Dive Brief:
- Workday, the HR software company, is acquiring Platfora to boost its already potent big data offering by taking the step to expand business applications beyond HR alone, according to Forbes
- Josh Bersin, HR tech analyst, writes that the move enables Workday to extend its existing capabilities into things like "a bigger data team" and "extensions into detailed operational data."
- Bersin writes that Workday thrives in part on predictive analytics' value, so the Platfora acquisition is part of the company’s strategies to “step up their technology stack."
Dive Insight:
An example of how Platfora can help Workday: A retailer records tens of thousands of weekly customer transactions. Using this data, combined with data about the external consumer market, employee, and store profitability, Workday could build a strong foundation for retail customers planning "what to sell, where to add stores, and even who to hire and who to promote."
With Platfora, Workday will have access to typically non-Workday data sources, meaning Workday can tell customers across many industry sectors that, “we will be experts at bringing this data into your analytics environment too.”
Workday has been consistently one of the core HR providers ranked among the leaders on the G2 Crowd Grid (a collection of user reviews and market presence).
