Workday AI Agents: System of Record to System of Action

Workday is executing a fundamental strategic transformation—evolving from a robust platform for managing people and money into an open AI orchestration platform that manages "people, money, and agents." For HR, Finance, and IT leaders, this shift demands immediate strategic planning. As a Workday-focused consulting partner, OnoeX helps organizations leverage these agentic capabilities to drive measurable business results.

The Agents Are Here: Recent Workday Product Updates

Workday Illuminate™ now powers a fleet of purpose-built, domain-specific AI agents that operate autonomously within workflows. These systems transcend simple automation—they handle multi-step tasks, reason through complex processes, and take action with minimal human intervention.

Two critical infrastructure releases are driving this transformation:

1. Workday Agent System of Record (ASoR)

This platform component unifies workforce management for both human and digital workers in one centralized system. ASoR provides the foundation for securely deploying, governing, orchestrating, and measuring all agents—whether built natively by Workday or sourced from third parties.

2. Workday Flex Credits

To accelerate adoption, Workday introduced this consumption-based pricing model for AI and platform innovation. Customers receive an initial allotment of Flex Credits within their subscription, enabling fungible, scalable access to all Workday agents and platform features. This model allows organizations to scale AI usage as they grow, paying only for the value delivered.

Current Agent Capabilities: Delivering Quantifiable ROI

Workday agents address the most complex, high-volume, and compliance-critical processes across the enterprise, delivering immediate, measurable returns.

HR & Talent Management

Recruiting Agent (powered by HiredScore)

• Function: Automates candidate sourcing, outreach, job description creation, and interview scheduling

• Impact: General Motors reduced screening time by 70%; shared customers report 25% increases in recruiter capacity

Talent Mobility/Succession Agent

• Function: Prompts managers to update succession plans, recommends successors based on skills, and generates development plans

• Impact: Drives internal mobility, reducing attrition by up to 40%

Frontline Agent

• Function: Simplifies staffing and schedule management for frontline workers and managers

• Impact: Reduces time spent on staffing changes by up to 90%

Finance

Financial Audit Agent (FAA)

• Function: Automates audit evidence collection and compliance reporting

• Impact: Early access customers save up to 900 hours annually

Payroll Agent

• Function: Automates routine tasks and enforces compliance checks during processing cycles

• Impact: Enables payroll compliance up to 4x faster

Legal & Cross-Domain

Contract Intelligence Agent

• Function: Monitors contracts for obligations and risks using 120+ pre-built AI models, feeding structured insights into HR and Finance systems

• Impact: Reduces contract execution time by 65%

The Future Roadmap: Building an Agents-First Landscape

Workday is strategically expanding its platform to ensure agents remain competitive and centrally managed within the complex enterprise AI ecosystem:

From System of Record to System of Action

Workday is fundamentally repositioning itself—moving from a static system of record to a dynamic system of action that anticipates needs and executes autonomously.

Expanding the Development Ecosystem

Workday Build serves as the umbrella brand for the developer experience, incorporating low-code capabilities from the acquired Flowise platform. This enables partners and customers to build custom AI agents and applications that are automatically governed under the ASoR framework.

Open Data Strategy

The newly announced Workday Data Cloud (expected H2 2025) leverages the Apache Iceberg open standard for secure, zero-copy data sharing. This enables seamless, bidirectional data exchange with external platforms like Snowflake, Databricks, and Salesforce—maintaining Workday's crucial data context while participating in the broader data ecosystem.

Next-Generation Agents (2026)

The roadmap includes future Illuminate agents for highly complex areas:

• Performance Agent: Streamlines reviews by analyzing data across enterprise applications

• Financial Close Agent: Automates period-end processes

• Industry-Specific Agents: Such as the Academic Requirements Agent for Higher Education

OnoeX Advisory: Strategic Guidance for Decision-Makers

The shift to an agents-first economy requires proactive preparation across technology, process, and talent. OnoeX recommends three strategic mandates:

1. Prepare Your People, Skills, and Processes

The greatest long-term value of AI is capacity creation—freeing human talent for strategic work.

Flip the Narrative to Growth

Frame AI adoption as a driver of business growth and strategic outcomes, not just ROI and cost reduction. This fosters "peaceful coexistence" between humans and AI agents and builds organizational buy-in.

Invest in Skills Transformation

Agents are assuming repetitive, entry-level work, fundamentally "flipping the talent pyramid." Proactively invest in upskilling programs—such as "everyday AI" training—to move employees from transactional tasks to roles leveraging uniquely human skills: strategic decision-making, relationship building, and ethical governance.

Embrace Human-in-the-Loop Design

Even the most autonomous agents support human decision-making rather than replace it entirely, especially in high-stakes functions like compliance or hiring. Train teams to critically evaluate AI outputs and use agent-generated insights as a starting hypothesis for complex business problems.

2. Adjust Your Technology and Transformation Roadmap

An "agents-first" strategy requires hardening core Workday infrastructure and adopting rigorous governance early.

Establish Data Integrity as the Foundation

AI depends entirely on structured, high-quality data—the "oxygen of AI." Prioritize data cleansing and structuring across core systems. Leverage the newly open Workday Data Cloud for external data exchange only after solidifying your internal data foundation.

Mandate ASoR Deployment

Do not treat AI agent governance as optional. Implement the Agent System of Record (ASoR) immediately to gain centralized visibility, control, and auditability over both native and third-party agents. Use Workday's Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) to precisely govern agent access to data and systems.

Implement FinOps for Consumption

Flex Credits introduce TCO volatility through consumption-based pricing. Begin planning FinOps practices now to monitor credit utilization, attribute AI costs to specific business value, and forecast future expenditure for predictable budgeting.

3. Align Your Organization with the Agentic Landscape

Target High-Impact Transformation Opportunities

Focus initial agent deployments on areas with measurable ROI and high automation readiness, such as Financial Audit evidence collection or Contract Intelligence. Use these early wins to build internal confidence and secure executive sponsorship for broader transformation.

Shift Finance to Strategic Partnership

Equip finance teams to move beyond traditional scorekeeper roles into AI business partnering. Agents should free capacity so finance can focus on strategic questions, anticipating outcomes, and driving top-line growth.

Leverage Workday Build and Extend

As experts in custom Workday solutions, OnoeX advises leveraging Workday Extend and new low-code tools (Flowise/Build). When Workday's native agents don't address unique, domain-specific processes, use these platform tools to build custom, governed agent solutions that fit your organization's specific needs—driving faster time-to-value.

Navigate the Agentic Shift with Confidence

The Workday platform is evolving into an indispensable system of action. By embracing these principles—prioritizing governance, investing in talent, and focusing on measurable outcomes—your organization can navigate the agentic shift with clarity and confidence.

Ready to explore how OnoeX can help your organization prepare for the agentic future? Contact us to discuss your Workday AI transformation strategy.