{"id":73965,"date":"2025-09-16T14:06:37","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T13:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/?p=73965"},"modified":"2025-10-19T09:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T08:58:22","slug":"workday-rising-2025-the-top-5-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cxtoday.com\/event-news\/workday-rising-2025-the-top-5-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"Workday Rising 2025: The Top 5 Announcements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enterprise tech solutions don’t fit neatly into silos anymore. With system convergence and AI agents, that’s all changed.<\/p>\n

Indeed, workflows are expanding beyond departments, and solutions are knitting together<\/p>\n

As such, parts of the business that may never have worked with a platform like Workday, like CX functions, may consider becoming more familiar with such leading technologies.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example. Consider a customer service rep raising a query regarding their job benefits. In the future, they\u2019ll likely interact with an AI agent that runs across into Workday to resolve their query.<\/p>\n

As customer experience leaders collaborate with IT on these cross-department workflows, it\u2019s fascinating to consider how leading tech brands, like Workday, are expanding their portfolios.<\/p>\n

On that note, here are five of the biggest announcements from Workday Rising 2025, including product updates, a massive acquisition, and milestone partnerships.<\/p>\n

1. Meet Workday\u2019s New Illuminate Agents<\/h2>\n

Peter Bayless, Chief Technology Officer at Workday<\/strong>, gave key context to Workday\u2019s product direction:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re shifting from the system of record for people and money to a system of action for people and money that understands their businesses, understands what they need, and helps them reimagine what work gets done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Workday becomes a \u201csystem of action for people and money,\u201d its \u201cIlluminate\u201d AI agents will drive the action.<\/p>\n

At Rising 2025, Workday announced three more AI agents to its Illuminate portfolio.<\/p>\n

The first is a Case Agent that streamlines HR case management by reviewing cases, applying compliance context, and drafting responses.<\/p>\n

Next is a Performance Review Agent. This gives managers a first draft of performance reviews, pulling in data from other systems.<\/p>\n

Finally, a Financial Close Agent coordinates tasks, flags issues in real time, and reduces risk in the month-end close process.<\/p>\n

The new agents bolster those already available on the Workday platform, as below.<\/p>\n

Yet, as businesses deploy these agents and scale AI, managing the associated costs can be tricky. Recognizing this, Workday is introducing a new way for businesses to consume its AI: Flex Credits.<\/p>\n

These credits come as part of Workday subscriptions, with the vendor promising no hidden fees or premium licenses.<\/p>\n

Additionally, all the Credits are usable across any Workday AI agent or API. Meanwhile, customers can track their ROI “in a single dashboard.”<\/p>\n

\"Workday<\/p>\n

2. Workday Unveils a New Developer Platform<\/h2>\n

Workday Extend is a low-\/no-code app development solution on which over 1,400 customers – including Target, Netflix, and NASDAQ – have built over 3,000 apps.<\/p>\n

Now, Workday is introducing Build, the next evolution of Extend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn’t just another low-code platform,\u201d said Mark Woollen, GVP of Partner Innovation at Workday<\/strong>. \u201cIt’s a complete offering, and designed specifically with the intelligent enterprise in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

That complete offering includes several new tools and features. These include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • A FlowWise Agent Builder<\/strong> \u2013 A low-code tool to design, deploy, and manage AI agents.<\/li>\n
  • AI Developer Tools<\/strong> \u2013 These include generative AI copilot and an Agent Gateway to connect AI agents built on Workday with third-party agents.<\/li>\n
  • An Expanded Ecosystem<\/strong> \u2013 Here, Workday provides vetted partner solutions that address industry- and region-specific needs.<\/li>\n
  • A Global Community<\/strong> \u2013 A space for developers to learn, certify, and collaborate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Interestingly, in a demo, Workday also showed how its AI agents could connect to third-party apps like Microsoft Teams or Slack to automate cross-department tasks and publish directly into the Workday system of record.<\/p>\n

    \"Workday<\/p>\n

    3. Get Ready for Yet Another Data Cloud…<\/h2>\n

    Workday Build sits on top of another new platform: Workday Data Cloud.<\/p>\n

    The platform aims to solve a common problem: enterprise data is often scattered, inconsistent, and siloed.<\/p>\n

    Workday Data Cloud does so by offering organizations secure, zero-copy access to their Workday data, leveraging the following key components:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Apache Iceberg<\/strong>-based data lake (open standards).<\/li>\n
    • A Direct SQL<\/strong> access API<\/strong> for real-time insights.<\/li>\n
    • Workday Prism<\/strong> for governance and trust.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Through partnerships with Snowflake, Databricks, and Salesforce, businesses may combine Workday\u2019s people and money data with broader enterprise datasets.<\/p>\n

      As a result, they can combine EX and CX data, unlock richer analytics, and accelerate AI innovation.<\/p>\n

      \"Workday<\/p>\n

      4. Workday to Acquire Sana for $1.1BN<\/h2>\n

      Workday has agreed to snap up Sana Labs in the hope of turning Workday “into the new front door for work.”<\/p>\n

      The Sana Agent is critical here and will help to create a new user experience within Workday.<\/p>\n

      Indeed, it will help find information by scouring company data and knowledge sources, reason with that information, and act on it.<\/p>\n

      From there, it may create new documents, presentations, dashboards, and even \u201cfull learning courses\u201d based on the information it takes.<\/p>\n

      Additionally, it can automate tasks by tracking changes in the data, which may span the enterprise.<\/p>\n

      So, a Workday user could soon use the Sana Agent to automate an action with an adjacent platform, like an employee service CRM module, without leaving the platform.<\/p>\n

      As such, this idea of a new front door for work is exciting. Yet, Sana Learn is another fascinating addition the acquisition brings to the company, as it could transform the Workday Learning platform. Below is a closer look.<\/p>\n