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Workday adds seven agents to Illuminate platform

Workday expanded its Illuminate platform, adding new automation features for HR, finance and workforce management.

Alexander S. Gillis
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Published: 29 May 2025

Workday is rolling out seven new AI agents to its Illuminate platform between now and early 2026. Designed to automate tasks across HR and finance, the new line of agents enables customers to speed up processes that were previously manual.

Workday's integrated AI platform, formerly Workday AI, already includes a set of AI agents to perform tasks without the need for user action. The new crop adds to that lineup by providing functionality for recruiting, managing expenses and optimizing business process tasks.

Each new agent is purpose-built and aimed at rounding out and expanding Workday's tool set, according to Shane Luke, vice president of Workday Illuminate.

He added that the new agents "are deeply integrated into existing Workday workflows. This means they aren't separate tools you have to log into or manage independently. They operate within the Workday platform, understanding the processes and data already there to automate tasks, provide insights or take action right where the work is happening."

A closer look

The vendor's existing agents focus on business process optimization, financial audits, payroll, recruiting and talent mobility. The seven new agents are meant to round out Illuminate, Luke said, while targeting specific areas and pain points on which Workday has yet to focus. They include the following:

  • Contingent sourcing agent: Focuses on identifying talent, streamlining screening processes and improving the quality of applicants to speed up temporary hiring.
  • Contract intelligence agent: Reviews contracts to identify and track risks, key dates and fees to improve legal and business decision-making.
  • Contract negotiation agent: Drafts contract language and revisions while also detecting risks to improve negotiation processes.
  • Document-driven accounting agent: Extracts data from documents to automate accounting entries, billing and invoicing.
  • Frontline agent: Enables text-based absence reporting to aid in identifying replacements, shift pay and compliance.
  • Self-service agent: A chatbot that can answer employee questions and assist with tasks to aid employees and managers in their work.
  • Supplier contracts agent: Reviews supplier contracts to identify potential obligations and opportunities for renegotiations, cost savings or other strategic opportunities. Its goal is to ensure that an organization's purchasing processes align with what contracts depict.

Customers will be able to deploy and manage the agents in existing modules through the Workday Agent System of Record in Illuminate, a new governance system meant specifically for first- and third-party AI agents.

"Because they are embedded within Workday, the change should feel natural, and the system is just getting smarter and more helpful," Luke said. They will be sold separately to customers that have licensed relevant applications supporting Illuminate.

Workday's approach to agentic AI is notable because of its use of Workday Agent System of Record, according to Mickey North Rizza, group vice president of enterprise software at IDC. It "provides a pathway for organizations to monitor their agent technology investment with their employees, and that is novel," she said.

Workday isn't alone in emphasizing agentic AI; many vendors are racing to release AI agents. A survey conducted earlier this month by IDC's Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 3, found that 87% of IT leaders in North American enterprises believe that agentic AI additions to their providers' services would allow them to eliminate manual and semi-manual workflows in the next 18 months.

"Workday's agents are a great pathway for organizations to pivot to AI quickly," Rizza said. Workday has also worked quickly, having rolled out two of these new AI agents within a nine-month time frame from its initial set.

The contract intelligence and contract negotiation agents are now available, while the self-service agent is slated for release at the end of 2025. The contingent sourcing, document-driven accounting, and frontline and supplier contracts agents are planned for an early adopter release at the end of 2025, with a general release in early 2026.

Alexander S. Gillis is a technical writer and editor in the WhatIs group at Informa TechTarget.

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