Interviewing the Experts - Focus Cloud Group

Rachel Stoward

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Welcome to Interviewing the Experts, the series where Focus Cloud Group gets up close and personal with the leading voices in the Cloud tech space. Each episode brings you insider knowledge, career-defining advice, and the real stories behind the industry's top talent and trailblazers.

11/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Alexis Baker - People Analytics Leader

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with leaders across the Workday ecosystem to uncover insights, tips and truths you won't hear anywhere else. What does it take to build a game-changing People Analytics function within Workday? In this episode, we’re joined by Alexis Baker, Head of People Analytics, with almost 20 years of experience across HR systems and data-led transformation. With two Workday implementations under her belt and a genuine passion for turning data into actionable insights, Alexis unpacks what it really means to harness Workday’s tools for people-driven business strategy. This episode is a must-watch for Workday professionals, HRIS leaders, and anyone exploring the value of data-backed decision-making in the digital workplace. Whether you’re at the start of your Workday journey or scaling an established system, Alexis shares strategic insights that could shape your roadmap. We cover: 🔸What People Analytics really means within the Workday ecosystem 🔸How to get more from tools like Discovery Boards, Prism and Peakon 🔸Where AI fits into the future of data strategy in HR 🔸Why People Analytics needs to be embedded from day one of implementation 🔸The danger of dashboard fatigue, and how AI is streamlining insights 🔸Building a future-ready function that drives ROI and culture change ...and more. Looking to build out your Workday team, or want to see some elite People Analytics candidate profiles? Get in touch with the Workday experts at Focus on WD - we know what good looks like. Contact us here, or email simon.hill@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 14/07/2025

33 min
11/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Angela Schroeder - Workday Customer Success Manager & Wellness Leader

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with leaders across the Workday ecosystem to uncover insights, tips and truths you won't hear anywhere else. In this episode, Joel Kirkland, Managing Director at Focus on WD, is joined by Angela Schroeder, Workday Customer Success Manager & Wellness Leader. Angela is a seasoned Workday professional with two decades of experience across consulting, teaching, project management, and customer success. She’s now deeply focused on integrating wellness into high-performance work environments, drawing from her background in yoga, meditation, Ayurvedic practice, and reflexology to support the mental and physical wellbeing of professionals in high-pressure tech roles. Wellness is an incredibly pertinent issue within the ecosystem at present, and Joel and Angie take a deep dive, covering topics such as... ✅ Burnout risks in high-pressure ERP roles ✅ Spotting the subtle signs of stress ✅ Daily wellness habits for resilience ✅ Embedding wellness into company culture ...and plenty more! If you're in a high performance role, like most are in the Workday world, then this one is definitely for you. Or are you looking to embed employee wellness into your company culture? Give us a shout, Joel and Angie are happy to discuss wellness on both a company and individual level. Get in touch here, or email: info@focuscloudgroup.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 13/05/2025

26 min
11/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Jessica Wolf - Founder & Workday Expert

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with leaders across the Workday ecosystem to uncover insights, tips and truths you won't hear anywhere else. In this episode, Joel Kirkland, Managing Director at Focus on WD, is joined by Jessica Wolf, Founder of The Mentor Mission and a Workday powerhouse with over a decade of experience across Absence consulting, solutioning, engagement management, sales, alliances and programme leadership. Jessica brings a rare 360-degree perspective on the Workday landscape, and together they cover: ✅ The current state of the Workday job market ✅ What companies should be doing to set themselves up for hiring success ✅ Top tips for Workday candidates targeting senior roles ✅ The truth about permanent vs. contract in today’s market …and plenty more Workday gold. If you’re hiring into your Workday team, or eyeing your next move in the ecosystem, this is essential viewing. 💬 Want to speak to Joel or Jessica? Get in touch here or email: joel.kirkland@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 25/03/2025

24 min
11/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Jonathan Moss - Transformation Programme Director

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Joel Kirkland, Managing Director here at Focus on WD, gathered some invaluable insights from Jonathan Moss, Transformation Programme Director. Jonathan has an impressive record of HR Transformation leadership success. He started his career in electronics engineering, before transitioning to IT. From there, he specialised in leading large-scale change and transformation initiatives, initiating and recovering global ERP programmes across the Finance, Payroll, HR and Sales domains. Joel and Jonathan cover some really interesting topics, including: ✅ Important project considerations before taking on a Programme Director role ✅ Building a business case for your Workday implementation ✅ How to manage client expectations ✅ Key considerations for vendor and SI selection and collaboration ✅ Saving a failing programme ✅ Top Tips for a successful transformation programme and plenty more! If you'd like to speak to Joel or Jonathan, send us a message here or email info@focuscloudgroup.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 19/02/2025

35 min
11/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Jess Hawkins - HRIS Leader

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Joel Kirkland, Managing Director here at Focus on WD, gathered some invaluable insights from Jess Hawkins, HRIS Leader. Jess is an expert in maximising ROI from Workday systems in the post-live period. She has been part of the Workday ecosystem for over a decade, across the US and EMEA, originally working on implementations, before she found her passion for post-live optimisation. Joel and Jess discuss a multitude of topics, such as: ✅ The benefits of working in the post-live environment ✅ Governance ✅ Resourcing for your Workday implementation ✅ Resourcing in the post-implementation era, from both a 'money is no object' and a 'tight budget' perspective ✅ The importance of having techno-functional Consultants ✅ Maximising your ROI from the Workday platform ✅ Jess's top tips for the post-implementation era and plenty more! If you'd like to speak to Joel or Jess, send us a message - click here, or email info@focuscloudgroup.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 16/10/2024

