In this exclusive interview, Alltech Magazine speaks with Shivareddy Devarapalli, Senior Engineer for Workday at GEICO, about the evolving landscape of HR technology implementation, security optimization, and enterprise architecture integration. With over 11 years of experience across major organizations including Toyota Motor North America, Toyota Financial Services, Volkswagen, and now GEICO, Devarapalli brings unique insights on industry-specific challenges and best practices in HR technology leadership.
Alltech Magazine: Having worked with major organizations like Toyota, Volkswagen, and now GEICO, what key differences have you observed in how different sectors approach HR technology transformation?
Devarapalli: Based on my experience, Toyota is significantly more process-oriented compared to Volkswagen and GEICO when it comes to HR technology transformation.
At Toyota, the HR team collaborates closely with the HR Technology group and the TAKT team (Toyota’s internal process improvement team) to identify process gaps, inefficiencies (“angry clouds”), and stagnation points across all HR functions. After extensive discussions involving HR and Legal stakeholders, the teams work together to define improvements. These initiatives are then documented as user stories in an Agile tool and delivered through structured sprints.
In contrast, at GEICO, the focus is less on process and more on rapid issue resolution. The priority is to identify the problem, determine the fix, and implement it as quickly as possible. Project timelines are typically aggressive, though extensions are possible with a strong business case. However, GEICO is beginning to adopt more structured processes and Agile methodologies in current initiatives like the Recruiting reimplementation and Job Architecture redesign.
During my time at Volkswagen (2013-2014), the organization followed a traditional waterfall methodology for HRIS and HRIT projects. For instance, as a developer, I would build the solution, pass it to the testing team, address bugs, and re-submit for final approval before deployment. This approach often resulted in significant delays and process stagnation.
Overall, I believe Toyota exemplifies best practices in process management. Their structured approach leads to reduced redundancy, fewer issues, and smoother system transformations.
Alltech Magazine: You’ve been involved in security optimization projects. How are cybersecurity concerns reshaping HR technology architecture decisions today, especially with the rise of remote work?
Devarapalli: Security in HR technology is critically important, especially due to the sensitive nature of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as Social Security Numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, and dependent details. It is essential to carefully optimize access controls, ensuring only authorized personnel can view or modify data, and only at the appropriate access level.
Implementing security audits and task-level tracking at the individual worker level—including for remote employees—adds a strong layer of governance and accountability.
When it comes to cybersecurity, remote work environments introduce increased risk, particularly when employees connect through public or unsecured networks. To mitigate these risks, organizations should enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all login attempts and mandate Single Sign-On (SSO) over basic username and password access.
Additionally, every organization should implement VPN solutions, such as Cisco Secure Client, integrated with authenticator verification. This ensures secure access to internal applications and significantly reduces exposure to cyber-attacks.
An extra layer of security is always advisable, not only to protect sensitive HR data but also to ensure compliance and safeguard the organization’s digital infrastructure.
Alltech Magazine: Based on your experience with global implementations, what enterprise architecture considerations are most critical when implementing HR technology across different regions?
Devarapalli: Global implementations are a critical aspect of HR technology, as each country has its own regulations governing data privacy, security, and legal compliance. These regional differences must be carefully considered during every phase of deployment.
For example, at Toyota, we initially implemented Workday for the U.S. operations. Later, we expanded the system to include Mexico, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil within the same tenant. Before onboarding each country, we conducted thorough discussions with local legal teams to understand country-specific regulations and compliance requirements.
In Mexico, we initially went live with four companies, and everything functioned well. However, a year later, due to a new federal law, we were required to create a separate company structure in Workday and reassign all corporate employees. This change required significant effort and involved extensive analysis of configurations, security roles, integrations, and reporting structures to ensure a smooth transition.
The Canada implementation was relatively straightforward, but the Single Sign-On (SSO) configuration posed unique challenges. The Canadian team required authentication via their local Active Directory, rather than using the U.S. instance. To address this, we worked with both U.S. and Canadian directories to build a custom authentication selector, implementing specific identity provider vs. service provider rules based on country.
We encountered similar scenarios during the Argentina and Brazil rollouts, where regional variations required tailored configurations and authentication mechanisms.
There are countless examples that highlight the complexity of global HR technology implementations. It’s truly a vast and evolving topic, requiring both strategic planning and adaptability to meet ever-changing legal and technical requirements.
Alltech Magazine: Many organizations struggle with seamless integration between HR systems, identity management solutions, and directory services. What architectural approaches have you found most effective for creating truly cohesive technology ecosystems?
Devarapalli: In any organization, Human Resources (HR), Identity Access Management (IAM), and Active Directory (AD) systems serve as three foundational pillars for workforce identity and access control. Seamless integration among these systems is essential to ensure uninterrupted user access, particularly when changes occur in an employee’s profile. To maintain synchronization, the integration from the HR system to the IAM system should be scheduled to run at least four times daily, capturing both current and retroactive changes at the worker level. This data exchange may occur through file-based transfers or web service calls.
Once the IAM system receives the updated data from HR, the AD system should be refreshed within the next hour, enabling real-time alignment for Single Sign-On (SSO) and computer access. This is especially critical for organizations where IAM and AD are maintained as separate systems. Regular synchronization not only supports operational efficiency but also ensures data consistency across platforms, which is particularly valuable during year-end audits.
