Workday & Google Cloud deepen AI agent partnership

Workday and Google Cloud have expanded their partnership to integrate Workday AI agents into Gemini Enterprise, bringing HR and finance tasks into Google Cloud's workplace tools.

The agreement also makes Gemini the default AI model for Sana for Workday, the company's assistant for employees, managers and business leaders. The arrangement is intended to place HR and finance functions inside tools workers already use, rather than forcing them to switch between multiple applications.

Under the integration, Workday's Sana Self-Service Agent is available in Gemini Enterprise for eligible customers in early access. Staff can ask questions in Gemini Enterprise and receive answers drawn from Workday data, with access controls and policies applied through Workday.

Employees can check leave balances, update personal details, view payslips and review tax withholding information in a conversational format. Managers can review team goals, approve timesheets in bulk, start performance reviews and submit payroll input from the same interface.

Finance teams are also a target. Users can ask about expense and travel policies, check whether they qualify for corporate cards, and get help creating requests or opening cases when action is needed.

The partnership also supports agent-to-agent and agent-to-user-interface approaches, alongside Model Context Protocol, allowing AI agents to pass tasks between one another within a single workflow. The goal is to let users start a request in one place and have underlying systems complete steps across HR and finance processes.

Alongside the user-facing changes, the companies are linking Workday Data Cloud more closely with Google Cloud's data tools. Customers will be able to query data between Workday Data Cloud and Google Cloud Lakehouse using zero-copy technology, meaning information stays in its original environment rather than being moved or duplicated.

This will allow organisations to combine Workday data with other business data for analysis while keeping existing permissions and business rules in place. Agents in Gemini Enterprise will also support conversational analytics, so employees can ask questions about business data directly.

Alphabet is among the organisations set to use the arrangement internally. It will use the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform to build and run a custom Workday agent for its administrators to automate key workflows.

Industry partners are also being brought into the programme. Workday and Google Cloud are working with Accenture, Deloitte and KPMG to help customers identify and deploy AI use cases across business functions.

"Our customers want HR and finance at their fingertips, not scattered across a dozen applications," said Gerrit Kazmaier, President, Product and Technology, Workday. "Together with Google Cloud, we're putting the answers and actions people need where they already work, backed by the security, rules, and approvals inherent to Workday."

Google Cloud described the expansion as part of a broader effort to embed AI agents across business software. The partnership now spans the model layer, where Gemini sits beneath Sana for Workday by default, and the application layer, where employees interact with HR and finance processes.

"This partnership significantly expands integrations between Google Cloud and Workday in order to make AI agents more useful and accessible across the enterprise," said Karthik Narain, Chief Product and Business Officer, Google Cloud. "From the model layer to the platform layer, Gemini and Google Cloud will now underpin some of the most critical and common workflows in human resources and finance departments globally, so employees can get faster, more accurate answers, streamline repetitive tasks, and ultimately focus on the work that matters most."

For Workday, the announcement reflects a push to make its software less of a destination application and more of a service that appears inside other digital work environments. By making Gemini the default model for Sana, Workday is also tying part of its AI strategy more closely to Google's large language model stack, while maintaining that customers can choose another model if needed.

Jo Anne Ruhl, Vice President and Managing Director, Workday Australia and New Zealand, said the agreement responds to demand from local organisations for practical AI uses in day-to-day work.

"Australian organisations are looking for practical ways to embed AI into everyday work, and the Google Cloud and Workday partnership helps make that a reality. The deepening integration will enable AI agents to support critical workflows, helping employees access information faster, automate routine tasks, and allow employees to spend more time on high-value work that drives business outcomes," said Ruhl.

Customer and advisory firms also backed the partnership. "At Accenture, our people power our business and we believe that great talent drives great outcomes for our clients," said Colin Anderson, COO of HR, Accenture. "This expanded partnership between Workday and Google Cloud will allow us to bring the best of Workday and Google together to accelerate how we reinvent HR for ourselves, as well as our clients."

"Enterprise leaders are telling us they need AI that is interoperable, secure, and immediately actionable," said Brian Anderson, Workday Practise Leader, KPMG. "With Gemini Enterprise powering Sana agents, KPMG is uniquely positioned to help organisations integrate these powerful multi-agent ecosystems. Whether we are deploying the Financial Close Companion to streamline monthly reporting or transforming day-to-day HR self-service, this partnership enables us to deliver the true impact of agentic AI directly into our clients' daily workflows."

Workday's Sana Self-Service Agent is already listed on Google Cloud's Agent Marketplace, while Workday Data Cloud is available to early adopter customers.