Carl Eschenbach on AI transformation
From Transforming Customer Experience with AI: Ping Wu, Doug Leone & Carl Eschenbach · · Cresta
“We are in the fastest largest tectonic shift we've ever experienced. We've all talked about social mobile cloud mainframes of distributed all these tectonic shifts. If you take all of them and overlay AI on top of it, it's bigger than all them combined and it's moving faster than ever.”
On , Carl Eschenbach, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Workday, Inc., spoke about AI transformation during Transforming Customer Experience with AI: Ping Wu, Doug Leone & Carl Eschenbach on Cresta.
About Carl Eschenbach
Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday, has been discussing the company's AI strategy and financial performance in recent earnings calls and public appearances. In a June 2026 conversation with Cresta CEO Ping Wu and Sequoia Chairman Doug Leone, Eschenbach described the current technological shift as "the fastest largest tectonic shift we've ever experienced" and argued that AI presents an opportunity to "amplify human potential, not just replace it." He outlined three value propositions for enterprise sales: delivering a strong ROI, driving topline revenue growth, and reducing risk. Eschenbach also stated that concerns about AI disrupting seat-based models are "completely overblown," asserting that Workday's data quality and security give it an advantage. Under Eschenbach's leadership, Workday reported subscription revenue growth of 13% in Q1 FY2026 and raised its full-year subscription revenue guidance to $8.815 billion in Q2. The company announced the acquisition of Paradox, a conversational AI platform for candidate experience, and launched Workday Government, a subsidiary focused on U.S. federal customers. Eschenbach noted that new ACV across Workday's AI products more than doubled year-over-year in Q1, and that roughly 25% of customer expansions included AI products. He also stated that the company plans to repurchase an additional $3.6 billion in shares through the end of FY27.