Workday, enterprise applications for finance and HR and known as the most hated software on earth, is (remarkably) "moving from a system of record to a system of agents." I have no doubt other enterprise software providers are watching closely. Josh Bersin explains it well. "Workday, as a trusted system of record, provides the company rules, policies, security model, and compliance that enables agents to run at scale. These 'rails' exist in Workday today and recreating them outside of Workday is expensive, slow, and risky." Agents, if you will, run on the rails, based on five operating principles (paraphrased): AI complements deterministic rules, approval chains, and data models; these rails are the core of enterprise AI; agent management tools are a core part of the infrastructure; Sana is the new default front door for Workday; and the model aligns to outcomes, not seats. Bersin also comments, "the Sana dynamic learning platform is far more profound than most companies realize. AI-native learning is not training alone: it's global employee enablement, powering enormous improvements in productivity and employee reskilling. I don't think Workday fully sees this opportunity yet, but Sana customers do." There's a lot to like about this new direction, just in terms of enterprise software design, though of course I am always wary of the enterprise overwhelming the individual. See also a16z on this story.
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