Trimble is a global technology company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, with operations across 40+ countries, including North America and a strong EMEA presence. With more than 12,000 employees, Trimble connects the physical and digital worlds through solutions that transform industries from construction and agriculture to transportation, driving greater productivity, quality, and sustainability.
Operating such a vast, globally distributed organization comes with significant internal complexity. To drive efficiency and support its workforce of over 4,000 employees across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, Trimble embarked on a strategic journey defined by Sari Lindholm, Vice President of People Experience for EMEA at Trimble, as "Connect and Scale."
Lindholm explained that "This strategy is all about connecting data, systems, and people in an efficient way and making it scalable globally." A critical component of this vision was transforming how the company managed its most valuable asset: its people.
Workday is at the heart of our Connect and Scale strategy. It’s the platform that finally connects our people, data, and processes across the entire region.
Vice President of People Experience for EMEA at Trimble
From fragmentation to a harmonized global model.
Prior to their transformation, Trimble’s landscape for managing Time Tracking, Absence, and Payroll was fragmented. “We were relying on a plethora of absence systems, sometimes even simple Excel files, to track time worked and leave requests across different regions. The lack of uniformity made it very challenging to gain a clear, consistent view of our global operations,” explained Martin Vallejo, Global Payroll Director at Trimble.
The goal was to establish Workday as the unifying hub for Human Resources data. By implementing Workday Absence Management and Time Tracking, Trimble aimed to centralize these critical functions and integrate them seamlessly with their global payroll provider.
“Workday has helped us streamline all the data across different systems, replacing manual interventions with automated integrations. Instead of relying on monthly templates, our employee data now flows directly into the payroll engine, ensuring that every change is captured accurately and efficiently,” noted Vallejo.
With Workday, we finally have a platform that keeps pace with constant regulatory change. It gives us confidence that every country, every employee, and every calculation is accurate.
Global Payroll Director at Trimble
Navigating global complexity with local precision.
Harmonizing payroll across 47 countries required a system capable of navigating vast regulatory differences. Tatu Tyrisevä, Payroll Analyst at Trimble, illustrated this complexity by comparing neighboring countries, “In Finland, we had progressive taxation, and in Estonia we had a fixed tax rate.”
Workday’s strength lay in its ability to adapt to these local nuances. In the Nordic region, for example, legislation like the Finnish Annual Holidays Act required unique calculations that even included Saturdays. Kristian Rude, Regional Account Director at Kainos, explained, “Kainos is well equipped to support customers in configuring Workday to meet these requirements, ensuring they remain compliant with not only best practices but also local laws and regulations.” Rude added, “Workday is highly configurable, and we were proud to have been very innovative in using that configurability to find solutions for customers with specialized needs, especially around local legislation.”
That flexibility was central to Trimble’s global approach. As Vallejo noted, “For a payroll professional, staying compliant was one of the most significant challenges. Workday enabled us to remain compliant by allowing us to customize absence plans and time entries so they aligned with ever-changing local tax and labor laws.” This ensured Trimble could meet regional requirements while still operating with a consistent global framework.
Trimble & Kainos: An impactful partnership.
Executing a project of this magnitude required a partner deeply familiar with the complexities of the EMEA region. “When we began the payroll harmonization journey four years ago, it was clear that leadership would come from Europe. We needed an implementation partner with a strong regional footprint who could truly understand what EMEA meant for our global footprint,” Vallejo said.
That clarity led Trimble to Kainos, whose technical expertise was matched by a strong cultural alignment. “We automatically saw that there was a cultural fit that was undeniable,” Vallejo recalled. This was reinforced on the Kainos side. “Based on all of the conversations we had with Trimble at the start, we just knew the partnership was going to work because the chats were open, honest and transparent,” noted Kim Cerpentier, Account Director at Kainos. “We really had that cultural fit from both organizations.”
This foundation of trust helped both teams navigate the inevitable bumps in the road that accompany a deployment of this scale. Kainos-built Workday Marketplace apps have also been key for this project. Kainos Smart Test and Kainos Smart Audit have provided automated change management, robust internal controls and simpler compliance. These apps helped Trimble move at pace and ensure security while supporting local requirements and remaining aligned to a single global Workday framework.
The project unfolded in multiple waves, demanding close coordination and a steep learning curve. Sari Ankkuri, Engagement Manager at Kainos, was impressed by Trimble’s dedication throughout the process. “I was extremely proud of how quickly the Trimble team advanced throughout this journey,” Ankkuri shared. “They grasped the process, embraced the Workday methodology, and demonstrated the level of internal coordination that was essential to delivering this successfully.”
What made the collaboration truly stand out was Trimble’s uncompromising approach to localization. While many global organizations focus deep configuration efforts only on their largest markets, Cerpentier explained that “Trimble insisted on full local compliance and tailored configuration for all 47 countries involved. This commitment ensured that every legal entity, regardless of size, benefited from the same level of accuracy, governance, and system integrity.”
Workday gives organizations a powerful foundation, but it’s the people who make it work. The cultural alignment between Kainos and Trimble is what turned a complex project into a shared success.
Account Director at Kainos
The turning point that makes transformation real.
The transition to a unified system has delivered tangible benefits in efficiency and visibility. “The new streamlined processes save me personally about 10 hours per month, but the broader impact is far more significant,” Vallejo estimated. With data now centralized, leadership can access insights that were previously difficult to compile, aiding in decision-making regarding costs and workforce trends.
Lindholm noted that “You don’t necessarily realize the value of a project like this until you reach a tipping point, when enough countries, legal entities, people, and sites are live. It’s at that moment that everything clicks: the efficiency gains, the simplified processes, and the transparency. That’s when managers truly feel empowered, with data right at their fingertips.”
A launchpad for continuous improvement.
Trimble views its current success as a foundation for further innovation. The team is looking forward to expanding their use of the platform. “We are about to start our Extend journey with Workday. We're excited to build custom applications that will further remove manual inputs from the payroll process,” Vallejo shared.
Additionally, Trimble anticipates that AI will play a growing role in their operations. Vallejo foresees that in the future, “AI will be a powerful tool to probably reconcile big sets of data, helping to verify that payroll calculations remain accurate against complex, shifting regulations”. Tyrisevä is also optimistic about these advancements, noting that “Future AI capabilities will likely automate manual tasks, freeing up time for things that matter, like customer support and quality controls.”
Through the "Connect and Scale" strategy, Trimble has successfully harmonized its global payroll operations, proving that with the right technology and a transparent partnership with its partner Kainos, even the most complex scenarios can be transformed into a scalable, compliant global framework.
Workday provided the technology, and Kainos provided the trust and expertise. That combination is what carried us through complexity and set us up for the future.
Global Payroll Director at Trimble