Workday announced today that it is acquiring AI company Sana for approximately $1.1 billion. The acquisition is intended to transform Workday into “the new front door office” by combining AI-driven search functions, agents, and learning tools with Workday’s extensive HR and financial data.
The acquisition should enable Workday to create a completely new work experience. Employees will soon have access to a single integrated platform where enterprise knowledge, data, and actions come together.
From searching to proactive action
The new capabilities include searching across all of an organization’s key data sources, including Workday’s own data cloud, as well as Google Drive, SharePoint, and Office365. AI agents can act proactively by anticipating needs, summarizing insights, and providing support for projects.
In addition, these agents are enabled to create presentations, documents, dashboards, and even entire learning courses based on existing company data. Automating repetitive tasks and routine work is also possible by executing end-to-end workflows.
Sana brings 10 years of AI experience
Founded in 2016, Sana has evolved into a leading AI company specializing in enterprise knowledge tools. The company already serves more than a million users across hundreds of organizations with its main products, Sana Learn and Sana Agents.
Sana’s products fit well with Workday’s strategy. Sana Learn combines learning management with AI-driven content creation and personalized coaching. Sana Agents, on the other hand, automate repetitive tasks via a no-code agent builder that allows users to develop AI agents themselves.
Gerrit Kazmaier, president of product and technology at Workday, emphasizes that “Sana’s team, AI-native approach, and beautiful design perfectly align with our vision to reimagine the future of work.”
Measurable results with existing customers
Sana can already show impressive results from existing customers. Sana agents have achieved 95% time savings at a large American manufacturer, while an industrial multinational has realized 90% productivity gains. A global law firm saw more than 60% time savings and 200% increased efficiency thanks to Sana agents.
The results in the field of learning are equally convincing. A global manufacturer of electric vehicles saw a 275% increase in engagement with learning. A European installation distributor with 7,500 employees reduced the time needed to develop courses from four months to four days.
Workday’s broader AI strategy
This acquisition fits in with Workday’s broader AI strategy around Workday Illuminate. The AI platform is based on data from more than 800 billion business transactions per year and already offers several specialized AI agents for recruitment, expense claims, and other HR and financial processes.
Read also: Workday expands AI agents to HR, Finance, and specific industries
Joel Hellermark, founder and CEO of Sana, says he is excited to offer the tools to 75 million Workday users. Together with Workday, he expects to launch a new era of superintelligence for work.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday’s fiscal year 2026, ending January 31, 2026.
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