Understanding AI agents
While traditional software acts as a static tool, AI agents function as autonomous extensions of your core business operations. In HR and finance, these agents have moved beyond simple task execution to managing entire workflows: interpreting complex policies, flagging financial anomalies and orchestrating actions across disparate systems. As the scope of these autonomous systems expands, leadership’s focus must shift from basic deployment to centralised orchestration and governance.
AI agents explained: From task automation to strategic execution
AI agents are quickly becoming embedded in day-to-day operations, not as replacements for workers, but as digital helpers. They allow teams to move faster by handling routine tasks, spotting risks and surfacing insights quickly. In some cases, they support entire roles by adjusting to new data and working across systems to keep things moving.
Without a clear system for registering, governing and monitoring AI agents, it's easy to expose sensitive data or disrupt workflows. That's why managing AI agents is a multi-department responsibility. Workday helps organisations take control by bringing every agent, from any source, into a single secure and scalable platform.
Key takeaways:
AI agents are autonomous systems that analyse, decide and act based on real-time inputs.
AI agents support everything from routine admin work to multistep strategic processes.
Adopting agents at scale raises challenges around visibility, security and coordination.
To succeed, companies need structured implementation and tools for ongoing oversight.
Workday Agent System of Record centralises agent management for easier deployment and governance of agents across the business.
Did you know?
Thanks to reasoning AI models, agents can learn how to think critically and tackle complex tasks. This new class of “reasoning agents” can break down complicated problems, weigh options and make informed decisions, while using only as much computation and as many tokens as needed. – NVIDIA
What are AI agents?
AI agents are intelligent software systems that help users or organisations perform tasks and make decisions. Traditional automation follows fixed rules, whereas AI agents adapt to changing inputs to achieve goals. This reduces the time and cost associated with repetitive manual tasks.
Some AI agents operate semi-autonomously. Others collaborate with systems or teams to complete more complex workflows. Some focus on one task, while others take on role-based responsibilities with more autonomy.
Examples of AI agents include:
Contract agents that review legal documents to flag risks and surface hidden obligations
Payroll agents that detect and fix data errors to maintain compliance
Financial audit agents that reconcile transactions and monitor internal controls
Self-service agents that share updates and automate case management in HR systems
The origins of AI agents
The idea of AI agents has existed for decades, with initial concepts focusing on software that could act independently to complete tasks. Early agents handled one or two tasks, such as scheduling or email filtering, but lacked the flexibility to work across multiple systems.The rise of machine learning, cloud computing and Gen AI has driven most of the innovation in AI agents.
Today, AI agents support operations across departments. Finance teams might use them to flag transaction discrepancies or automate audits, while HR teams rely on AI agents to monitor policy compliance or update payroll data. The most sophisticated AI agents anticipate problems, identify trends and optimise workflows to align with business priorities. AI for business planning is the future, and agentic AI is a prime example.
AI agents vs LLMs
While they are often discussed together, there is a fundamental difference between Gen AI and agentic AI. Generative AI is an information powerhouse; it excels at summarising reports, drafting emails and answering complex queries based on existing data. It provides the "brain" for the system.
Agentic AI, however, is the "muscle". It uses Gen AI's reasoning capabilities to navigate software, trigger workflows and complete multi-step business processes – such as reconciling a disrupted supply chain or adjusting payroll based on new tax laws – without needing a human to prompt every step.
Purpose
LLM
Generates and processes language.
AI Agent
Takes action toward goals
Autonomy
LLM
Responds to prompts.
AI Agent
Operates independently within defined boundaries.
Memory and Planning
LLM
Generates responses based on the current prompt and has limited memory across interactions.
AI Agent
Retains memory and recalls past actions to inform planning.
Scope
LLM
Assists with tasks such as writing, answering questions or summarising.
AI Agent
Can complete multiple tasks to manage workflows and trigger processes.
Integration
LLM
Needs to be embedded in tools.
