This is the beginning of the end for @Workday. Charging for data use and egress is the sort of rent-seeking behavior that companies employ when they've run out of innovation DNA. Hey Workday — it's not *your* data, it's your *customers'* data, and they can do whatever they want with it. If you want to block the "parasites", maybe just build a better product instead of engaging in anti-competitive practices (hi @FTC!). If you think you command the same pricing power with @HiBob_HR and @Rippling nipping at your heels, you're in for a rude shock. And just wait until someone builds an open-source Workday (I would bet this is a thing in the next few years). PS: Rippling also exhibits similar (in fact, worse) closed-platform tendencies, and I think it's a big mistake. I hope they change this philosophy. Open ecosystems tend to win in the end.

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday charging for access to your own data is a white flag

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday What document is this prediction from?

@haridigresses @Workday Open ecosystems win. But there is a difference in being open and being free. Why shouldn't @Workday charge for AI agents accessing the data?

@haridigresses @Workday Why HRIS that lets customers freely exfiltrate data to Claude will lose all pricing power and go to zero. That’s why they are blocking it

@haridigresses @Workday The companies which let their users take their data anywhere will win.

@haridigresses @Workday I disagree, a company isn't being charged more .. it less seat dollars and now data dollars so the same amount.

@haridigresses @Workday Here's my take. (about half way through the post). thomasotter.substack.com/p/comments-on-…

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday Can you ask Microsoft or Google to free up access to the data they store?

@haridigresses @Workday 100% agreed. Closed platforms are pariah states in a post agent world. My contrarian view is that this same dynamic will take down LinkedIn. The prize is now too great to be hoarded.

@haridigresses @Workday I’m sorry. This might be my fault for surfacing the issue.

@haridigresses Rippling too, huh?

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday Everyone charges for egress, SAP, Snowflake etc.

I know a company that pulls this BS, an industry leader with nothing more than a crappy CRM which looks like it was vibe coded in FORTRAN in the 80s. They charge people for their own data and they will fail, because I am building a tool to migrate the data right over their head and drink their milkshake

@haridigresses @Workday As a multi-time past admin of rippling, I can confidently say that they’re almost as bad as workday. Terrible UX / Support is god awful

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday Here is a suggestion workday have a single sign on instead of the 50 companies I apply to convincing google chrome and other browsers to insert the wrong credentials each time. My hatred towards this company is borderline unspeakable.

@haridigresses @Workday lol, the Oracle playbook. just finished a data migration project *away* from them for this exact reason.

@haridigresses @garrytan @Workday So short sighted - agents are going to do a lot more work and they still need a system of record. They should focus on making their system accessible to humans and agents both instead of locking down agents

Exactly. This will lead to short-term revenue but will kill innovation on Workday. They think they can build and buy everything an enterprise needs and are terrified that someone will sit on top of them, creating and capturing all the value. So they’re actively discouraging people from building agents on top of their data. The very best agentic companies will build elsewhere, Workday will lose the innovation edge, leading them to double down on in-house control.

@haridigresses @Workday You’re going to see a lot of this from all the SOR firms. Similar to AWS with egress charges that have started to go away competitively. You’re going to see license charges depending on volume of agents pinging SORs. It will get more complicated.