Workday and IBM have agreed to a multi-year strategic partnership to collaborate on cloud testing and development, IBM announced on Monday.
Workday will host its application testing and development on IBM’s SoftLayer
cloud-computing service, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Workday
previously used a mixture of in-house solutions and AWS cloud infrastructure, and will continue to use Amazon to a small extent, but IBM will now serve as Workday’s primary cloud provider.
This is a big win for IBM, and not just because Workday chose to stay clear of IBM’s cloud competitors Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
Workday has a well-known cloud pedigree as a
provider of SaaS solutions for the human resources industry, counting more than 130 customers on its roster including Hewlett-Packard, Netflix, Symantec and MGM Resorts International. Although the
exact terms of the business deal were undisclosed, the partnership agreement lasts for seven years -- a lifetime in the technology industry.
Although total IBM revenue declined in the second
quarter, according to the company’s most recent fiscal disclosure, IBM’s cloud revenue jumped 30%.
Workday will now use IBM Cloud for testing and developing products and services
for future expansion. IBM manages more than 50 data centers in 17 countries across six continents, and offers a variety of enterprise cloud services.
Workday and IBM have worked together
in some capacity for several years now. IBM acquired Meteorix, a Workday services partner, in 2015. IBM is also a Workday customer, using Workday’s Human Capital Management software for its
internal business.