If two heads are better than one, then Workday understands that hundreds are even better.
The Workday Partner Certification is Workday’s secret weapon for better serving its customers, allowing Workday to stay at the forefront of innovation, meet a diverse range of customer needs, and extend to new markets.
Through a rigorous certification process, Workday has successfully built a tight-knit Partner ecosystem with an army of official Workday Certified Partners - including certified software, applications, integrations, and more.
To help you understand what being a Workday Certified Partner really means and the benefits of partnering with Workday-verified companies, here’s our guide to the Workday Partner Certification.
And if you want to start from scratch, check out our ultimate guide to Workday Partners here.
Follow along or skip ahead:
- What does the Workday Partner Certification mean?
- How to become a Workday certified partner?
- What is a Workday Certified Consultant?
- What are the Certified Workday Partner Tiers?
- 7 Benefits of Partnering with a Workday Certified Software
What does Workday Partner Certification mean?
In simple terms, the Workday Partner Certification is an official stamp of approval from Workday that’s awarded to companies, software, applications, consultants, and individuals who meet Workday’s rigorous standards for quality, reliability, and compliance.
The Workday Partner Certification is a mark of quality. Workday Certified Partners are the best in the business and Workday’s Partner certification signals to customers the most trusted and capable companies to meet their needs.
Workday Partner companies provide a wide range of Workday-related tools and services, including:
- Offering third-party applications and integrations
- Selling Workday products
- Implementing Workday solutions
- Providing post-deployment support
- Offering Workday staffing solutions
Our partner ecosystem plays a pivotal role in bolstering innovation and delivering high-quality solutions to help our joint customers succeed.
- Matthew Brandt, Senior Vice President, Global Partners, Workday
Looking for the best Workday Partner companies? Check out our top recommendations here.
Here’s what the Workday Partner Certification means.
1. Customer validation
To receive the Workday Partner Certification, a company has to jump through a lot of hoops. That includes working with real customers and demonstrating experience providing high-quality services or solutions.
Workday Certified Partners are tried-and-tested by customers and by Workday itself, signaling reliability, credibility, and trustworthiness, not to mention experience and proven results.
2. Detailed documentation
Workday is a significant investment for most businesses, so you want to make sure you’re working with legitimate partners when it comes to implementation, optimization, integrations, and more.
Rather than picking an advisor or software at random, the Workday Partner Certification is a stamp of quality. Workday Certified Partners are required to have clear, detailed, and up-to-date documentation to be part of the Partner program, giving you peace of mind that they’ll deliver on what they promise. And will do so with a high level of service and professionalism.
3. Data Security and Compliance
Workday prides itself on its high standards for security and compliance. And the same goes for its Partners too.
To receive the Workday Partner Certification, companies need to meet Workday’s strict data security and compliance requirements, both internationally and regionally. Zero exceptions. That means Workday Certified Partners meet the minimum standards for industry compliance, including across data protection and cyber security parameters.
4. Enterprise Standards
As a leading enterprise platform, Workday understands its customers want enterprise-level tools for all Workday integrations and applications. To become a Workday Certified Partner, businesses have to meet and follow enterprise standards for performance, safety, scalability, and more.
What does this mean for businesses? The Workday Partner Certification ensures that any Workday integrations, products, or software has the capacity to grow with your business and meet your changing needs long-term.
What is a Workday Certified Consultant
A Workday Certified Consultant is an individual who specializes in working with Workday products and is qualified to help businesses deploy and optimize Workday for their needs. Workday Certification indicates the consultant has a high level of understanding and proficiency in Workday, plus Workday Certified Consultants are required to stay up-to-date with changes as the platform evolves.
A Workday Certified Consultant is a different categorization to a Workday Certified Partner and they undergo a completely different application, testing, and approval process.
How to become a Workday Certified Partner
As you’ve probably guessed, the process to become a Workday Certified Partner is no walk in the park. In fact, it can take months and often years for a business to achieve the Workday Partner Certification and any prospective Partners need to be prepared to commit significant resources to meeting Workday’s stringent requirements.
Note: Individuals can be certified in Workday (read about this here) but this type of certification isn’t our main focus today.
Workday Partners are just that: partners. The Workday Certification represents an ongoing relationship and certified businesses can expect to receive exclusive insights into the inner workings of Workday, including product updates, resources, and training to allow them to continually refine and adapt their products and services over time.
Customer service and innovation are core values at Workday, and our partner ecosystem has always played a critical role in helping us innovate and deliver great experiences to our customers.
- Sam Alkharrat, Workday Chief Partner Officer
What are Workday Partner Tiers?
