's very much constructed through the business processes so that we know that the data is is is is a pristine type of data, which is an excellent foundation for AI to continue to learn and to improve those business processes. And certainly, Paul, that sounds like it's the a key challenge at the moment with with all those different siloed systems, even whether it's back office acceleration or or constituent facing services and personalization. That data, is sounds like it's it's really a critical part and foundation for them to get right. Yeah. Absolutely. I think, you know, as as John said I think John put it really well. You know, the the fundamentals are are getting their data right, adopting some standard processes. And then and then there's the opportunity then to what what we would say is, you know, accelerate and utilize some AI to accelerate some of the processes that they're that they're actually doing. Lynn, one final question on on AI. What are you saying in, in The US, in your jurisdiction about where councils are really building that muscle and applying AI in your jurisdictions? Thank you, Esther. So, really, what we are thinking now is is as Paul referred earlier to having a spectrum of willingness to uptake and and some regard a fear of AI, in some places. And then we're thinking about how Workday considers AI as human centered rather than replacing jobs. So that seems to help folks start to build that digital muscle more from a space of, oh, okay. This is gonna help me not do the tedious things that I that I don't like to do now and to be able to focus on more strategic ways of thinking with better data, with better information, and quicker information and quicker access to it. So it's it's almost starting from the beginning as an as a new technology. Even though AI has been around a long time, we're seeing it much more, at the front of the innovation now even in basic tasks, and that's been super helpful for folks and I think that's where it really starts, as they exercise and experience how much AI can help them in their day to day work. Yeah. That makes perfect sense. I mean, being able to test and learn and and then trust, a new software is is really critical. Look. I wanted to give you a big thank you, Lyn, Paul, John, for sharing your thoughts on this really critical topic. Councils are really increasingly turning towards these interoperable systems to support them in their quest for financial sustainability and deliver consumer grade, AI enabled experiences. I think the other key takeaway for me is, you know, AI is playing an increasing role in supporting our local councils to drive personalized services and really elevate, that employee and constituent experience. And and, you know, the the other key takeaway was modernizing your back office. It doesn't need to take years and focus away from your core operations, but leveraging these preconfigured processes based on best practices across the world, supported by good governance and building that muscle means that you can really accelerate that time to value and focus in on continuously innovating. Thank you so much for joining us, for this important discussion, and have a great day.