Workday expanded Workday Illuminate purpose-built AI agents for HR, finance and industry workflows and called out measurable early-access outcomes for its Planning Agent, the company said on 16 September 2025.
For planning buyers, Workday said the Planning Agent helps early-access customers reduce data exploration and analysis by 30%, equalling around 100 hours per month. The release framed Illuminate agents as embedded in HR and finance workflows on Workday's transaction and context graph, with a Flex Credits consumption model. New Illuminate agents were described as available in 2026, with Flex Credits purchasable from the announcement date.
Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday, said: "Too many AI efforts amount to random acts of automation that never scale or deliver real value. The barrier of self-building AI on legacy systems and closed platforms is simply too high." Peer Illuminate metrics in the same release — including contract execution and financial audit time savings — provide context only; this piece covers the Planning Agent angle for Adaptive Planning buyers.
The 30% and 100-hour figures are company-stated early-access outcomes and have not been independently verified by AI-360.