Workday to buy C1.ai to govern access for people and AI agents
- Workday signed a definitive agreement to acquire identity platform C1.ai.
- C1.ai manages system access for both employees and AI agents.
- 95% of large U.S. companies already run autonomous agents, C1.ai says.
- The deal is expected to close by Jan. 31, 2027.
NEVADA, UNITED STATES — Workday is moving into identity governance, agreeing to buy C1.ai to control what both employees and AI agents can reach across a company’s systems. The deal would tie every hire, role change and exit recorded in Workday to an automatic change in system access.
Access for a mixed workforce
C1.ai connects to the systems a business runs on, from email and CRM to code repositories, finance systems and cloud infrastructure, giving each person and agent the right access and removing it when it is no longer needed, Workday said in an announcement at its Workday Rising 2026 event. C1.ai’s research shows that 95% of large U.S. companies already run autonomous agents, while Deloitte research found only 21% have a mature way to govern them.
“Today’s companies run on a combined workforce of people and AI agents,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday. He said C1.ai will help manage exactly who and what has access to connected apps and systems.
Building on the agent system of record
Most organizations still manage employee access across hundreds of applications through manual service tickets, spreadsheets and periodic reviews, Workday said. Its Agent System of Record already gives companies one place to see and manage their agents.
C1.ai will extend it from registering agents to governing what they can access across Workday and other enterprise systems, and to removing that access when an agent’s work ends.
“Enterprises can’t secure the AI era using yesterday’s IT tickets,” said Alex Bovee, CEO and co-founder of C1.ai. He said bringing identity governance into Workday’s core will let companies manage access for every human and agent in real time.
Some agents act on behalf of an employee and should reach only part of what that person can, while others work alone with broader access that needs close oversight.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday’s fiscal year 2027, which ends Jan. 31, 2027. BofA Securities is advising Workday, and Qatalyst is advising C1.ai.
For outsourcing buyers, access control becomes a bigger part of every engagement as providers deploy AI agents alongside human staff. Clients should ask partners how agent access is granted, reviewed and removed, especially in human capital management (HCM) and finance processes.
Companies comparing AI-focused partners can start with the top AI outsourcing companies.
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Disclosure: Outsource Accelerator uses AI tools in the backend of its editorial workflow. Every article is reviewed and verified by a human editor before publication.
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