HCM PlatformsAI Makes The HCM Market Hot Again: Workday, SAP, Oracle, and More.
Analyst Josh Bersin argues that AI is triggering a renaissance for major HCM platforms — Workday, SAP, and Oracle chief among them — shifting their identity from administrative systems of record to strategic AI operating layers for business growth. Writing after a month of vendor meetings and attendance at both Unleash and Workday Rising, Bersin outlines five structural forces driving the shift: economic expansion, HCM's emergence as an AI data backbone, fragmentation in the standalone AI agent market, the opening of HCM APIs, and dramatically improved user interfaces. On the Workday front specifically, he highlights the launch of 17 'Superagents,' the new Workday Data Cloud, a universal Candidate Profile, and an agent management suite that includes identity capabilities reportedly acquired from c1.ai.
Oct 27, 2026