28 min
08/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Rena Ghatoaura - Workday Financials Expert

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Joel Kirkland, Managing Director at Focus on WD, sat down to pose a few questions to Rena Ghatoaura, Workday Financials expert. Rena started her career in finance as an end-user, working across multiple industries such as music, media, theatre and financial services. After spending 5 years supporting another ERP system, Rena moved into the Workday space as a Financials Consultant, and has become quite the expert in Spend. Joel and Rena delve into Workday Financials, with a special focus on Spend, covering a multitude of topics such as: ✅The benefits of having a finance background as a Workday Financials Consultant ✅ What is Spend? ✅The best tips for implementing Spend ✅What skills do you need on your team to manage a Spend implementation? ✅Other functional areas where skills transfer well to working with Spend ✅Optical Character Recognition ✅What is a Workday Product Lead, and what are the advantages of becoming one? If you'd like to speak to Joel or Rena, send us a message here or email joel.kirkland@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 25/07/2024

20 min
07/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Darryl Bannan & Fergus Gallagher

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Joel Kirkland, Managing Director at Focus on WD, sat down to pose a few questions to Darryl Bannan, Workday Financials Solutions Architect, and Fergus Gallagher, Workday HCM Implementation Lead. Darryl and Fergus have worked together on full platform implementations, and are both experts in their fields. Collectively, they have over 35 years' experience in ERP implementations. Joel, Darryl and Fergus delve into the complex world of full platform Workday implementations, including specifics such as: ✅The differences between a full platform implementation, as opposed to only HCM or Fins ✅ How to approach full platform Launch implementations ✅Why Workday customers should choose Launch for their full platform implementations ✅The post go-live period ✅Staffing models ✅Client-side responsibilities during full platform Launch implementations ✅Navigating the go-live period of a Launch implementation ✅Their top tips for a successful full platform Workday deployment If you'd like to speak to Joel, Darryl or Fergus, send us a message here or email joel.kirkland@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 06/06/2024

35 min
07/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Shafique Barabhuiya - Finance Transformation Specialist

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Joel Kirkland, Managing Director here at Focus on WD, sat down to pose a few questions to Shafique Barabhuiya, Finance Transformation Specialist and Workday Financials expert. Shafique has an impressive history leading finance transformations for global companies, and experienced his first Workday Fins programme in 2016. They cover the full spectrum of Financials implementations, including: ✅The growth and future of Workday Fins ✅The pre-selection, implementation, cutover and post go-live phases ✅The resources you need end-to-end during a Fins implementation ✅The benefits of bringing in a specialist ✅How to gear up for a successful implementation ✅Workday Launch vs. Your Way If you'd like to speak to Joel or Shafique, send us a message here or email joel.kirkland@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 03/04/2024

29 min
07/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Anand Iyer - Global HRIS Operations Director

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Nick Donovan, Global Recruitment Director at Focus on WD, spent some time interviewing Anand Iyer, Global HRIS Operations Director and true Workday specialist. Anand started his career in general IT, before moving into the HR Tech space. He has successfully managed global HR for organisations across a number of industries, including Life Sciences, FinTech, Retail, Food Services, Hospitality and Core Infrastructure. Anand has successfully created and distributed HR Tech solutions in the past, and has been in the Workday ecosystem for over a decade. He has worked on multiple full life cycle global Workday implementations, in both permanent and consultative/advisory capacities, as well as a number of roles involving optimising solutions post-implementation. They delve into some very timely and important topics, including: ✅Navigating release phases - dealing with automatic and opt-in updates, and the team you need during this time ✅Stand-out features of the upcoming Workday® R1 2024 release ✅The adoption of AI and ML in HR Tech ✅The hybrid/remote/on-site working debate, including the topics of talent pools and productivity If you'd like to speak to Anand or Nick, send us a message here or email nick.donovan@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 06/03/2024

29 min
07/08/2025

Interviewing the Experts: Sam Bullen - Workday HRIS Director

In our Interviewing the Experts series, our Recruitment Specialists sit down with experts in their fields to discuss all the pressing topics in the ecosystem. If you're looking for answers to your burning questions, you've come to the right place! Simon Hill, Workday UK Team Manager at Focus on WD, spent some time interviewing Sam Bullen, Workday HRIS Director and a veteran of the platform. Sam has been in the Workday ecosystem for 15 years, and has worn many hats in that time. He's been a Consultant, a contractor, a sales executive for a large Workday partner, and most recently an HRIS Director. They delve into some really gripping, and important topics, including: ✅Where Workday should sit within a business - HR or IT? ✅The most important considerations in the post-implementation phase ✅How to build a Workday team ✅Identifying the Workday skills your business needs ✅How to partner well with specialist Recruitment Consultancies ✅Looking after your Workday specialists, and how to offer them the full package to keep your attrition costs down If you'd like to speak to Sam or Simon, send us a message here, or email simon.hill@focuscloud.org Prefer to watch the video? You can find all of our Interviewing the Experts episodes on our website. Original episode release date: 08/02/2024

24 min

10 episodios

Welcome to Interviewing the Experts, the series where Focus Cloud Group gets up close and personal with the leading voices in the Cloud tech space. Each episode brings you insider knowledge, career-defining advice, and the real stories behind the industry's top talent and trailblazers.

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Rachel Stoward
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2 k
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Interviewing the Experts - Focus Cloud Group