Workday unveils platform to manage AI in digital workforces

Workday has announced the development of the Workday Agent System of Record, a platform designed to assist organisations in managing their AI agents comprehensively. This system aims to support the governance, management, and optimisation of digital workforces as the utilisation and complexity of AI agents in business continue to rise.

Businesses now face the challenge of handling AI agent deployment, ensuring security and compliance, optimising their utility, and managing associated costs. Without centralised management, organisations risk disjointed operations, increased security vulnerabilities, and difficulties in assessing the investment value in AI technologies. The new Agent System of Record provides tools necessary to overcome these challenges, enabling streamlined onboarding, defining roles and responsibilities, cost forecasting, and ensuring compliance protocols are followed efficiently.

Aneel Bhusri, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Workday, commented on the transformation, "The workforce of the future will include both humans and AI agents, and businesses that don't learn to manage this incredibly complex reality will quickly fall behind. We believe no company in the world is better positioned than Workday to usher in this new era of workforce management in a trusted, ethical way."

"Our deep understanding of human skills and roles naturally extends to managing digital labor. The future is here, and just like with the transition to the cloud, we're ready to help our customers get there first."

Complementing this development, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach stated, "At Workday, we believe that humans and agents should peacefully coexist in a way that amplifies human performance. As the system of record for more than 10,500 organisations around the world, there is no one better than Workday to manage every part of the workforce – employees, contingent workers, and agents – on our trusted platform."

The Workday Agent System of Record introduces new role-based agents that can manage various business processes through Workday's system. Unlike existing task-based agents, Workday's role-based agents possess a configurable set of 'skills' enhancing their autonomy and ability to support human roles. Newly introduced agents include Contracts, Payroll, Financial Auditing, and Policy agents, each designed to perform multiple tasks to add value and mitigate risks within specific business functions.

Influential voices in the field have endorsed this initiative. Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, remarked, "We believe the enterprise reinvention in the Gen AI era will create a seamless working experience between people and agents. The agent lifecycle should be fully managed. We need them to be trained. They have to follow our compliance policies. They need to understand our values, and they need to be monitored for performance. That's why it's so exciting to see what Workday is doing to help companies manage in this new landscape."

Swami Sivasubramanian, Vice President of Data and AI at AWS, added, "With Workday's Agent System of Record, organisations will be much better positioned to ethically manage all these agents."

"We're excited to collaborate with Workday to reshape the future of work through agentic AI. Together, we'll empower organisations to unlock exponential value while maintaining our shared commitment to security and responsible AI."

Ray Wang, CEO and Principal Analyst of Constellation Research, noted, "The rise of AI agents in the enterprise has created an urgent need for a centralized system of record to manage and govern this increasingly complex landscape. Most of the executives we've spoken with seek solutions that provide the tools they need to harness the power of AI while maintaining security, compliance, and control. Digital workforce management capabilities will be a significant step forward for the industry."

Workday's strategic partnerships aim to bolster the integration and governance of AI agents within the business environments. The development of the Workday Agent System of Record promises to deliver a comprehensive, secure, and efficient platform for businesses to adapt to a digitally-driven workforce, ensuring both human employees and AI agents can function in harmony to increase operational effectiveness.