Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a trusted agentic platform for HR, finance, and IT, announced at Workday Rising 2026 on October 13, 2026, that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire C1.ai, an agentic identity platform for people and agents. The deal aims to help enterprises govern access for employees and autonomous AI systems across hundreds of connected applications. It would extend Workday's role as an operational system of record into identity governance for people, money, and agents.
Responding to the Risks of Autonomous Agents
Most organizations still manage employee access through manual service tickets, spreadsheets, and periodic reviews as workers join, move, and leave. C1.ai research indicates that 95% of large U.S. companies already run autonomous agents, while Deloitte's State of AI research reports that only 21% have a mature way to govern them. Workday and C1.ai argue that without controls over who and what has access, AI agents can create security and compliance risks across the business.
What C1.ai Brings to Workday
C1.ai connects to the systems a business runs on, including email, CRM, code repositories, finance systems, and cloud infrastructure. It gives each person and agent the right access at the right time and removes it the moment it is no longer needed. The platform enforces policies, incorporates human approval, and maintains a record of every action to support visibility and control without slowing innovation.
Unified Access for Every Worker and Agent
The combined offering would connect identity governance directly to Workday events such as new hires, role changes, and departures. New employees could receive access to tools like Slack, Jira, and finance dashboards on day one, while role changes and exits would trigger timely permission updates and removals. Workday expects this to reduce waiting time for employees, cut manual approvals for managers, and close open doors that attackers can exploit.
Executive Perspective on the Combined Workforce
"Today's companies run on a combined workforce of people and AI agents," said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday. He added that Workday will help secure that workforce by enforcing exactly who and what has access to connected apps and systems. Alex Bovee, CEO and co-founder of C1.ai, said enterprises cannot secure the AI era using yesterday's IT tickets and that identity governance will manage access for every human and agent in real time.
Agent Visibility and Transaction Details
Workday's Agent System of Record already provides a central place to register and view AI agents. C1.ai will build on that foundation by governing what agents can access across Workday and other enterprise systems, ensuring access is granted when needed and removed when an agent's role ends. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday's fiscal year 2027, ending January 31, 2027, subject to customary closing conditions.
About the Companies and Advisors
More than 11,500 organizations worldwide, including more than 65% of the Fortune 500, trust Workday to deliver HR, finance, and IT capabilities. C1.ai describes itself as the identity platform for the AI era, connecting humans and agents to enterprise systems with scoped access, enforced policies, human approval, and a record of every action. BofA Securities served as financial advisor to Workday, with Orrick as legal advisor, while Qatalyst and Ashurst Perkins Coie advised C1.ai.
By acquiring C1.ai, Workday is positioning itself as the identity governance layer for a workforce that increasingly includes both people and autonomous agents. The combination addresses a growing gap between rapid AI adoption and mature access controls, which is a pressing concern for large enterprises. If the acquisition closes as planned, customers could gain real-time visibility and control over access across Workday and third-party systems, making work faster without making it less secure.