AI Agent
Often pre-integrated with business systems.
Adaptability
LLM
Adapts to language inputs
AI Agent
Adapts to changing conditions and priorities
Example Use Case
LLM
Drafts a financial report
AI Agent
Reviews financial data, identifies an issue, and routes it for approval.
Did you know?
By 2029, agentic AI may resolve 80% of routine customer service requests, such as cancelling memberships or answering website questions, without any human help, according to Gartner. Businesses could increase customer satisfaction as a result.
Business outcomes of effective AI agent implementation
When used strategically, AI agents can drive real business outcomes, such as sharper decisions and better cost control. AI agents assist with planning, problem-solving and cross-departmental execution. Consider the following benefits of implementing AI agents in your organisation.
Lower operational costs
AI agents help reduce overhead by eliminating repetitive manual work, minimising errors, speeding up approvals and coordinating workflows across departments. For example, agents that validate payroll data or audit expense reports can identify and flag issues before they lead to financial damage. Catching problems early reduces rework and costly delays. Over time, AI-powered automation can drive significant savings – potentially as much as 30% lower operational costs, according to Gartner.
Real-time decisions at scale
AI agents act on new data – approving tasks faster and providing more responsive services. In environments where delays can cost money or damage relationships, AI agents help inform quick decisions based on the most current information available.
Better employee productivity
AI agents save time and mental bandwidth by handling routine tasks, such as scheduling and data entry. This lets teams focus on other tasks that might require specialised expertise, such as refining budgets or improving the employee experience.
For example, McKinsey found that implementing AI agents into financial institutions could reduce the time needed to create credit-risk memos by 20% to 60%.
Stronger compliance and risk mitigation
By continuously monitoring policies, transactions and data access, AI agents help lower the risk of compliance issues. An AI self-service agent, for example, can automatically update managers when a regulation changes or when it flags a policy violation. This can reduce error-prone manual audits and improve transparency across the board.
Navigating AI agent challenges
To get value from AI agents, businesses need to focus on the structure, workflow impact, collaboration and oversight surrounding their implementation and usage. Visibility gaps, security concerns and other challenges can cause hurdles but with the right planning, these are solvable issues. Here's how to address the most common challenges.
Disjointed oversight and coordination
When you deploy agents in disconnected environments, especially across different systems or vendors, it's easy to lose track of what they're doing and whether they're working towards shared goals. Disjointed systems can slow down execution and make optimisation significantly more difficult.
The fix is centralised agent oversight and system coordination. A solution such as Workday Agents brings all agents into one platform. From there, you can register, monitor and connect agents across functions, ensuring they work together seamlessly.
Security and access control risks
AI agents often need access to sensitive systems and data to do their jobs. Without proper controls, you leave your data vulnerable to breaches or misuse. Build in strict access permissions from the start, and use automated configuration tools to assign roles and enforce compliance rules. This gives agents only what they need and not a single data point more.
Scaling without clear governance
Introducing one or two agents is manageable for even small businesses. When you start using numerous AI agents, operations can get chaotic. Without a clear structure, you might end up with agents that duplicate tasks or access systems they shouldn't.
A strong agent management framework can help you onboard new agents smoothly and monitor usage so growth stays controlled and strategic. Your framework should include standardised onboarding protocols, role-based access controls, performance monitoring and clear ownership for each agent. It should also support integration across systems to ensure agents operate within shared workflows and contribute to aligned business goals.
Did you know?
In a 2024 KPMG survey, 70% of businesses said they currently use an AI agent to analyse complex datasets. Another 23% have plans to do so. Other popular noted uses for AI agents were performing administrative tasks, conducting employee reviews and developing new business materials.
Essential elements of an AI agent strategy
Putting AI agents to work can help your organisation solve real problems and increase productivity. A smart implementation strategy gives your agents the power to drive value while aligning with your business goals. Follow these steps to build a strong foundation to set your AI agents up for success.
