Enter the idea for employee self-service. AB InBev wanted to streamline its complicated HR landscape by implementing a singular global solution to support employees and improve their experience, and it selected workday as its human capital management (HCM) software. Working with a team from IBM® Workday consulting services, part of IBM Consulting™, AB InBev worked with IBM to remediate the integration between the legacy HR applications and the HCM software.
Due to COVID-19 having boots on the ground during implementation was no longer an option, and connecting locations in different time zones became an added blocker. The two teams needed to create and manage all the methodology remotely, forcing them to readjust plans and reorganize design sessions. Adapting to the new virtual way of working seemed intimidating at first. Still, everyone’s ability to become agile throughout the process had AB InBev up and running—even during a pandemic.
“We know connecting in person makes a completely different level of engagement, but when COVID-19 hit us, we had to become flexible in terms of adaptation,” says Guilherme Isidoro, Global Director/People Tech at AB InBev. “We had a common objective and were able to glue a network together.”
IBM Consulting overcame the challenges of working with six different geographical zones and fragmented legacy applications to successfully complete data catch-up and perform end-to-end testing, delivering a 100% pass rate.
With Workday in place, the new modernized system has become a one-stop shop for employees to own more career-related processes, like finding roles, navigating organizational charts and connecting with colleagues in different spaces. The system also provides a place for capturing personal goals and receiving feedback. For managers, Workday has become a universal spot for doing things for themselves and their teams. They can look at the members of their team and see compensation, competency appraisals and career aspirations. This new line of sight allows managers to further understand and connect with employees in ways they couldn’t before.
What was once a multi-system tool with unorganized data has become a single source of truth, enabling AB InBev to run analytics for initiatives like examining employee turnover at a local scale. Workday provides AB InBev with a streamlined path for managing and analyzing data, ultimately helping the company execute on objectives and improve HR processes across the entire organization.
“What we’ve done so far is to work into a standard way of operating a single system that could allow us free access to data so we can continue our data analytic journey,” adds Isidoro. “Also, by having the same process, systems and learnings from data and analytics, we start generating a better experience for our employees.”