Executive Intelligence podcast - Workday's Gerrit Kazmaier on facing down the SaaSpocalypse, and why Workday had to change before agentic AI took hold
Workday's internal overhaul before agentic AI took hold: what changed, and why it matters for enterprise transformation.
Why it matters
Workday's Gerrit Kazmaier reveals the company had to restructure internally before gaining customer traction with agentic AI. The story is about organizational readiness for agent deployment—not a new product, but a case study in how legacy enterprise software vendors are adapting their operating model to compete in the agent era.
The key facts
9 to knowWorkday gaining agentic AI traction with customers (unspecified scale/timeline)
Significant internal changes required before momentum achieved
Interview format: no quantified deployment data, customer names, or timeline disclosed
Framed as response to 'SaaSpocalypse' narrative (unresolved claim from prior Kazmaier commentary)
Workday gaining agentic AI traction with customers (no customer count or deployment data provided)
Company underwent significant internal changes to enable agent adoption
SaaSpocalypse framing suggests Workday's response to competitive/market pressure
No specific product features, timelines, pricing, or measured outcomes disclosed
Podcast format limits transparency on what 'internal changes' entailed
Go to the source
diginomicadiginomica.com
Publisher excerpt: Is it SaaSpocalypse vindication time? Not yet - for Workday, or for me. But now that Workday is getting agentic AI traction with customers, it's definitely time to ask: what's working, and why? As Gerrit Kazmaier reveals, for Workday to gain momentum, the company had to make significant internal…