Workday is pleased to announce that Workday Horizon Johannesburg, its flagship annual event for South Africa, will take place on 2 June 2026.

The event will convene chief human resource officers, chief financial officers, CIOs and other senior business leaders to explore how organisations can turn AI from a technology experiment into a measurable driver of business value.

Jens Löhmar, CTO, Continental Europe & DACH at Workday, will headline the event, sharing global insights on how organisations can embed AI into their operational core.

AI has moved beyond experimentation

“AI is no longer a technology experiment. The real question is whether organisations have the architecture, data, governance and workforce models to turn AI into measurable business value,” says Löhmar. “Our research shows that employees are ready for AI, but systems and processes often are not.”

Workday’s Copy/Paste Economy: How Task-Based AI is Failing the Enterprise study reveals that while 97% of employees rate their day-to-day work positively, many are still acting as “the glue” between disconnected systems. The study surveyed 6 100 professionals across HR, finance, IT and operations.

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As the report notes, “more than eight in 10 employees report they spend significant time coordinating across teams, moving information between tools and reconciling conflicting data”.

“Only 27% of organisations have embedded AI directly into core workflows, which means most companies are still adding AI around the edges. At Horizon, we’ll show how Workday helps organisations move from task-level automation to true work transformation,” Löhmar adds.

Why Workday Horizon matters for South Africa

Kiv Moodley, country MD at Workday South Africa, says the event comes at a pivotal moment for the country’s business landscape.

“South African organisations are under pressure to grow, modernise and compete globally, while navigating a persistent war for talent and ongoing skills shortages. Workday Horizon gives leaders a chance to see how AI, skills intelligence and modern enterprise platforms can help them build more competitive, resilient organisations,” says Moodley.

“Our customers consistently tell us that Horizon is one of the best technology and innovation events they attend each year. This year, we’re going even deeper, showing how Workday’s architecture, AI capabilities and governance models can help South African organisations start their AI journey with confidence.”

Kiv Moodley, Workday country MD for South Africa

What attendees can expect

Workday Horizon Johannesburg will feature:

Keynotes from global and local Workday leaders, including Jens Löhmar and Kiv Moodley
Deep dives into Workday’s AI architecture, including Superintelligence for Work and the Agent System of Record
Insights from Workday’s global research, including the AI tax, embedded AI and workforce transformation
Live demonstrations of Workday’s AI-powered capabilities across HR, Finance and IT
Practical guidance on how organisations can modernise their operational core and scale AI safely
Networking with peers, industry experts and Workday customers

“We will show how Workday brings deterministic enterprise processes together with probabilistic AI; combining trust, governance and intelligence in a way that delivers real business outcomes,” Löhmar notes.

“The next phase of AI is not about adding more tools; it’s about embedding AI into trusted systems with governance, context and auditability. When AI operates inside workflows, not alongside them, organisations see real value.”

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Moodley believes this optimism is a competitive advantage for South Africa: “South Africans are resilient, entrepreneurial and used to operating under pressure. If we combine that mindset with modern platforms and governed AI, we can leapfrog older ways of working. Horizon is about showing what that future looks like.”