Within the Workday Partner ecosystem, there are several different Partner tiers used to categorize the different levels of collaboration and integration between Workday and its Partners. Businesses in each Partner tier receive certain benefits, access, and specialist resources to help them progress.
Here are the key Workday Partner tiers you need to know.
1. Emerging Partner
As Workday’s entry-level Partner tier, Workday Emerging Partners receive a thorough introduction to Workday’s products, including learning how customers use Workday and what type of products and features they need. Emerging Partners develop connectors to Workday to help meet customer needs on a basic level.
2. Access Partner
At the next level, businesses in the Access Partner tier get more access to Workday resources than Emerging Partners, connecting with stakeholders inside Workday and working more closely with Workday to make sure their products are in alignment with Workday’s existing offerings.
Access Partners also have the chance to collaborate with Workday on sales and marketing opportunities, such as sponsoring Workday events and joining Workday-led webinars.
3. Select Partner
Developing an even closer relationship with Workday, Select Partners align with Workday on both product and customer-focused goals and investments. Select Partners concentrate on expanding their integration use cases to better serve Workday customers. This Workday Partner tier also benefits from a wider range of opportunities to showcase their relationship with Workday, including event sponsorships to drive more business and awareness to their brand.
4. Venture Software Partner
Workday Ventures Software Partners are a distinct tier within the world of Workday, awarded to companies that work closely with Workday to shape and develop unique software solutions for Workday customers. Workday Ventures Software Partners receive tailored guidance from Workday on what Workday customers need most to help them shape their product goals and development.
Workday Innovation Partner Tiers
For Workday Software Partners and Innovation Partners, there are separate tiers used to mark the level of integration, interoperability, and quality of Workday-approved software.
Workday Innovation Partners are separated into 3 main tiers.
1. Silver Tier Innovation Partner
As a Silver Tier Innovation Partner, companies receive documentation on building and managing their integration for the Workday platform, as well as updates on Workday’s product roadmap and personalized support from Workday’s Digital Program Support team. Silver Tier Partners also get access to the Workday Community with FAQs, forums, and educational resources designed for Workday Partners.
For software businesses, being a Silver Tier Workday Partner also offers the benefit of co-marketing opportunities, including being listed in the Workday Marketplace, participating in Workday webinars, and exclusive features on Workday’s social media channels.
2. Gold Tier Innovation Partner
A Gold Tier Innovation Partner is a solution that has been co-developed with Workday and is Workday-certified, usually offering dynamic customization based on customer needs and goals. Gold Tier Innovation Partners tend to have a higher level of flexibility and adaptability than Silver Tier Partners. Within the Workday platform, Gold Tier Innovation Partners also integrate seamlessly, allowing secure data sync between both solutions and ongoing compatibility and interoperability.
3. Platinum Tier Innovation Partner
The highest level of Workday Innovation Partner, Platinum Tier Partners have advanced experience and expertise collaborating with Workday. This is an exclusive status awarded to Workday Partners who have a close and consistent relationship with Workday and is a sign of a deep and multi-layered collaboration.
When you see the Platinum Innovation Partner badge, you can be sure the software is fine-tuned to Workday’s products and co-developed to deliver maximum value and proven results to their mutual customers.
7 Benefits of partnering with a Workday Certified Software
1. Minimize risks
When you see a Workday Certified or Partner badge, you can be sure you’re in good company. You're joining a list of businesses already using that integration and seeing results. In fact, more than 3,459 customers have successfully deployed over 278,000 Workday Certified integrations, with a 24% year-on-year increase in deployments.
By partnering with a Workday Certified Software, you’re significantly minimizing the risk that comes with working with a new software or application. A strong, existing customer base and proven results is one of the key criteria for businesses to win the Workday certification, so you know your chosen solution is reliable, effective, and a worthwhile investment.
Workday certification is a proof of success for any software, tool, or integration as it has been stress tested by countless businesses before you. And the higher the Partner tier, the more you can trust the solution.
Workday understands that success is shared so, in the same way happy employees lead to happy customers, supporting our partners’ success only adds to our customers’ success.
- Sam Alkharrat Chief Partner Officer Workday
2. Faster to implement
It takes a typical business anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to fully implement Workday.
Rather than wasting precious time and resources on developers to tailor your chosen software to the Workday platform, Workday Certified Software is a green light to forge ahead with your goals and start seeing results faster. Workday Certified Software provides businesses with an out-of-the-box solution to quickly and easily extend the capabilities of your Workday platform. That means less delay in rollout. And fewer headaches for your team.
Workday Certified Integrations are built to be smooth and streamlined, providing a frictionless experience that acts as an extension of Workday rather than a clunky bolt-on.
This means your team can get up and running in double quick time. Ideal for companies who want to minimize disruption and maximize ROI.
