Enterprise Software projects in flight in 2020 were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis–either put on hold, had a scope change or were cancelled altogether (see 7 Ways COVID-19 Has Impacted HR Tech Projects & Investments.)  Many organizations in the middle of a project rollout were consumed with immediate changes to their business and industry, potential layoffs or office closings and more pressing initiatives.  Weighing priorities, trying to predict the future and reassembling the team were challenges that every project team was faced with–regardless of industry.  Despite the headwinds, some organizations were able to double-down and accelerate their transformation projects setting them up for success in 2021.

Weathering the Storm: A Workday Project Success Story in the Sports Betting Industry

We spoke with Jennifer Gainey, a Senior Project Manager at OneSource Virtual. Jennifer acted as the main project manager on a Workday implementation for a customer in the online sports gaming & betting industry that began back in December 2019.

“I’ve been in the Workday engagement management organization for over 7 years. I started as an analyst, and worked on all kinds of projects–from small to large, complex ones, full suite implementations to module add-ons, so I’ve seen all sizes of implementations. But a COVID-19 implementation wasn’t something that I had had experience with!” said Jennifer.  “Last year taught us a lot about resilience and adaptability for sure.”

About the Customer

When Jennifer first engaged, the customer already had implemented Workday HCM, Advanced Compensation and Absence for their 3,000 global employees.  At the end of 2019, they started a large project to add Time & Benefits across EMEA and Australia.  “The customer has been live with Workday for 1-2 years, but they’re always looking for ways to get the most out of their Workday journey,” said Jennifer.

Abruptly in March, the online sports betting business was shaken when the pandemic hit and sports were halted.  When March Madness, the biggest betting event in sports was lost, and the rest of the year in the balance, sports gaming companies scrambled. For brick and mortar casinos, March through May and the forced lockdowns of physical properties saw traditional casino operators’ revenues crash 85% to 100%, with most of their employees, tens of thousands for the major operators, furloughed. Sport brands also suffered from the complete halt in sporting events, which saw the number of events to bet on dwindle.

The customer ended up having to furlough a significant portion of their employees–including the internal project manager that had been assigned to manage the project.

To Persevere or to Pause?

The project team were faced with a decision – to persevere through the implementation or put it on pause? Right when many organizations pivoted to remote work in March 2020, the customer was in the middle of their implementation, which was scheduled to go live in July 2020.

Despite the pandemic worsening, losing their project manager and the unknowns–the customer chose to persevere through their implementation. Since they had kicked off in December and it was now March, most of the hard decisions and action-based items were already done.  Had they chosen to defer the project, this would mean additional time and costs added to the implementation due to licenses that would need to be extended.  The project management responsibilities at the client rolled over to the functional subject matter expert, who was their Head of HR Operations. Most of OSV’s other client contacts were also in HR, and the pandemic certainly kept everyone busy.

The Outcome

Despite the team changes, fully-remote environment and competing priorities–OSV successfully implemented Workday Benefits and Time Tracking for the customer in July, 2020.

“Both the OSV and customer team are delighted with the outcome of the implementation!” said Gainey. “Throughout the process, we put their needs first, and helped them navigate through unknowns.”  The customer continues to partner with OSV’s Application Management Services (AMS) team for their ongoing Workday needs and enhancements as well.  She concluded, “after implementing through the challenges of 2020, the future should be a lot easier!”