Workday Expands Illuminate Platform with New AI Agents for HR, Finance, Industry

Bengaluru/San Francisco, September 18: At its annual Workday Rising 2025 conference, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) unveiled an expansion of its Illuminate™ platform, introducing a new suite of AI-powered agents for HR, Finance, and Industry aimed at transforming core business processes and delivering faster, measurable value.

The new Illuminate agents are designed to embed AI directly into workflows, moving beyond fragmented automation efforts that have so far limited enterprise ROI. According to Workday, these agents will handle complex, time-consuming tasks such as performance reviews, workforce planning, and financial close, while providing deeper insights and freeing employees to focus on strategic work.

“Too many AI efforts amount to random acts of automation that never scale or deliver real value,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, President of Product and Technology at Workday. “Illuminate is different — it redefines ERP for the AI era, turning it from a passive system of record into a system of action that drives real outcomes.”

New Agents Across Functions

• HR Agents include a Performance Agent for streamlining reviews, an Employee Sentiment Agent for real-time workforce insights, and a Job Architecture Agent for scaling talent frameworks.
• Financial Agents such as the Financial Close Agent and Cost & Profitability Agent automate reconciliation and analysis, enabling faster closes and richer insights.
• Industry Agents like the Academic Requirements Agent and Student Administration Agent target sector-specific workflows, particularly in education.

Workday also highlighted early successes with existing Illuminate agents — including a 65% reduction in contract execution time with its Contract Intelligence Agent and up to 900 hours saved annually via its Financial Audit Agent.

Flexible Adoption Model

To make AI adoption more accessible, Workday introduced Workday Flex Credits, a subscription-based model giving customers instant access to AI innovations with flexibility to scale at their own pace. Credits can be applied universally across Illuminate agents and platform innovations, with initial allotments included in subscriptions and renewable annually.

The new agents will be available in 2026, while Flex Credits are available starting today.

With more than 11,000 global customers, including over 65% of the Fortune 500, Workday is positioning Illuminate as a next-generation ERP platform built for the AI era, embedding intelligence into the flow of work and reshaping enterprise operations.