In an October 6, 2026 report for The Information, Laura Bratton and Anita Ramaswamy examine a more complicated threat to Workday than the idea that AI will make enterprise software disappear.
Workday’s human resources and finance systems remain essential repositories for sensitive information and business processes. Payroll still has to run, be filed and be audited. But the way employees and AI agents interact with those records is changing—and that could weaken the role, growth and pricing power of the applications built around them.
Raphaëlle D’Ornano said she distinguishes the durable “system of record” and the “layer above the record”: the work people do with the data.
“The system of record is not at risk of being skipped. A payroll still has to run, be filed and be audited,” she said...
What remains at risk, she said, is the “layer above the record,” meaning the work that companies do with the data.
Her framework leaves two outcomes in play: Workday could turn its installed base and trusted data into a stronger AI business, or gradually lose relevance as customers use agents to reach that data through other interfaces.
“The question is, is a human going to access your app or an [AI] agent?” she said.