Workday Pays $1.1 Billion for Sana’s AI-Powered Workplace Tools

Human resources platform Workday is set to acquire artificial intelligence (AI) company Sana for $1.1 billion.

The deal, announced Tuesday (Sept. 16), will allow Workday to offer AI agents that clients can use to automate repetitive tasks, craft presentations, and perform searches across a company’s data sources.

“Sana’s team, AI-native approach, and beautiful design perfectly align with our vision to reimagine the future of work,” Gerrit Kazmaier, president, product and technology, Workday, said in a news release.

“This will make Workday the new front door for work, delivering a proactive, personalized, and intelligent experience that unlocks unmatched AI capabilities for the workplace.”

Founded in 2016, Sana’s core products,  Sana Learn and Sana Agents, have served more than 1 million users across hundreds of enterprises, the release added. The company will continue to develop those products while also powering a new Workday experience, the news release added.

“Our focus has always been on creating intuitive AI tools that improve how people learn and work,” said Joel Hellermark, founder and CEO of Sana. “I’m excited to bring these tools to 75 million Workday users and partner with Workday’s iconic team to launch a new era of superintelligence for work.”

The acquisition follows a series of recent product rollouts and partnerships from Workday. Last month, the company teamed with monetization platform Zuora in a collaboration combining Zuora’s order-to-cash automation with Workday Financial Management.

The companies say the goal is to help business to consumer (B2C) operations handle complex billing and revenue streams from things like subscriptions or usage-based pricing.

Meanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence has found that a vast majority of workers see the potential of gen AI to improve productivity. This belief is especially strong among frequent users, with 82% of workers who use gen AI at least weekly agreeing that it can increase productivity.

But as familiarity with gen AI grows, so too do worries about job displacement. Among workers who use gen AI weekly, half are concerned the technology could someday eliminate their specific job, versus just 24% of those unfamiliar with it.

“As workers gain a better understanding of gen AI’s capabilities, they are becoming more aware of the possible risks to their jobs,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year.  “Those who use gen AI weekly are much more likely to believe it can replace aspects of their job compared to those unfamiliar with the technology.”