Speaker 1:

From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House, our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go-to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business. For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth. Each week, we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism here at the NYSE and ICEs exchanges around the world. Now let's go Inside the ICE House. Here's your host Lance Glinn.

Lance Glinn:

Welcome into another episode of the Inside the ICE House podcast. Our guests today, Mike Rost and Mandi McReynolds of Workiva, that's NYC ticker symbol WK, are helping companies navigate the convergence of finance, sustainability, and governance. Joining us at the New York Stock Exchange during Climate Week NYC, we welcome them to share how Workiva is driving innovation, the future of reporting, and how cross-functional collaboration is reshaping corporate strategy. Mandi, Mike, thanks so much for joining us Inside the ICE House.

Mike Rost:

Thanks for having us.

Mandi McReynolds:

Thanks for having us.

Lance Glinn:

Us. So Mike, you've been with Workiva since 2015, serving as, or now serving as Chief Strategy Officer, and as you mentioned Head of Investor Relations. So a decade at the company for you. Just for our listeners, as we look big picture at Workiva, for those who may not be familiar with the core problems the company is trying to solve, how would you describe Workiva's mission and how it's evolved over time?

Mike Rost:

Yeah, so we were founded in 2008, founded by accountants and engineers as a cloud-first, SaaS, software as a service, platform. Our original mission was to transform financial reporting and trusted data that goes in there. The evolution of the company is actually quite fascinating. We started off as a single solution product to provide customers the ability to report to the SEC, their Qs and Ks. We expanded into a multi-solution company by adding in governance risk and compliance and supporting not only financial reporting but internal controls over our financial reporting and broader risk management. We then moved into a multicategory platform company by bringing in broader data management capabilities, and then most recently, in the last three, four years, added in sustainability to that. So today we provide a platform that supports financial reporting and disclosure, governance, risk and compliance and sustainability for your non-financial information.

Lance Glinn:

So both of you, along with quite a few others from the Workiva team, are here at Climate Week NYC. Now, traditionally sustainability and finance operate in separate silos, but there's a convergence at Workiva. What does it just look like when these two worlds, this world of sustainability and this world of finance, what does it look like when they come together?

Mike Rost:

Well, I think the end outcome is more accurate results that are disclosed by businesses. When you think of the end goal for a lot of companies, it's to disclose both their financial and their non-financial information and for organizations to work together to provide that information that is investor grade, think about the end customers, it is about better information, more accurate information, and ultimately, internally, it's streamlined processes.

Lance Glinn:

So Mandi, you've been in sustainability leadership across industries. From your vantage point, just broad picture, how has the role of the chief sustainability officer in companies and in business changed and evolved into one that's now really a strategic driver of business transformation?

Mandi McReynolds:

Well, I think Mike said it really well. It's when these two worlds collide, and so they're really looking at what are the opportunities, the risk and the cost? And how do you partner across the office of the CFO as well as more now, as we have the wave of AI, into the office of the CIO, together as organizations are driving both performance growth and resilience? And so we see it as a role that has evolved to being more strategic, but also one that has expanded value.

So let's take by job for example. Mike and I are both actually people of practice. We are customer one at Workiva, which means we do all the beta testing, all the uses of the product that goes out to the people and practices in our job, to our 6,400 global customers. And in my area, I get the opportunity to be the Vice President of Customer Advocacy. So I get to spend my day talking to CFOs, talking to chief sustainability officers, talking to chief risk officers around how they're leveraging technology to fuel the power of their organizations. And I see that's really the new wave of what's going to be happening in organizations and specifically in this type of role.

Lance Glinn:

And so Mandi, you had mentioned earlier that one of the benefits of the position that you're in, and I think it's the same with you too, Mike, is that you guys use Workiva products. You are customer one, I think you mentioned. What do those first-hand experiences provide you? How do they shape the way you approach your role and help you better understand the challenges that those who use Workiva are really combating?

Mandi McReynolds:

Well, I think that's what drew me to the company, and I would say the same with Mike, is that you recognize every day, when you're touching the product, you are making a difference in the field because you get to go out and look at that. And as I talk to customers every day, oftentimes people say, "Oh, is it about technology?" And I would say, "Actually what they're trying to do is if you look in all these fields, there is a massive job shortage. There is a massive job shortage, and they are mostly concerned, mostly concerned about burnout."

