How Skyscanner has cut Workday testing effort by 97% while boosting compliance and security
“Before Smart Test, it took six weeks to manually test Workday updates. Now, it takes six hours—with better accuracy, better coverage, and no disruption.”
About Skyscanner
Skyscanner is a leading global travel search company, helping over 100 million monthly users find the best deals on flights, hotels, and car hire. Headquartered in Edinburgh, the brand operates across more than 30 markets and is driven by a data-led, customer-first mindset. Skyscanner uses Workday to manage its finance, HCM, and planning processes with a focus on innovation and automation.
Skyscanner on future-proofing finance and HCM
With a fast-growing business and expanding international footprint, Skyscanner needed to overhaul its legacy finance system. The existing platform was difficult to use, challenging to report on, and couldn’t handle the complexities of global regulatory compliance. “We were reporting across many countries with different laws and regulations, and it just wasn’t sustainable,” said Matt Fleming, Finance Systems Manager at Skyscanner.
Workday became the clear choice to replace its outdated system, selected for its flexibility, scalability, and ability to support future growth. Skyscanner launched Workday with a lean configuration, giving it the space to continually improve while meeting IFRS 16, IR35, and evolving SOX and tax reporting requirements. “Workday taught us what we didn’t even know we didn’t know. It highlighted gaps in our security, privacy, and governance, and gave us the tools to adapt and scale,” Matt explained.
A small team, making a big impact
Today, the finance systems team has grown to a team of three, but this lean team has to quickly, build and deploy new automations, build and manage integrations, as well as a concentrate on the future roadmap. It knew it needed a solution to help support impactful operations as well as scale the ability to continue to grow internally, adhere to SoX regulations and GDPR, and cut some inefficiencies such as the internal Workday Proxy restriction.
After partnering with Kainos for AMS, Skyscanner was introduced to Kainos Smart automation—including Smart Audit, Smart Shield, and Smart Test. These Workday-native tools provide automation, insight, and control at scale. “We needed to remove the manual toil and streamline everything from audit controls to regression testing,” said Matt. “Workday gave us a strong foundation, but we needed tools that could keep up with the pace of change.”
Smart Shield: Simplification meets security
Smart Shield has given the team granular control over sensitive data—supporting both finance and HCM operations. By enabling proxy access for non-admins, such as learning and leadership teams, Skyscanner has empowered users to self-serve without compromising on governance and remove reliance on external testers. “We can now move fast without leaving windows open,” Matt noted. “Our ethos is simplification, security, and savings—and Smart Shield delivers all three.”
Smart Audit: From reactive to proactive compliance
Previously, audit preparation was slowed down by JIRA tickets, manual spreadsheets, and time-consuming task reports. Smart Audit has turned that process around by flagging issues in near-real time, from segregation of duties conflicts to incomplete approval chains. “We don’t just find the problems: we’re alerted before they become problems,” said Matt. “Audit now runs in the background and highlights what matters. It is robust and future-proof.”
Smart Test: 6 weeks of testing reduced to 6 hours
After seeing the immediate impact of Smart Audit and Shield, Skyscanner deployed Kainos Smart Test. “Previously, small expert teams were involved in even the slightest of change and there was a constant requirement to see how change impacted everything in the tenant.”
Workday’s biannual release cycles once consumed six weeks of manual testing, filtering thousands of rows of release notes, testing updates line by line. Now, Smart Test compares preview and sandbox tenants, highlights issues instantly, and enables end-to-end automation. “What took weeks now takes hours, or even minutes,” said Matt. “We went from pulling people off projects for weeks to having a weekly call to review results. It’s changed everything.”
Custom-built tests from Kainos and ongoing enablement has allowed the Skyscanner team to test complex scenarios quickly, such as security group changes or new business processes - without the need for manual proxying or regression runs. “It is making considerable time and cost savings across both FINS and HR teams.”
Looking ahead: Scaling with confidence
Skyscanner’s journey with Kainos Smart has enabled a new chapter of transformation. Over the next two years, the team is focused on expanding billing automation and transforming procurement through a major overhaul of strategic sourcing. These efforts reflect a continued commitment to automation, optimisation, and scalability, backed by the efficiency gains already realised through Kainos Smart. With compliance, audit, and testing now streamlined the finance systems team is able to focus more time on strategic projects that drive real business value and what matters most – roadmap.