Workday: To reap the rewards of AI, ‘really focus on the business problems’ you need to solve

AI is transforming every business and workplace globally – this means leaders are grappling with how to use this technology to drive the biggest impact for their people and their bottom lines.

At UNLEASH America 2025, we are bringing together thought leaders to discuss AI-powered HR now and into the future – one of those esteemed experts is Aashna Kircher, Group GM, CHRO Products at Workday.

The Editorial team had the pleasure of sitting down with Kircher ahead of her panel on May 7^th to get a sneak peek of the AI insights she will be sharing with our HR community.

Not got a pass for the International Festival of HR yet? Don’t worry, there’s still time.

Focus on business problems, don’t get swept up by the AI hype

At Workday Rising 2024 in Las Vegas, the HR giant launched Illuminate, its next generation AI vision and products.

There are three elements to Workday Illuminate – Accelerate, Assist, and Transform.

This is a framework is not just for Workday and its products, but also, Kircher tells UNLEASH, a guideline “for how customers can think about AI application across their organization”.

Accelerate is about using AI incrementally to save small chunks of time, Assist is employing copilots to help people “in the context of executing a particular task”, while Transform is “end-to-end business process transformation”.

Transform is where agentic AI comes to the fore, and where Workday and its customers are seeing “the highest ROI”.

AI agents don’t just save small amounts of time, they are “fundamentally redefining what those processes and outcomes look like”.

With this framework top of mind, Kircher recommends that organizations lean into Accelerate and Assist to build the muscle to move into Transform. As they do this, “really focus on the business problems” you need to solve.

It can be easy to get swept up by the hype and the “frenzy” of all the AI features and products out there – instead, “focus on business value and outcome”.

It’s not about AI for AI’s sake, but for a real purpose that will drive people and business success.

Kircher is clear that when thinking about AI, HR leaders need to not just focus on the tools and technology but also “the change management and transformation aspects in their organizations”.

The aim of Kircher’s panel at UNLEASH America is to enable HR leaders to walk away with “confidence” on how to lead their organizations into the AI-powered future.

HR teams are the ones “managing the workforce evolution” – and the customers that get this right, and figure out how to manage “the human-AI partnership”, will have a real competitive differentiator.

Aashna Kircher and UNLEASH America

UNLEASH is thrilled Workday is a headline sponsor of UNLEASH America 2025 – this gives our HR leader community the opportunity hear from Workday experts and its customers, like Sadie Bell at HPE, all about the future of HR tech, and specifically AI.

The Editorial team was keen to find out why Kircher is excited about this year’s International Festival of HR.

She’s a “big fan of the Expo floor” because it “gives me the pulse what’s next generation for HR” – so Kircher will be walking the floor, and particularly visiting the startups.

Plus, given her belief that humans are at the center of the AI transformation, Kircher will be checking out some sessions on the future of leadership.

“Those human skills are going to be harder to grow, and they’re going to be more important, so really zeroing in on transformation, and what that looks in the next day and age” is a passion area for Kircher.

Want to learn about the future of leadership and the future of HR tech innovation? There’s still time to grab a pass for UNLEASH America 2025.