And so when they see technology, they see it as an opportunity to make a difference, not only from the performance side, like Mike said, but actually a way of investing in their people and leveraging opportunities for their company. Our product alone, when we work on, let's say, a function or a feature or Mike works on a function or a feature and we're testing, it is amazing to then take that out to a group of customers and beta test it. And then when that goes out to market and you start to see that this saves a company, on average, 3,600 hours of time and the result of savings is a $2.9 million, you know that you are not only making a difference for those customers right across the table from you and yourself, but you're actually making a difference to the bottom line of that company.

Lance Glinn:

Mike, how have they helped you, those first hand experiences of actually being a Workiva user?

Mike Rost:

Yeah, you look at software. Since software's been around, one of the primary value propositions of any software, piece of software or piece of technology is to save time. And ultimately what you deliver, we deliver to our customers, needs to be usable and useful. And by having practitioners such as Mandi and I involved in that process, we have those conversations, at times. We will have people that may, people on R&D team will develop something that might look really cool, but then you get back to practicality of, all right, is this usable and/or useful for the actual task at hand, that job to be done?

And that's where that practicality comes in of having practitioners being involved in that process from day one. Because that's ultimately what we want to deliver to our customers, something that's usable and useful, that'll drive pure ROI for them, save them time, allow them to put their efforts into more value-added activities rather than manual work. Even think about even a simple activity as a Q or a K. The data and document assembly and all the work that has to go into all that, how do we make that easier? How do we make that better?

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely. So one of the key reasons that we wanted to talk to both of you is this alignment at Workiva of the CFO, the CIO, and the CSO roles. One of the key themes, I think, really behind today's conversation, so I want to speak to it for just a little bit. Mike, we're an era where data is just reshaping every corner of business. So how do you see this partnership of those three roles specifically that I just mentioned, becoming essential to really navigating this data revolution of sorts. What does successful collaboration of these three pillars look like to navigate this changing business landscape?

Mike Rost:

Yeah. So I think there's a couple of pieces that drive that requirement even more now. First off is just the amount of data and there's studies. Go into your favorite AI tool and look about the amount of data that's been created over the last year, three years, five years. But just organizationally, organizations are dealing with a lot more data. The second is with things such as AI, the ability to consume that data has also become more easy to do for organizations, which then allows us, are we all looking at the same set of data? Are we consistent on what is the outcome of that analysis of that data? And do we have that shared set of understanding and that shared data and collaboration around it?

So rather than having disparate desktop, office productivity tool data, organizations, as they move to the cloud, now have these central data stores and that really allows that collaboration across those functions. And again, ultimately for us, for our customers, it's the Azure reporting that data externally and telling that company story to your investors or to your regulators or whoever the constituents might be, you need to have that consistency around it.

Lance Glinn:

So Mandi, each one of these roles, the CIO, CFO, and CSO, they bring different lens to the table, different perspectives, different opinions, different expertise. How do you ensure that those perspectives, they complement rather than compete, especially when tackling challenges like transparency and government and risk and all the other ones that Workiva tackles?

Mandi McReynolds:

Yeah, I was talking to a group this week, while we were here in New York, and what the CFO and CIO we all talked about that we aligned on is exactly what Mike said. It's about no randomness. It's about a data strategy that, actually you are unified and looking at it collaboratively together. There's actually no divorce there among the three. I also think, as we look in the market, and I'll ask you two this real quick question. I'll turn the table a little bit on you. Who do you trust more when they're talking about AI and technology? Do you trust an academic or do you trust people of practice? Mike, who do you trust?

Mike Rost:

I trust people of practice.

Mandi McReynolds:

People of practice.

Lance Glinn:

I'm the same way. Yeah. Same way.

Mandi McReynolds:

The same way. You're a podcaster.

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely.

Mandi McReynolds:

Who are you going to talk to? You're going to talk to a podcaster. We asked the room that and that's what they said. And so if you talk, like we do, to CFOs and chief sustainability officers and CIOs, we asked this question in a group and we said, "How many of you collaborated together on these projects three years ago, four years ago?" One person out of an entire room of 100 executives raised their hand. "How many of you have started to collaborate on it this year?" A third of the room raised their hand and the other two third, they were like, "We want that type of collaboration." So when we talk about issues like adoption and other things we're going to get into today, I think that's the piece. If we really want to see this accelerate and we want to see the results of productivity, as Mike said, then I think we're going to see a stronger collaboration among that group, and the desire is there among people at practice to see it happen.

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely. And from a sustainability perspective, to that same point, as companies look to grow sustainably, how does the integration of different areas we've touched on help, financial, technological sustainability strategies, how does it help them unlock these new opportunities?

