At Focus on WD, we speak to the best in the Workday ecosystem to understand what’s working, what’s changing, and how Workday professionals are navigating it all.
In this episode of Interviewing the Experts, our Managing Director, Joel Kirkland, sat down with Rena Ghataoura, a seasoned Workday Financials Consultant specialising in Spend. With four years’ Workday experience, and several years in finance prior to that, she brings a unique perspective to implementing and optimising Spend within Workday. Her career spans both consulting and end-user roles across industries including finance, theatre, media, and financial services.
We caught up to talk about Spend management, how to approach implementation, and what skills teams need to get it right.
Do you need to come from a finance background to succeed in Workday Financials?
Not necessarily, but it helps. Starting in finance as an end user gave me an edge - I understood how customers speak and what their day-to-day looks like. You can absolutely come in from a Workday-only background, but if you haven’t done the operational stuff before, it can be harder to understand what the client really needs from the system. Ideally, you want a mix of both on a project team - functional experience and system expertise.
What exactly is Spend in Workday?
Spend covers the processes and tools around how a business spends money. The main components are:
- Suppliers & Invoices – everything you pay for, from rent to office supplies.
- Procurement – purchase orders and receipts, often used before supplier invoices come in.
- Inventory – if a client’s business requires it, inventory can be added to track items and stock.
What are your top tips for implementing Spend successfully?
First, be realistic about your data conversion team. Too often, just one person is responsible for moving suppliers, invoices, purchase orders, receipts and inventory - and that’s too much. It slows everything down.
Second, be open to change. Clients often get stuck on what their old system did, but Workday works differently. You’ve got to test thoroughly. Break the system, run your real-world processes, and see what happens. If something doesn’t work, that’s a conversation worth having with your consultant.
And finally, relationships are key. Have the right SMEs in place early and build trust between them and your consultants. That’s how you solve problems quickly and get buy-in across the board.
What skills do teams need on the ground to make Spend work?
The people who do the actual work - AP clerks, procurement teams - need to be involved in testing. They know what the process should look like and will spot issues that others might miss.
You also need strong data leads. Someone who understands EIBs, can navigate big spreadsheets, and is across the details. And don’t underestimate training. It’s a new way of working, and people need time to get comfortable.
Is it easy to find the right resource for Spend implementations?
It depends. There are good Spend consultants out there, but the Workday Financials pool is still small. If you can’t find someone who knows Spend inside out, look for someone with experience in areas that feed into it, like business assets, tax, or intercompany. Those areas all touch Spend in some way, and with the right guidance, those consultants can pick it up quickly.
What's hot in Spend right now?
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) was gaining momentum on my last project. It’s a game changer for AP teams. Instead of manually keying in invoice data, invoices are emailed straight into Workday. OCR picks up the supplier, the figures, the tax - all of it. It saves time, reduces errors, and helps teams scale. It’s something I really believe in, and I’m excited to see it being adopted more widely.
Planning a Workday Financials implementation or need a specialist in Spend? Focus on WD are true Workday experts. It’s all we do. With an established network of experienced consultants, including Spend SMEs like Rena, we can connect you with the right talent to get it right the first time. Whether you’re starting out or optimising an existing tenant, we’re ready to help you build a high-performing team. Get in touch today.
Prefer video? Catch the full episode of Interviewing the Experts with Rena Ghataoura right here.