1. Identify the problem for the AI agent to solve
Pinpoint the specific challenge you want the agent to address. Is it slow invoice processing, or are repetitive payroll errors plaguing HR? Undefined goals lead to poor agent alignment and reduced impact. Speak with department heads to see where there’s room for automation, and prioritise a few key areas.
2. Choose the right type of agent
Determine whether a task-based or role-based agent is the right choice for your goal. Task-based agents are great for high-volume, repetitive work, while role-based agents handle more complex, cross-functional tasks. Match the complexity of the problem to the level of autonomy and collaboration the agent needs to have.
3. Establish governance and access controls
Decide who's responsible for managing the agent from day one to keep the AI agent accountable and consistently working towards meeting your goals. This could be a person or a team. Strong agent management should include reviewing performance, setting usage guidelines, addressing risks and handling system updates.
At the same time, take advantage of role-based access controls to limit what agents can see and do to reduce unauthorised access and security risks.
4. Plan for multisystem integration.
Your agent strategy is only as powerful as the data it can access. Rather than building brittle, custom integrations for every tool, prioritise platforms that support the Model Context Protocol (MCP).
By using MCP, Workday enables agents to securely retrieve the "live context" they need from across your entire tech stack, whether that's a contract in a document store or a project status in a third-party tool. This standardised approach ensures your agents aren't just siloed bots, but well-informed operators that understand the full breadth of your business operations.
5. Technical requirements for AI agents.
Before AI agents can deliver results, they need the right operating environment. Your organisation needs a strong technical foundation that supports fast data access and secure integration.
Necessities include:
Scalable cloud infrastructure to support real-time processing
API connectivity to integrate agents with core platforms such as HR, finance and procurement tools
Real-time data pipelines that give agents access to the most current and accurate information
Automated audit trails for transparency, compliance and performance monitoring
Secure identity and access management to enforce user-level security across all agent interactions
Updated mechanisms to keep agents aligned with evolving workflows and policies
Support for third-party agent coordination across multiple vendors and tools
“In the mid-future, we’ll see autonomous AI organisations emerge – entirely comprised of AI agents. We won’t even know if they were created by humans. These agent swarms will communicate, offer services, generate revenue and evolve by self-improving over time.”
– Jeremiah Owyang, VC at Blitzscaling Ventures and Founder of AI Start-Up series Llama Lounge
How Workday Agents can help
Workday agentic AI is a centralised system that helps organisations manage, deploy and optimise AI agents across the enterprise. These agents understand roles and work across systems to get things done. The Workday platform brings all agents together so it's easier to govern usage and orchestrate work between Workday native agents and third-party agents.
With Workday agentic AI, you can surface insights, identify gaps, reduce risk, catch payroll errors and send policy updates to the right people. Its compliance and transparency features ensure your leaders can trust that every action is secure, accountable, trackable and aligned with business goals.
Key features of Workday agentic AI to manage agents include:
Centralised agent management: Register, monitor and control all your AI agents from one place.
Cross-agent orchestration: Connect Workday and third-party agents to share data and work towards common business goals.
Role-based agent support: Deploy agents with a clear set of responsibilities and permissions tailored to specific roles.
Faster onboarding: Quickly and safely implement new agents with predefined skills and secure data access.
Real-time visibility: Track agent activity and performance across the organisation to ensure alignment and ROI.
Automated compliance and policy enforcement: Reduce risk with built-in access controls and audit trails.
Embedded security: Enforce data privacy and security through enterprise-grade identity and access management tools.
Scalable agent infrastructure: expand your use of AI agents without losing oversight, speed, accuracy or consistency.
Putting AI agents into action
AI agents enhance an augmented workforce with speed and precision rather than replace human work. They take on the repetitive, time-sensitive tasks that drain resources to free people for innovation and decision-making. As businesses adopt more of these agents, you can reduce bottlenecks and help your organisation thrive by allowing your people to do their best work.
Workday AI moves you forever forwards