How Kainos is harnessing AI to drive better security for Workday users
Machine learning, data science and AI have increasingly permeated both public and private sectors. Yet, the depth of expertise, to take advantage of these capabilities, particularly around operationalising machine learning, often escapes many organisations. In this article, Patrick Sheridan, Kainos Security Expert & Workday Security Product Lead delves into Kainos' efforts in bridging this gap for Workday customers. Leveraging cutting-edge AI, Kainos aims to foster innovation, elevate client experiences, and drive secure, digital transformation.
Enhancing Workday security with AI
One of the more complex and time-consuming tasks organisations often face in Workday, like other solutions, is auditing security configuration and ensuring appropriate access. Regular changes often make it difficult to maintain a clear overview of system entitlements. Automated controls, including the use of AI, can simplify security measures, ensuring relevant access levels for designated individuals. To help Workday customers achieve this, our initial approach involved collaborating with the Kainos data science team to explore various techniques and methods that could complement Workday and our associated products.
In tackling significant Workday challenges, such as Security Access Reviews, our goal was to detect unconventional access patterns to highlight potentially incorrect, flawed or inconsistent access points– essentially finding the needles in the haystack. Achieving this without a comprehensive process review is quite challenging.
The findings led to the development of Smart Audit’s anomaly detection powered by AI, specifically designed to identify the irregularities within Workday security setups. Previously, a Workday consultant would spend weeks conducting security assessments, but with AI-driven anomaly detection, this task is completed within seconds. A significant advantage lies in its reusability: once our model is trained, customers gain the ability to perform their own AI-powered assessments for Workday security when required. AI excels in handling extensive datasets, a task humans often find daunting due to the sheer volume of information involved.
Smart Audit revolutionises Workday security with proactive anomaly detection
With Smart Audit, Workday users experience a remarkable time saving of over 96% compared to handling security controls manually. The AI technology prioritises what customers should be looking at. For instance, a scenario might involve a customer inadvertently assigning elevated access to an unconstrained security group, granting unrestricted access across the entire user base instead of the intended, limited access to a specific group. This oversight might enable them to view the entire tenant population instead of just their designated team members. Our AI system would swiftly identify this anomaly. Smart Audit’s AI efficiently identifies discrepancies that might slip past human detection, especially considering the time constraints inherent in manual security assessments.
Faster, stronger Workday security with Smart Audit and AI
Many companies struggle to maintain regular access reviews, often conducting checks just annually, and in addition overlook specific areas. Consequently, certain elevated access levels might remain unnoticed for extended periods. Our AI solution, offers customers the flexibility to scan Workday at their convenience. Whether they prefer daily, weekly, or monthly scans, they have the freedom to choose which suits them best.
Staying competitive demands organisations utilise available tools to extract insights for informed decision-making and embrace a risk-orientated strategy.
The future of auditing: Integrating AI for strategic efficiency
Staying competitive demands organisations utilise available tools to extract insights for informed decision-making and embrace a risk-orientated strategy. Smart Audit offers Workday users a pathway to acquire valuable insights, review findings, and adopt a more streamlined, strategic approach, thereby minimising manual effort for employees. This emphasises the crucial role of integrating AI into audit procedures to maintain an edge in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.
Kainos and AI
For nearly ten years, Kainos has spearheaded advancements in AI. The organisation boasts a robust Data & AI Practice, comprising over 150 experts, demonstrating Kainos’ dedicated focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, evident in a recent £10million investment in generative AI technology.
Moreover, Kainos holds coveted membership in Microsoft’s Global Partner Advisory Council for Data & AI. This affiliation grants exclusive access to the latest AI product insights and Microsoft's roadmap, directly from their headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Notably, Kainos was honoured with the titles of ‘Services Partner’ and ‘Data & AI Partner’ at Microsoft’s 2023 Partner of the Year Awards.
Stay tuned for the second part of this article to delve into how Kainos Smart Audit utilises AI technology, simplifying Workday audits for administrators and auditors.
Curious about how Kainos Smart Audit can help your business embrace a risk-oriented approach?