Workday has announced its latest innovation, Sana for IT Service Management (ITSM), at the Sana AI Summit in New York. This new feature automates IT support workflows within the Workday platform itself. This launch signifies Workday’s expansion into the ITSM market, previously dominated by platforms like ServiceNow.
Sana for ITSM stands out due to its integration with the Workday platform. It uses existing HR data to streamline employee IT support. By knowing each employee’s role, reporting line, and access permissions, Sana can handle tasks like password resets and software installs without a traditional ticketing process. This leads to quicker resolutions and fewer manual interventions. Moreover, it automates lifecycle events such as onboarding and offboarding, ensuring seamless transitions across identity, security, and collaboration tools.
Joel Hellermark, Workday’s Chief AI Officer, highlighted the efficiency gains, stating, “IT teams don’t wake up wanting to close more tickets. They want fewer tickets and cleaner operations. Because Sana for ITSM is built directly into Workday, every hire, role change, and offboarding event becomes a live trigger for the right IT actions to happen automatically.”
While embedding ITSM capabilities offers profound benefits, infrastructure readiness remains a challenge. Companies must ensure a reliable configuration management database (CMDB), well-defined APIs, a robust governance model, and active monitoring to fully utilize Sana for ITSM. Existing customers may find three of these requirements already fulfilled, easing the transition.
On another front, Workday introduced the Travel Agent feature, merging trip planning and expense management. Employees can now approve and manage travel within Workday, with automatic expense generation. This integration offers finance teams real-time spending insights, streamlining operational efficiency. According to Max Wessel, Workday’s SVP of product, “The best expense report is the one you never have to do.”
Workday’s advancements underline its strategic shift into ITSM, using its $1.1 billion acquisition of Sana to strengthen its platform. For businesses already relying on Workday, the seamless integration it offers is appealing, especially for those seeking to automate IT operations. For others with mature systems like Ivanti, the decision is more complex.
As the ITSM landscape evolves, more organizations will likely incorporate AI into their operations. Gartner predicts one-third will adopt agentic AI in ITSM by 2028. For prospective buyers, Workday’s entry into the ITSM space presents an alternative that leverages existing data and structures, offering a comprehensive solution for efficient service management./
