Why Workday Acquired Agentic Identity Platform C1.AI

Workday's Aneel Bhusri and C1.ai's Alex Bovee explore how the acquisition will govern AI agent access and identity across the enterprise

Why Workday Acquired Agentic Identity Platform C1.AI

TL;DR

  • Workday is acquiring C1.ai to establish an enterprise identity governance layer.
  • The acquisition will allow Workday to manage access for employees, financial workflows, and AI agents.
  • C1.ai provides real-time access orchestration and runtime enforcement for AI agents.
  • The deal aims to accelerate AI adoption, security, and governance in the enterprise.
  • 95% of large US companies use autonomous AI agents, but only 21% have mature governance for them.
  • The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday's fiscal year 2027.