Google Cloud and Workday have expanded their strategic partnership to bring artificial intelligence agents deeper into enterprise HR and finance operations, as both companies seek to simplify workplace processes through conversational AI and automated workflows.
The collaboration will integrate Workday's AI-powered agents directly into Gemini Enterprise, enabling employees, managers and finance teams to access HR services, company policies and operational workflows from within Google's AI platform.
The companies said the partnership combines Workday's Agent System of Record (ASOR) and agent roadmap with Google Cloud's AI infrastructure, models and enterprise agent platform to create a common framework for deploying AI agents across organisations.
HR services move into everyday workplace tools
A central element of the partnership is the integration of Workday's Sana Self-Service Agent into Gemini Enterprise.
According to the companies, employees will be able to ask questions within Gemini Enterprise and receive personalised responses sourced directly from Workday, while maintaining existing permissions, governance controls and approval processes.
The integration is designed to bring HR and finance functions closer to employees by embedding services inside applications they already use rather than requiring users to switch between multiple systems.
Examples of planned use cases include:
• Checking leave balances and requesting time off
• Updating personal employee information
• Accessing payslips and tax-related information
• Reviewing team goals and performance activities
• Approving timesheets and payroll inputs
• Accessing travel and expense policy guidance
Gerrit Kazmaier, President of Product and Technology at Workday, said customers increasingly want HR and finance capabilities available within their daily workflows rather than across multiple disconnected applications.
Gemini becomes the default AI model for Sana
As part of the expanded agreement, Gemini will become the default AI model powering Sana for Workday.
Sana serves as Workday's AI interface for chief human resources officers, chief financial officers, managers and employees, enabling users to ask questions, trigger workflows and interact with AI agents.
The companies said Gemini will bring:
• Advanced reasoning capabilities
• Multilingual support
• Multi-modal AI functionality
• Enhanced understanding of complex requests
Workday noted that customers will retain the flexibility to use alternative AI models when business requirements demand it.
Karthik Narain, Chief Product and Business Officer at Google Cloud, said the expanded integration is intended to make enterprise AI agents more useful and accessible across organisations while supporting common HR and finance workflows.
Data integration aims to improve decision-making
Beyond AI agents, the partnership also deepens the connection between Workday Data Cloud and Google's data ecosystem.
The companies announced a zero-copy data-sharing approach that allows information to be queried between Workday Data Cloud and Google Cloud Lakehouse without moving or duplicating underlying data.
According to the companies, the approach is designed to:
• Preserve existing security permissions
• Maintain governance controls
• Reduce data duplication risks
• Enable faster business analysis
The integration will also support conversational analytics through Gemini Enterprise, allowing users to interact with business data using natural language queries.
Workday said the objective is to help organisations move from static reports to more immediate actions driven by AI-generated insights.
Ecosystem partners join enterprise AI push
The partnership extends beyond the two technology companies.
Workday and Google Cloud said they are collaborating with major global consulting and professional services firms, including:
• Accenture
• Deloitte
• KPMG
These organisations will help joint customers identify and deploy AI-driven use cases across HR, finance and operational functions.
According to the announcement, Alphabet will also use the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform to build a customised Workday agent aimed at automating and streamlining administrative workflows for Workday administrators.
Colin Anderson, Chief Operating Officer of HR at Accenture, said the collaboration would help organisations combine capabilities from both companies to accelerate HR transformation efforts.
Early access programme begins
The companies said Sana Self-Service Agent within Gemini Enterprise is now available in early access for eligible Workday customers.
Meanwhile, Workday Data Cloud is currently available to early adopters and is expected to become generally available later this year.
The announcement reflects a broader shift across enterprise software, where technology providers are increasingly embedding AI agents directly into workplace applications rather than positioning them as standalone tools.
With HR and finance departments among the earliest adopters of enterprise automation technologies, Google Cloud and Workday are positioning AI agents as a new layer of workplace infrastructure capable of handling routine tasks, delivering insights and supporting decision-making while operating within established governance and security frameworks.