Enterprise AI platform maker Workday has announced a new collaboration with Microsoft to help organizations securely manage their people and AI agents across their platforms. Customers that build AI agents using Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio will be able to easily register and manage them within the Workday Agent System of Record (ASOR). That is significant. In addition, this integration between Workday ASOR and Microsoft Entra Agent ID will help ensure every agent built on Microsoft agent building platforms has a verified identity and the right business context to operate safely and effectively across the business.
“As AI agents become a huge part of how we work, managing and securing them across different systems is a real challenge,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday. Our commitment to an open ecosystem is about giving organizations the flexibility to build their fleet of AI agents on the platform of their choice. Through our strategic partnership with Microsoft, we’re giving organizations one secure system to manage both their people and their AI agents – so they can focus on results, not complexity.”
Charles Lamanna, president, business and industry Copilot, Microsoft, echoed these thoughts.
“It was a pleasure to join Gerrit Kazmaier and the Workday team on stage this week to showcase how Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, and Entra Agent ID are coming together with Workday’s Agent System of Record,” he emphasized. “This powerful integration offers our joint customers a seamless and secure way to build and manage AI agents across the enterprise – with the same tools they use for users and groups today. We are looking forward to continuing this important work together to prepare our customers for the future!”
AI agents are growing more prevalent and tracking their access, roles, and value is crucial for any business. As agents become more autonomous and handle important work, organizations must manage their identities, permissions, and define oversight. Without a centralized system, organizations will face fragmented operations, ineffective governance, greater security risks, and difficulty realizing the true value of their AI investments.
“Our partnership with Workday is a breakthrough in delivering the trust organizations need to adopt AI,” Lamanna said. “By seamlessly registering agents built with Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry into Workday’s Agent System of Record, we’re giving customers full visibility into their AI ecosystem. This integration equips leaders with actionable analytics to measure ROI, enforce governance, and ensure their AI agents are secure and delivering real value.” LaManna leads the design, product development, and engineering teams responsible for creating intelligent business applications and low-code platforms with generative AI. This spans products and services across Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Copilot Studio, Copilot apps, and Nuance Enterprise.
LaManna emphasized the importance of Copilot and how AI is changing the enterprise apps fundamentally.
“AI is redefining enterprise apps,” he said. “Traditional apps are grids and forms over data at their core, but AI changes all that. Copilot delivers business insights and personalized assistance directly in your workflow — whether you’re creating customer pitch decks, responding to emails, or closing the books. Agents take it further, scaling your operations by completing workflows.”
Legacy systems are fading into the background, with this shift to Copilot and agents.
“Legacy systems of record will soon become more like a mainframe – still essential but in the background and not a destination for running your business,” LaManna said. “Agents are the new apps of the AI era: in the AI era. Agents will give individuals and teams more capacity. But trying to interact with all of them without a Copilot would be like using mobile apps without a smartphone. That’s why our vision is to empower every person with a Copilot and transform every business process with agents.”
LaManna emphasized this shift is already underway and delivering real business value for companies like Dow, McKinsey & Company, Lumen, Pets at Home, as well as internally at Microsoft.
“The mindset we have is you want a Copilot for everyone at work and then you want every team at work to be supported by a group of agents,” he stated. Lamanna defines Copilots as personal AI assistants that understand how individuals work and communicate. Agents are designed to automate tasks or job responsibilities, focusing on efficiency and completion. He provides examples of Copilots helping with documents and emails, and agents handling tasks like expense reports.
This latest innovation between Workday and Microsoft will create a seamless and secure experience for building and managing AI agents across the enterprise, allowing customers to build and register agents across an open ecosystem. Organizations that build AI agents using Microsoft Azure AI Foundry and Copilot Studio can then easily register and manage them within Workday ASOR. For example, a developer that builds an agent in Copilot Studio to streamline employee onboarding will be able to easily register it in Workday, so that it can be made available to the enterprise.
Business leaders can also use the agent analytics within Workday ASOR to understand how AI agents are being used and the value they bring. These dashboards show how people and AI agents work together, helping companies measure their total value and return on investment. A leader can easily see which agents their team is using and then get detailed reports on agent usage, time saved, and improved productivity.
The new integration between Workday and Microsoft’s agent systems will allow seamless interoperability between different AI agents. For example, an employee could ask a Microsoft Employee Self-Service Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot to update career goals or submit a peer review. The request would be handed off to the Workday agent inline, allowing the employee to complete the workflow in Workday agent without leaving Microsoft Employee Self-Service Agent. This will help deliver a unified, secure, and context-preserving experience in the flow of work.
Because AI agents built with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Azure AI Foundry are given Entra identities, all agents remain secure and under control. For example, Workday administrators will be able to easily check for agents with extra access or unusual activity to help ensure work stays compliant and secure.
“This powerful integration offers our joint customers a seamless and secure way to build and manage AI agents across the enterprise – with the same tools they use for users and groups today,” LaManna concluded. “We are looking forward to continuing this important work together to prepare our customers for the future!