It is also recommended to perform a full system synchronization once a week for added assurance. Finally, the architectural design connecting these three systems must be robust, standardized, and mindful of other enterprise applications, since IAM and AD frequently serve as the backbone for SSO services across most business-critical platforms including the HR system itself.
Alltech Magazine: You spent seven years working with Toyota and have experience with Volkswagen. What unique HR technology challenges exist in manufacturing environments that other industries might not face?
Devarapalli: In manufacturing environments, HR technology faces key challenges in recruiting, compensation, and onboarding, primarily due to the high volume of workforce hiring.
Recruiting processes must handle large-scale hiring for roles like production and track team members. Systems must be capable of managing heavy data loads and transactions. For instance, Toyota’s Battery Plant in North Carolina is undergoing mass hiring supported by an integrated solution that automates assessments, interviews, offers, and background checks. Since recruiting and HR are unified in a single system, the process flows efficiently, avoiding delays often caused by separate systems.
Compensation in manufacturing is equally complex, especially for hourly and skilled labor roles. Structures are typically linked to hours worked, and employees progress through compensation grades based on tenure and performance. This “step progression” model requires accurate setup to align with organizational policies.
Onboarding large volumes of new hires must be streamlined to avoid delays. Companies should integrate Identity Access Management (IAM) and Active Directory (AD) to automate account provisioning ahead of the start date. Once key onboarding steps like eSignatures and personal information submission are completed, the system should immediately alert payroll to ensure timely payments.
Alltech Magazine: How has automation testing transformed implementation approaches for enterprise HR systems, and what leadership practices ensure quality outcomes?
Devarapalli: Automation testing has significantly improved how enterprise HR systems are implemented, operated, and enhanced. Traditional manual testing has evolved into agile, scalable automated testing, which is especially critical for platforms like Workday and Oracle HCM that receive frequent updates, including weekly patches and biannual releases. To keep pace, organizations need fast, reliable testing strategies. Tools like Kainos Smart help by executing automated regression test packs in sandbox environments, ensuring that configurations, security, and integrations remain functional after each update.
Beyond speed and efficiency, automation testing offers detailed logs and audit trails, which are vital for internal audits, SOX compliance, and data security assessments. While the initial setup may require a substantial time investment, the long-term advantages include reduced testing effort, fewer errors, and accelerated adoption of updates.
To ensure quality outcomes, leadership must prioritize automation in their HR technology strategy. Solutions like Kainos and Selenium should be leveraged for ongoing testing and impact analysis. Additionally, building internal subject matter experts (SMEs) in integrations, security, data, and configuration is essential. Automation should be an ongoing practice not limited to initial implementation but applied consistently across new features, updates, and enhancements.
Alltech Magazine: With federal agencies increasingly considering Workday and similar platforms, what governance considerations should technology leaders in the public sector prioritize?
Devarapalli: It’s encouraging to see federal agencies exploring Workday and similar cloud-based solutions as they move away from traditional on-premise infrastructure. To drive successful digital transformation, technology leaders within federal agencies must adopt modern platforms that not only deliver robust functionality and a seamless user experience but also support strong built-in auditing and compliance capabilities.
When it comes to governance in Workday, leaders should focus on several key areas:
- Workforce Administration for effective headcount planning
- Enterprise Compliance for data integration
- HR Compliance to support operational integrity
- Legal Compliance for organization-wide policy alignment
Additionally, it is highly recommended to implement enterprise-level governance tools, such as Archer, to monitor organizational changes, track system-level activities, and log user access. Data sovereignty is critical in government implementations as it ensures sensitive data remains under national jurisdiction, complying with local privacy and security laws. Governments often mandate local data residency to protect citizen information, prevent unauthorized foreign access, and maintain control over regulatory compliance, auditability, and legal enforcement.
In today’s environment, having an additional layer of security and governance is essential—not only to defend against cyber threats but also to ensure readiness for internal and external audits.
Alltech Magazine: Looking at the current talent landscape in HR technology, what skills gap do you see emerging, and how should technology leaders address these shortages?
Devarapalli: In the HR technology space, there is a notable talent gap in Workday-certified implementation resources. While Workday supports over 20,000 customers globally, the number of certified professionals available to handle implementations, Phase X activities, and post-production support remains insufficient.
This gap exists because Workday certifications are not publicly accessible. To become certified, individuals must be employed by official implementation or service partners, such as PwC, Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, among others. Historically, Workday has been selective in granting partner access, limiting the growth of the certified talent pool. However, in 2024, Workday showed increased flexibility by onboarding 15 additional partner firms.
Workday continues to see a surge in adoption due to its user-friendly interface and robust capabilities in both HR and Finance. Within the platform, there are multiple modules, but Finance remains critically under-resourced in terms of certified professionals.
There is a significant talent gap in the Workday ecosystem, particularly in specialized areas such as Workday Extend, Finance, SCM, and Orchestrate for Integrations. To address this gap, technology leaders on the customer side should prioritize Workday Pro certifications and training for their internal teams. This can help reduce dependency on external certified consultants. Simultaneously, Workday partners should consider collaborating with independent consultants, offering pathways to certification while acknowledging that certification costs may present a barrier.