There is tremendous opportunity to advance the way we collaborate with partners to bolster a more innovative and connected Workday ecosystem.
- Matthew Brandt, Senior Vice President, Global Partners, Workday
3. A smoother user experience
The average worker spends approximately 9% of their time switching between applications at work - amounting to 1,200 switches each day.
By opting for tailor-made integrations and applications, co-developed and designed to work seamlessly with Workday products, businesses can create a smoother and more connected experience for their employees and customers. When you choose a dedicated Workday software, you help to minimize digital friction and increase employee productivity.
Microlearning, publishing and delivery is an area of strong interest that we’re not well suited to deliver. So we’ve made investments in innovators like eduMe. Together we believe that we can serve the deskless worker population in a way no else can.
- Sonny Yuen, Director of Product Strategy, Workday
4. Eliminate data silos
One of the biggest challenges businesses face is data silos. The average company uses more than 500 applications making managing data feel like a constant uphill battle.
Many Workday Certified Software solutions offer automatic data syncing, giving you a single source of truth for all employee and organizational data. For example, the eduMe Workday integration provides real-time two-way data syncing so all your data is accurate and up-to-date across both platforms at all times, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing the risk of human error.
Rather than chasing down data, prioritize software that integrates seamlessly with your existing Workday system for a faster, more agile system that allows you to make quick decisions based on the numbers in front of you.
I see an incredible opportunity to continue opening up our partner ecosystem, and doubling down on this effort will accelerate our ability to co-innovate with our services, software, venture, and channel partners.
- Sam Alkharrat, Chief Partner Officer, Workday
5. Access up-to-date and innovative solutions
Enterprise technology is changing rapidly and it’s more important than ever to make sure the software in your tech stack will allow you to stay competitive and flexible. Rather than slow and stagnated.
At the core of Workday’s DNA is evolution and innovation. Workday is updated every week and all new feature releases are delivered every March and September. And as Workday’s core platform adapts, updates, and advances, any Workday Certified Software changes with it.
Both Workday’s core products and partner products are designed to be best-in-class for customers, helping to better serve customer needs through continuous product updates. By selecting a Workday Certified Software, companies can benefit from the fluid development of both solutions working and evolving in tandem.
Today's rapidly evolving business climate requires us to remain a step ahead of our customers. That takes more than just innovating at Workday – it takes enabling innovation for our partners as well.
- Matthew Brandt, Senior Vice President, Global Partners, Workday.
6. Increase data security and compliance
The average cost of data breaches is at an all time high - the cost of cyberattacks averaged a staggering $4.88 million in 2024.
As data security becomes more volatile and businesses and their customers become more vulnerable, it’s critical to ensure that any software your company implements is secure and reliable. By opting for Workday Certified Software, you can be certain that it’s a safe choice, meeting Workday’s high standards of data security for enterprise technology.
What’s more, thanks to Workday’s Partner Program, it’s now possible to find software and integrations that meet local compliance requirements, wherever you’re operating. For example, Workday’s Global Payroll Partner solutions have been selected as Workday’s trusted choice for compliant payroll systems across a wide range of markets, ensuring that you’re operating within country-specific requirements for payroll.
7. Mark of quality
As part of the Workday certification process, any software solution must undergo extensive testing and refinement to ensure it’s tailored to the Workday platform and Workday’s customer needs. This means proven results.
Workday doesn’t mess around. The Workday platform has a service availability of 99.97% with the average maintenance time less than 2 hours per week. This ensures Workday has minimal downtime and minimal impact on your productivity.
The Workday certification process includes an assessment of the functionality, interoperability, and quality of any software. The result? You can be confident that Workday Certified Software is going to do its job, with fewer service interruptions or downtime than alternatives.
Choose a trusted Workday Software Partner
The Workday Partner Certification is a seal of approval for businesses. When you see the Workday Certified Partner stamp, it’s a marker of trust and quality that you can count on. Workday Certified integrations are built to scale with your organization and stay compatible with Workday’s evolving platform - and your business’ evolving needs.
Take the guesswork out of the decision-making process and opt to partner with Workday Certified Software to help you achieve your business goals and maximize the ROI on your Workday solutions.
To find out more about Workday Partners, check out this guide to the Workday Partner ecosystem, plus the Top Workday Partners in 2025.
And in case we haven’t met before… Hi, we're eduMe, a Workday Certified Partner for frontline employee training. We specialize in bite-sized training for your frontline teams with tappable social-media style guides that are tailor-made for learning on-the-go, so you can train, retain, and upskill your workforce with ease.
To find out more about our Workday Certified frontline training integration, watch a quick demo of the eduMe Workday integration here.