Mandi McReynolds:

Yeah, so I think the piece that's interesting when you look at it, let's take intelligence for the job to be done. So as we look and surveyed practitioners around the globe, people like Mike, you had to be in the job, over 2,000 of them. What we found is it's actually not about technology, it's about trust. And Mike said it really well. It's about trust in the data. Can I actually trust the data? Two thirds can't. So we got to know that it's in some kind of refined system that's auditable, that can be trusted. Do I trust the governance? Is it secure in the team? But this is the final one that's really, really interesting. When we look at what the future holds for sustainability and this group coming together. Is sustainability, people had the most hope for what AI could do for their profession.

And then the second part that we learned is that it was about what Mike said, the job to be done and tools and training that is tailored specific. So how does that play out in intelligence for sustainability? When you go into a reporting cycle and we were beta using the AI, our team saved 30% time, cutting months off of the process and the headache of reporting and compliance, although in our trusted and secure environment with already audited data. So that part becomes really, really interesting. Then as it moved into the market, we saw organizations saving 40% time, a global organization, up to 65% time. And so the teams are actually able to do more strategic work and not be weighed down. And we're seeing the same results across finance and across risk cutting months, weeks off of processes that they typically have. And if you're an audit, which you have to go through an internal audit. In my world, Mike and I have to go through internal audits in our world, 50% time. So it's regardless of position, but it's about the tailored and specialized tool for the job to be done.

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely. Those numbers are staggering. They're really incredible. So Mike, I want to now pivot more towards the AI part of the conversation, because whether it's a business like Workiva's, whether it's retail, whether it's sales, manufacturing, it's obviously something that's impacting industries across the business landscape, excuse me. So you see the CIO, the CFO, the CSO partnership that we've been speaking to over the last couple questions. How does this convergence, how is it evolving as AI and automation become more central to really all aspects, but specifically when it comes to obviously what Workiva does, reporting? And then overall decision making, how is AI really playing that impact?

Mike Rost:

Yeah, first off, it is a revolutionary set of technology that unlocks so much potential inside of a company, whether it be data access, data dissemination, time savings, whatever it might be. That being said, there is also a risk of making sure you have the information that's trusted. So we see, in working with our customers, they are looking for outcomes of AI to be highly predictable. Mandi said it earlier, no randomness. There's no room for hallucination in finance, accounting, risk and compliance, sustainability activities. So it's that predictability, that traceability, that auditability that is required, which then really gets back to the data side. What data set are you accessing? And do you have that clean set of shared data across finance, across sustainability, across the enterprise which the CIO would look at? Are you pointing that AI to that set of data that'll give you that predictability and no randomness in that process? So I think that is really forging some of that connectivity across those functions now that maybe not exist in the past.

Lance Glinn:

And I like that no randomness comment, because when you think about what are a lot of people's cautions around AI, it is that can we trust it? It is that accountability. And to have that no randomness is so crucial in today's business landscape. You have to have something that's predictable. You have to have something that's trustworthy. You have to have something that's transparent, ultimately, too, at the end of the day. So how is Workiva addressing and making sure that that randomness isn't there with the tools and the features that it provides to the customers?

Mandi McReynolds:

Let me give you a really fun example, is I think if we're all honest and vulnerable, we'll say the truth to this. So I'm going to turn a question back to the two of you. How much time have you spent on prompting in OpenAI, just in general or the generic AI tool that you use?

Lance Glinn:

I'll let Mike go first.

Mike Rost:

I spend a lot of time on prompting.

Mandi McReynolds:

Me too.

Mike Rost:

Part of my job is I get to geek out on prompts.

Lance Glinn:

Yeah.

Mandi McReynolds:

We get to geek out on prompts. How about you, Lance? What do you think?

Lance Glinn:

Yeah, I've spent a lot. I mean, in my world of podcasting ...

Mandi McReynolds:

Heck yeah.

Lance Glinn:

Look, AI helps. It helps.

Mandi McReynolds:

Right. Okay. And then how many times have you had to go back and re-prompt and re-prompt and re-prompt?

Lance Glinn:

Oh, numerous times.

Mandi McReynolds:

Numerous times. So when you think about AI that's designed with financial intelligence, risk intelligence and sustainability challenge, you're coming in for what Mike said, that job to be done, a tailored piece. And what we found is based on practitioners and users, sometimes that task of constantly having to prompt, constantly having to do these things, it's actually a barrier to adoption because you just want to come in and do your job. And so we have a prompt library that's designed, when you come in, to think about all the ways that, then, you can pull from that and quickly get into your work.

