Workday Launches ‘Sana’ AI Platform to Bring Agentic Automation into Enterprise Workflows
In September last year, Workday announced a definitive agreement to acquire AI company Sana for approximately $1.1 billion.
Workday has announced the global launch of Sana from Workday, a new AI-powered platform designed to embed intelligent agents directly into enterprise workflows across HR, finance, and beyond.
In September last year, Workday announced a definitive agreement to acquire AI company Sana for approximately $1.1 billion.
The release includes three components—Sana for Workday, a unified AI interface; Sana Self-Service Agent, which automates routine workflows; and Sana Enterprise, which extends AI capabilities across third-party enterprise applications.
The move comes as many organisations struggle to realise value from fragmented AI tools. Workday said existing copilots and agents often operate outside core business systems, limiting accuracy and effectiveness due to disconnected data and workflows.
“AI only works in the enterprise when it’s connected to trusted, deterministic systems, and that hybrid architecture is exactly what Workday is building,” said Aneel Bhusri, co-founder and CEO of Workday. “Sana is what brings it all together. It’s not just a new Workday experience—it’s a powerful way for people to search, reason, and orchestrate work across the enterprise.”
Unlike traditional AI assistants that provide suggestions, Sana is designed to take action. It enables users to find information, execute tasks, build dashboards, and automate workflows across systems using natural language.
“With Sana from Workday, we’re delivering a new way to get work done – where AI agents take action using trusted context, not just provide suggestions. Sana from Workday will be the last software you have to learn – a single experience where AI is embedded directly in the flow of work,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday.
Sana also integrates with a wide range of enterprise tools, including Slack, Salesforce, Jira, and Google Drive, allowing employees to complete tasks across systems through a single interface.
“Sana is the closest thing we have to a superintelligent co-worker. It sees the full picture of your organisation in Workday, it knows which systems to touch, and it can coordinate the steps between them,” said Joel Hellermark, senior vice president and general manager of AI at Workday.
Uli Heitzlhofer
Early adopters report strong traction. “Within 40 days, Sana became our default AI interface at work – we reached 90% adoption and retired 400 ChatGPT licenses,” said Joona Honka of Berner.
Sana for Workday and the Self-Service Agent are now available globally through Workday Flex Credits, with Sana Enterprise extending AI capabilities across enterprise systems.
