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5 questions every Chief Financial Officer should bring to Workday Rising 2026
Every new technology investment eventually finds its way to the CFO's desk.
The business case. The productivity promise. The projected savings. And, increasingly, the question of what AI will actually deliver.
At the same time, Finance is being asked to help the business move faster without sacrificing control. Leaders want better forecasts, quicker answers, stronger margins, and greater visibility into what is happening across the organization.
That makes Workday Rising Las Vegas a valuable opportunity to step outside the reporting cycle, compare notes with peers, and think about what could materially change how the organization plans, operates, invests, and makes decisions.
Here are five worthwhile questions for a Chief Financial Officer to bring to Workday Rising
1. Where can AI create measurable value for Finance and the business?
There is no shortage of AI use cases, For CFOs, the bigger question is which ones matter financially, such as;
- Where can AI reduce manual work?
- Where could it improve decision speed or accuracy?
- What could it mean for the cost of Finance?
- Could it give teams more time to advise the business rather than compile information for it?
- Where are the promised returns still more theoretical than real?
At Rising, look for examples that move past the novelty of AI and into measurable business outcomes. Ask questions about what changed after implementation, such as;
- How much work was actually removed?
- Did the organization make decisions faster?
- Did Finance gain capacity?
- What new risks or controls had to be considered?
The strongest AI investments will be the ones where the value is clear enough to justify the cost, effort, and change required.
2. Can we see change early enough to do something about it?
A useful forecast gives the business enough time to act and prepare for market conditions like;
- Economic conditions change
- Customer demand moves
- Labor costs shift
- Business priorities change
Yet many organizations still spend significant time assembling data before they can even begin discussing what it means.
At Rising, consider how quickly your finance organization can move from information to action by answering these questions;
- Can leaders model different scenarios without a lengthy manual exercise?
- Can financial, workforce, and operational plans be viewed together?
- If an assumption changes, how quickly can you understand the impact across the business?
This is also where conversations around planning become particularly useful.
Strada experts will be at Rising across finance, planning, workforce planning, optimization, and the broader Workday platform. Bring the planning questions that are still difficult today, particularly the ones that require multiple teams, spreadsheets, or systems to answer.
The faster the business changes, the more valuable it becomes to see around the corner.
3. Are HR, Finance, and IT planning for the same future?
A financial plan, workforce plan and a technology roadmap are all built on assumptions, The question is whether they are built on the same ones. The focus of all three functions can be different such as;
- Finance - may be forecasting growth and labor cost.
- HR - may be thinking about skills, hiring, and workforce composition.
- IT - may be prioritizing AI, data, and technology investments.
Those decisions need to connect.
At Rising, look beyond the finance agenda and ask how the organization can connect those plans more closely, through answering:
- Are workforce investments reflected quickly enough in financial planning?
- Does Finance understand the technology investment required to support the company's operating model?
- Are AI investments being evaluated against the business outcomes they are meant to improve?
Some of the most useful conversations for a CFO may happen with CHROs and CIOs.
When the plans connect, Finance can spend less time reconciling competing assumptions and more time helping the business decide what to do next.
4. Is Finance spending enough time looking forward?
Finance teams know how to explain what happened. The opportunity is to create more capacity for the work that helps the business decide what should happen next.
Close, reconciliation, reporting, data preparation, and manual processes still consume significant time in many organizations.
Rising is a useful place to ask where that work can change by answering:
- Which processes could be automated?
- Where are teams still moving data between systems?
- Which recurring activities exist because that is how they have always been done?
- Where could Workday help Finance move from producing information to interpreting it?
Look for ways to give your Finance team time back. That may mean technology. It may mean a better process. It may mean revisiting how Workday was configured years ago. Often, it is a combination of all three.
If Finance gained meaningful capacity, where could that time create more value for the business?
5. Are we getting enough business value from our Workday investment?
Large organizations make significant investments in enterprise technology.
The standard for success should reflect the business impact of that investment, which can be identified by answering:
- Is Workday helping the organization make better decisions?
- Has it removed complexity?
- Are teams working more efficiently?
- Can the business respond more quickly when conditions change?
- Are you using the data and capabilities you already have?
Rising provides a useful checkpoint to use customer stories, peer conversations, demos, Braindates, and conversations with Workday and its partners to benchmark your own environment.
At the Strada booth, Finance and Planning is one of our core areas of focus. Our experts will also be available throughout the week for more focused conversations about where organizations may be leaving value on the table.
Another option if you would rather have that conversation somewhere quieter than the show floor, the Strada Lounge offers another place to meet, join a focused workshop, catch a keynote watch party, or compare notes with colleagues and peers.
Aim to come home with a clearer view of where the next investment could make the biggest difference.
Leave Workday Rising with a clearer view of where Finance can create value
By the end of Rising, you will have heard plenty about AI, planning, automation, analytics, and the future of Finance.
The most important question is what you do with it to get finance value by answering this question:
- Which ideas could materially improve performance?
- Where can Finance help the business make faster, better-informed decisions?
- What deserves investment?
- Which conversations need to continue with your CHRO, CIO, CEO, or board?
For CFOs, the value of Rising comes from greater clarity on where Finance can create more value, improve decisions, and help the business respond faster.
