New AI-driven tools by Workday are catching the attention of Wall Street banks, as they seek ways to enhance productivity and streamline operations.
Workday, a leading software firm specializing in workforce management solutions, has unveiled a range of innovative AI products designed to boost workplace efficiency. These tools, set to become available in the coming months, promise to revolutionize tasks such as job description creation and performance reviews, significantly reducing the time and effort required.
AI-driven efficiency gains
Co-CEO of Workday, Carl Eschenbach, highlighted the potential impact of these AI-powered tools during a recent conference. He explained that a task that used to take seven hours to complete, like crafting a job description, can now be accomplished in just two minutes, resulting in substantial time savings.
“You have 100 employees, and it takes seven hours to write a job description, so 700 hours,” Eschenbach said. “Now it takes two minutes. You can do the math, you just saved all that. So that’s a productivity gain. There’s quantifiable impact you can have through the use of AI.”
Eschenbach further emphasized that these AI tools align with companies’ efforts to optimize processes and reduce costs. By automating tasks that previously required significant human intervention, organizations can reduce their reliance on a large workforce.
“You’re not going to need nearly as many heads if certain pieces of your code can be written 80% by AI,” Eschenbach noted. “The promise of AI is to drive productivity gains. If you’re getting productivity gains out of your existing workforce, you will need fewer workers.”
AI’s role in financial institutions
The enthusiasm for AI’s potential is not limited to Workday’s products alone. Several Wall Street banks are increasingly optimistic about how AI can enhance productivity, a sentiment that has grown since the launch of OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, in November 2022.
Deutsche Bank, for instance, is actively exploring AI capabilities to transform its workforce and improve efficiency. One example is the use of an AI bot to generate client briefings, a task that would typically require one to two days of work by junior bankers.
JPMorgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, has gone a step further, envisioning AI’s role in reducing the working week by automating tedious tasks. The aim is to allow employees to concentrate on more valuable and strategic aspects of their roles.
Accenture’s European tech lead, Jan Willem Van Den Bremen, echoed Dimon’s sentiments at the Workday conference, emphasizing that AI could eventually “free up” 40% of working hours. This would enable individuals to allocate their time to more critical tasks, ultimately enhancing overall productivity.
The future of AI-driven efficiency
As AI technology continues to evolve, its potential to drive efficiency gains across various industries becomes increasingly evident. Financial institutions, in particular, are keen to harness the power of AI to streamline operations, reduce costs, and empower their employees to focus on higher-value tasks.
The deployment of AI-powered tools like those offered by Workday signifies a significant step toward achieving these goals. By automating time-consuming and repetitive tasks, organizations can not only save time and resources but also enhance the overall quality of their work.
