Workday posted roughly $7 billion in fiscal year 2024 revenue and serves more than 10,000 enterprise customers, including a growing roster of federal agencies. The company still runs on external suppliers for a wide range of goods and services, and it has a formal supplier diversity program tied to NMSDC, WBENC, and Disability:IN. If your business is certified or in the process of certifying, Workday is a realistic target.
Here is what you need to know before you submit your first registration.
What Workday buys from suppliers
Workday's spend categories span both technology and facilities. On the technology side, the company sources software development services, cloud infrastructure support, IT staffing, cybersecurity consulting, and professional services tied to its product deployments. HR implementation partners, change management consultants, and training vendors all sit in this zone.
Outside of tech, Workday procures marketing and creative services, events and experiential production, facilities management, janitorial and maintenance services, food and catering for its campuses, and corporate travel. The Pleasanton, California headquarters and its satellite offices in cities like Atlanta, New York, and Dublin create recurring demand for local service providers.
Federal agency customers add a secondary layer. As Workday expands its Government Cloud product, it needs suppliers with relevant federal compliance experience, particularly those already registered in SAM.gov.
How to register as a Workday supplier
Workday uses Coupa as its procurement platform. New suppliers register through the Coupa Supplier Portal. You can find the registration entry point through Workday's supplier diversity page on their corporate website, typically under the "Company" or "Responsibility" section. Search for "Workday supplier diversity" to locate the current page directly.
During registration you will need:
- Legal business name and DBA if applicable
- Federal Tax ID (EIN) or Social Security Number for sole proprietors
- Business address and contact information
- NAICS codes that describe your primary services
- Business size classification (small, minority-owned, woman-owned, etc.)
- Diversity certification numbers and issuing bodies
- Banking information for payment setup
- A brief capability description
Coupa profiles are searchable by Workday's procurement team, so the capability description is not a formality. Write it in plain language that describes what you do and for whom. If you have worked with similar enterprise software companies, say so. Vague descriptions get passed over.
Which certifications matter at Workday
Workday publicly aligns with three organizations: NMSDC, WBENC, and Disability:IN. Your certification from any of these three gives you a verified status flag inside their supplier database.
NMSDC certification (MBE) carries the most consistent weight in corporate supplier diversity programs, and Workday is no exception. NMSDC has over 1,700 corporate members who share supplier data. An MBE certification issued by your regional affiliate is searchable across that network, which means a Workday procurement manager can find you even before you complete their internal registration.
WBENC certification (WBE) follows a similar logic. WBENC's national network and its annual Summit and Salute conference bring corporate buyers and certified suppliers into the same room. Workday participates in WBENC-affiliated events, so being certified increases the odds of a warm introduction before you ever submit a formal bid.
Disability:IN certification (DOBE) is the newest of the three in terms of corporate adoption, but Workday's participation signals genuine commitment rather than checkbox compliance. If your business is disability-owned and you are not yet certified through Disability:IN, the process is worth starting now. Corporate programs that explicitly name Disability:IN are still a minority among Fortune 500 companies, which means competition for certified DOBE suppliers is lower.
Certifications from the National Veteran-Owned Business Association (NaVOBA) or state agencies like your state's DBE program are worth listing but carry less direct weight in Workday's stated program. List them anyway because some sourcing managers filter broadly.
If you are not yet certified, self-identification in the Coupa profile still gets you into the diversity-segmented pool. Certification verifies the claim and moves you higher in that pool.
How certification affects your chances
Workday has publicly committed to supplier diversity goals and reports its diverse spend. That reporting creates internal pressure on procurement managers to route spend toward certified suppliers when comparable options exist.
In practice, this means two things. First, if a procurement manager is evaluating two vendors with similar capabilities and pricing, the one with an NMSDC or WBENC certification wins the tiebreaker. Second, some categories have targeted outreach specifically to diverse suppliers, where Workday's supplier diversity team actively recruits rather than waiting for inbound registrations.
The certifications do not compensate for a weak capability profile or an uncompetitive price, but they do get you seen in searches that non-certified suppliers never appear in.
Getting your first order
Registration alone rarely generates business. A few approaches that move the needle:
Attend Workday-affiliated events. Workday sponsors and attends NMSDC and WBENC conferences. The WBENC National Conference and the NMSDC Annual Conference are the two highest-value touchpoints. Workday's supplier diversity team is present at both. Introduce yourself, confirm you are registered in Coupa, and ask about upcoming sourcing needs in your category.
Request a capability briefing. Some corporate supplier diversity programs accept inbound requests for a short introductory call. Workday's supplier diversity team manages this process. Contact them through the supplier diversity section of the Workday website and ask about the process for new supplier introductions. Do not cold-pitch a sale. Ask to be educated on their sourcing calendar and how to position your firm for upcoming needs.
Target implementation partners. Workday sells through a large network of implementation partners, including Deloitte, Accenture, IBM, and many regional boutique firms. These partners also have supplier diversity requirements. If you provide services that complement a Workday implementation, getting onto a partner's supplier list can generate revenue and build a reference that Workday's own team recognizes.
Keep your Coupa profile current. Procurement managers search by NAICS code and capability keyword. Update your profile when you add services, hire new staff, or win relevant contracts. A profile that has not been touched in eighteen months signals that the vendor is not actively pursuing the work.
Who handles supplier diversity at Workday
Workday employs a dedicated supplier diversity function within its global procurement organization. The role responsible for managing the program carries a title along the lines of Senior Manager or Director of Supplier Diversity, sitting under the Chief Procurement Officer or VP of Global Procurement. This person manages the NMSDC and WBENC memberships, coordinates conference participation, and fields inbound supplier inquiries.
If you cannot reach this person directly, Workday's general procurement team can route supplier diversity inquiries. The contact pathway is through the supplier diversity page on workday.com.
Supplier development programs
Workday participates in NMSDC's corporate plus initiative and WBENC's enterprise dashboard program, both of which provide structured development tracks for certified diverse suppliers. Through these programs, Workday may offer mentorship pairings, access to procurement executives, and participation in supplier showcases.
Within Workday's own program, the company has run supplier diversity roundtables and small group sessions where diverse suppliers present capabilities directly to category managers. These are not publicly advertised events. They are typically offered to suppliers already in the Coupa system who have been identified as high-potential matches for near-term spend. This is another reason to register early and keep your profile complete: it gets you into the candidate pool for these invitations.
The path into Workday is methodical rather than fast. Register in Coupa, get your NMSDC or WBENC certification in order, show up at the conferences where their team is present, and follow up consistently. The companies that land the first purchase order are almost always the ones that combined a solid registration with a personal introduction.