And I know Mike and I did it, and so it was like, here's things we were coming in and asking. But then the second part is it's pulling from data that exists within your company across risk, finance and sustainability. So it can be actually trusted data. So it's pulling that into the data with the prompt and into the background because that's what's speeding up. And so what did that result in for a customer? Well, they were able to craft 10 policies within less than an hour, within less than a day. And all of a sudden, the job becomes easier and the adoption goes up because the intelligence can be trusted.

Lance Glinn:

So Mike, as we begin to wrap up our conversation, get into the last couple of questions, technology's moving fast. We just spent a few minutes on AI and we've seen so many use cases for it already. And I think we all know that there are probably millions of use cases on the horizon that we have yet to even discover as a world and frankly as a technology, how is Workiva really innovating to make sure that it stays ahead of the curve, it meets whatever new expectations customers have and potentially even works to address things that customers may not know they even need yet?

Mike Rost:

Right. And I'll say three things here. First off is, on the technology side, we work with the leading providers of the LLMs, whether it's a Microsoft, an Amazon, a Google, and we are on the forefront and want to make sure that we are on the leading edge of what those companies are doing and have actually embedded all three LLMs as part of our process. So part of it we don't want to miss out on. There's been step ... each one steps over, at different points in time, on the innovation. So we've spread our bets across all three of them to make sure that we are not missing out on that technology thing. Second thing comes into the customer side of it. So we are very customer-centric. We have a whole set of activities. We work customer advisory boards and are working across our different solution areas and different industries and really working closely with our customers to find out exactly when are they ready to receive this type of technology and what specifically are they looking for.

And the third area I think you hit on is we are moving fast at times. This goes back to all of us. I didn't know I needed an iPhone until I actually had an iPhone. And that's one of those famous things that that was not the requirement for the user. At times, you do have to be out front. So a lot of that gets back through a lot of our internal experimentation. And, again, people like Mandi and I that'll try to iterate and push our teams into what would be really nice is could we do this? And throwing those things back in to challenge our own R&D teams into developing things that we're forcing upon ourselves to be out front of this. So I think it's an exciting time to be around, exciting time to be a practitioner in these areas. And I think there's a lot of activity that the AI will bring to organizations over time here.

Lance Glinn:

Absolutely. And so Mandi, well, I'd love to hear from both of you on this question, but Mandi, I'll start with you. So Julie Iskow has been Workiva CEO since 2023, and flanked by a leadership team, of course, that includes both of you. So as we put a bow on really everything we've discussed, again, Mandi, I'll go to you and then Mike, curious your answers, although they may be very similar. Who knows? But as we really put a bow on everything that we've discussed over the course of our conversation, how are you all, under Julie's leadership, maintaining the success that obviously Workiva has already achieved since its founding in 2008, while also obviously building off of it to ensure that, for many years to come, Workiva continues to power transparent reporting?

Mandi McReynolds:

Well, I think one of the powerful things that when you're working with Julie is you're in the minority if you're not using Workiva for finance, risk and sustainability, but there is so much more that the platform can do. And I think her technology background and her background as a COO prior to that and as an incredible operator and strategic leader, it's a vision you can get behind. I think that's why people of practice like myself and Mike and our 97% customer retention rate that continues to be maintained under Julie is because of that commitment to going after being a technology that's designed for people of practice.

Mike Rost:

Yeah, I think, for us, it's been also been a balance of strategy. Prior to her being CEO, she was a chief operating officer and we've been consistently operating off of the same strategy for the last four to five years. And that is our focus on our platform, our focus on our multi-solutions, our fit-for-purpose solutions. It is about global expansion and about working with our broader partner ecosystem. And that intentional focus across those growth drivers, while at the same time looking to be a sustainable organization and one that's focused on longevity, which is also balancing both growth and profitability, has also been a great focus for us, and we believe will bring us there for the long-term.

Lance Glinn:

Well, I appreciate what both of you are doing. I appreciate everything Workiva is doing. I look forward to all the exciting things on the horizon for Workiva. Mandi and Mike, thanks so much for joining us Inside the ICE House.

Mike Rost:

Thank you.

Mandi McReynolds:

Pleasure to be here, Lance.

Speaker 1:

That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen and follow us on X at ICE House Podcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week Inside the ICE House. Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and do not sponsor, approve or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.