During its annual conference Workday Rising 2025, Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY) announced the launch of Workday Data Cloud, a platform that promises to transform how organizations manage and leverage their financial and human resources data. The goal is clear: turn people and money data into a strategic asset by integrating it with customer, market, and operational information.
With this initiative, Workday aims to break down data silos and enable companies to access secure, up-to-date, and governed real-time data, thereby accelerating decision-making and the development of AI-driven solutions.
A connected data ecosystem
Workday’s approach goes beyond offering a new product. The company has designed an open and interconnected ecosystem, supported by partnerships with key players in analytics and cloud data: Databricks, Salesforce, and Snowflake.
The model is innovative because it introduces the concept of “zero-copy”: organizations can access Workday data directly from these platforms without the need for exports, duplicates, or maintaining costly intermediate reports. This means less friction, greater efficiency, and, most importantly, a unified and consistent view of enterprise data.
A concrete example illustrates this well: a retailer will be able to combine employee engagement data from Workday with store performance data stored in Snowflake. This enables identifying which teams generate more sales and which factors influence commercial success.
Real-world use cases: smarter finance and HR
The benefits of Workday Data Cloud extend across multiple areas:
- Finance: teams will be able to unify financial data from Workday with market and sales information stored in Databricks, enabling scenario planning and real-time forecasting. This reduces closing cycles and improves risk anticipation.
- Human Resources: HR leaders can enrich retention and performance metrics with business indicators from Salesforce, such as team sales or case resolution times. In this way, talent management becomes directly connected to business results.
- Retail: by integrating employee data with customer information, companies can optimize the shopping experience and internal productivity, driving strategies more aligned with market realities.
The common denominator is the same: up-to-date, governed, and instantaneously accessible information.
The pillars of Workday Data Cloud
The new solution is built on four main components:
- Workday Data Lake
A centralized and secure repository that will provide access to a curated catalog of Workday business objects across HCM, Recruiting, Payroll, Learning, Financial Management, Spend Management, Student, and more. This “single source of truth” will reduce duplicates and improve data consistency throughout the organization. - Workday Data Connect
A bidirectional data exchange system, without duplicates, connecting with leading platforms like Databricks, Salesforce Data Cloud, and Snowflake via Apache Iceberg. It facilitates both access to Workday data in external environments and the integration of external data within Workday. - Workday Live Data Query
Direct SQL access to core Workday data. This will allow users to retrieve information within minutes, accelerating advanced analysis and AI model training. For example, a finance team member could view in real-time the relationship between budgeted and actual expenses to streamline the closing process. - Workday Prism
Extends data integration and transformation capabilities, supporting incoming queries from external platforms without duplication. Thus, a finance team can enrich Workday data with market risk information stored in Snowflake, maintaining governance and security standards of Workday.
The vision behind the announcement
“With Workday Data Cloud and our zero-copy approach, customers finally have simple, secure, and open access to their most reliable data, driving a new wave of innovation with AI,” stated Gerrit Kazmaier, Workday’s President of Product and Technology.
Strategic partners also emphasized the significance of the launch:
- Snowflake highlighted that eliminating data silos will enable business leaders to make faster and more accurate decisions, accelerating ROI.
- Databricks pointed out that governing and unifying data is key to unlocking its full potential in innovation and decision-making.
- Salesforce noted that in the era of intelligent agents, having a unified view of operations is essential to deliver better outcomes for both employees and customers.
Availability and future plans
Workday Data Cloud will be available to early adopter clients in the first half of 2026, with general availability expected by the end of that year. The company anticipates this solution will become a standard at the intersection of finance, HR, and advanced analytics, further promoting AI adoption across organizations.
With over 11,000 client organizations worldwide, including more than 65% of Fortune 500 companies, Workday solidifies its position as an enterprise platform at the core of AI innovation.
Conclusion
The announcement of Workday Data Cloud marks a milestone in enterprise data management. By integrating people and finance information with operational, customer, and market metrics, the company proposes a more agile, transparent, and connected business model.
In a world where data has become the most valuable resource, this initiative aims to close the gap between AI theory and its practical application, providing companies with a tangible competitive advantage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Workday Data Cloud?
It is a new data layer introduced by Workday that unifies financial and HR data with customer, market, and operational information, providing secure, real-time access to foster AI innovation.
What advantages does it offer over other data solutions?
It eliminates costly duplicates and exports thanks to its zero-copy model, ensuring governed, consistent data ready for use across platforms like Databricks, Salesforce, and Snowflake.
When will Workday Data Cloud be available?
It will be offered to early adopter clients in the first half of 2026 and become generally available by the end of that year.
What impact could it have on businesses?
It will enable real-time connection of talent and finance with business results, improve financial planning, optimize human capital management, and accelerate the governed adoption of AI models.