Now is the time for Digital Transformation in Transit

During the pandemic, transit agencies played an essential role in ensuring the mobility of Americans. The focus was to keep critical operations running despite experiencing historically low utilization. As agencies plan for returning to pre-pandemic levels of travel and an influx of capital from federal aid, now is the time for transit associations to transform their operations and equip themselves for the future.

Transit agencies provide critical infrastructure service, but often rely on outdated and inefficient systems to run their back-office operations. In the past, dependency has largely been caused by lack of funding, but recent legislation such as the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) have changed the narrative.

Agencies that have begun the modernization of legacy systems are already seeing benefits.

Success Across the Country

Santa Cruz METRO was feeling the pain from an outdated and clunky ERP system. Many transit organizations dream of having a system just as Santa Cruz METRO CFO Chuck Farmer describes.

Now everything is done “with the push of a button.” With Workday and support from Avaap, Santa Cruz Metro is moving from decades old technology to an automated reality.

Similarly, Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), is enabled by the cloud to start improving their process in areas such as budgeting, reporting, asset management, and supply management. Mass Transit, an industry-focused magazine, describes how COTA has been able to improve current operations and set themselves up for the future.

It’s more than bus and rail organizations that are benefiting from digital transformation. Memphis International Airport, the world’s top cargo airport, has also found meaningful improvements from moving a significant portion of their technology stack to Workday. The airport automated processes, increased visibility, reduced costs, consolidated IT systems, and improved user experience, against the backdrop of deploying Workday with a fully remote team during the pandemic.

If your transit organization is operating with outdated ERP technology, now is the time to begin planning for digital transformation. To get a broader view of what it takes to move to the cloud, connect to hear from transit associations and government organizations that have leveraged Workday for their digital transformation journey.