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Workday Unveils Next Generation of Illuminate Agents to Transform HR and Finance Operations

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New AI Agents Help Speed Hiring, Improve Frontline Worker Experiences, Streamline Complex Financial Processes, and Empower Employees to Find Information Fast

PLEASANTON, Calif., May 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), the AI platform for managing people, money, and agents, today announced a new wave of Illuminate Agents designed to significantly speed up the hiring processes, improve frontline worker experiences, streamline complex financial processes, and empower employees to find information quickly and easily. The new agents leverage Workday’s foundation of responsible AI and are purpose-built to supercharge employee productivity – creating a future where agentic AI fundamentally transforms how work gets done.

“The key to unlocking real business value with AI is to actively reshape the very core of how businesses operate,” said Gerrit Kazmaier, president, product and technology, Workday. “Workday is helping our 11,000+ customers in that transformation by leveraging our deep HR and finance expertise to deliver agents that provide measurable business value and empower them to thrive in the future of work.”

“Data is a powerful catalyst for growth when it can be transformed into actionable intelligence,” said Shane Luke, vice president, Workday Illuminate. “Our agents leverage the world’s most powerful HR and finance dataset to turn insights into impact – boosting productivity, enhancing compliance, and accelerating decision-making at every level.”

New Illuminate Agents announced today include:

Contingent Sourcing Agent: Accelerates temporary hiring by identifying talent open to contingent roles, streamlining screening, and enhancing applicant quality.

Contract Intelligence Agent: Enhances legal and business decision-making by rapidly reviewing contracts to identify risks, track key dates and fees, and provide ongoing analysis.

Contract Negotiation Agent: Expedites negotiations by drafting applicable contract language, detecting risks, and recommending revisions.

Document Driven Accounting Agent: Sets a new benchmark for accounting productivity by extracting data from documents to automate billing, invoicing, and accounting entries.

Frontline Agent: Saves frontline workers and managers time by enabling text-based absence reporting, quickly identifying qualified replacements, and helping to ensure compliance and accurate shift pay.

Self-Service Agent: Powers employee and manager self-service by providing instant answers to inquiries, assisting with complex tasks, and executing everyday actions on employees’ behalf.

Supplier Contracts Agent: Proactively reviews supplier contracts to identify obligations and opportunities, aligning procurement processes with contract terms.

“Workday’s cutting-edge contract AI and automated workflow technology has already delivered tangible benefits, saving us thousands of hours and millions of dollars across multiple critical corporate initiatives,” said Shelle Elzer, legal operations manager, NetApp. “We’re genuinely excited to see Workday expand on this agent innovation and are confident these advancements will empower our teams with even greater efficiencies that ultimately free them to focus on more meaningful work.”

“Workday continues to effectively target critical business outcomes in productivity, compliance, and insights with agentic AI. This is one more significant step in establishing AI agents as practical and impactful tools for business transformation,” said Mickey North Rizza, group vice-president, IDC Enterprise Software. “Customers need measurable business value and clear time-to-payback and Workday’s innovations with agentic AI will resonate strongly with organizations looking to truly transform the future of work and fully take advantage of the power of AI.”

Workday Illuminate: AI to Transform How People Work
These new agents join Workday’s growing portfolio of agentic AI solutions, including the previously-announced Business Process Optimize Agent, Financial Audit Agent, Payroll Agent, Recruiting Agent, and Talent Mobility Agent. Customers will be able to easily deploy and manage these agents through the Workday Agent System of Record. This central command center will enable IT and business leaders to maximize the impact of their agents and ensure they support their employees to drive measurable outcomes.

Illuminate is the next generation of Workday AI. Built on the world’s largest and cleanest HR and financial dataset – fueled by more than 1 trillion transactions a year – Illuminate understands the business context around the data to transform business operations by elevating humans, accelerating finance, and managing an organization’s entire fleet of AI agents. From skills, to performance, goals, cost and ROI metrics, organizational models, and individual identities, Illuminate has deep contextual understanding of how work gets done.

Availability
Contract Intelligence Agent and Contract Negotiation Agent are now generally available. Self-Service Agent will be generally available by the end of 2025. Contingent Sourcing Agent, Document Driven Accounting Agent, Frontline Agent, and Supplier Contracts Agent will be available to early adopters by the end of 2025, with general availability planned for early 2026.

For More Information

Discover how Workday’s Illuminate Agents will transform entire business processes.Learn more about Workday’s previously-announced AI agents, powered by Illuminate.Explore Workday’s AI Masterclass to learn how to drive value from agentic AI.

About Workday
Workday is the AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. The Workday platform is built with AI at the core to help customers elevate people, supercharge work, and move their business forever forward. Workday is used by more than 11,000 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 60% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.

© 2025 Workday, Inc. All rights reserved. Workday and the Workday logo are registered trademarks of Workday, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Workday’s plans, beliefs, and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our most recent report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K and other reports that we have filed and will file with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release, except as required by law.

Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in this document, our website, or other press releases or public statements that are not currently available are subject to change at Workday’s discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available.

 

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SOURCE Workday Inc.

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Datavations Launches Store Test Tracker, Giving Home Improvement Manufacturers an Early Read on Competitive Product Tests at Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards

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November 5, 2026

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New capability identifies limited-distribution SKU tests, measures their impact on the category, and turns the findings into retailer-ready recommendations

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Datavations, the leader in commercial intelligence for home improvement and building materials suppliers, today announced the official launch of the Store Test Tracker. The capability shows suppliers where any new products are being tested across Home Depot, Lowes, Menards and others, how those tests are performing, and what they mean for the category.

Many new SKUs at big box home improvement retailers begin as tests in a limited set of stores. A test that succeeds can become a national placement within months, often reshaping a category before competing suppliers know it exists. Panel and receipt-based data rarely detect and can never effectively measure brand or category impact.

The Store Test Tracker uses Datavations’ daily, store-level SKU-grain data to flag products in limited distribution and follow them through testing, expansion, stall, or discontinuation. Manufacturers can compare sales velocity and volume of each test SKU against similar SKUs in the set, then measure category growth and impact across brands in test stores against the rest of the chain.

Early users have used the tracker to spot competitor testing in as few as 10-20 stores, show a merchant that a competitor test was cannibalizing the category rather than growing it, and demonstrate category growth from their own launches.

“Merchants decide what earns a national placement based on how a product performs in as few as a couple dozen stores. Our customers can now see that decision forming, for their own items and for their competitors’, and walk into a merchant meeting with a data-backed recommendation instead of a reaction,” said Philip Odelfelt, Founder & CEO, Datavations.

The Store Test Tracker has been available to select suppliers on a limited basis since October and is already in use by more than 15 manufacturers across categories including adhesives, security, paint applicators, outdoor and building products. Automated alerts that notify customers when a new test appears in their categories are planned for the coming months.

“The goal is to answer two questions. First, what store tests are running in the category? Second, what impact are those having on the category?,” said Kai Graham, Director of Product, Datavations.

About Datavations

Datavations is a leading commercial intelligence platform for home improvement manufacturers. By aggregating daily SKU-level pricing and inventory data, Datavations delivers accurate, store-level sell-through intelligence across Home Depot, Lowe’s, Menards, Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, Floor & Decor and Ferguson. Customers use the platform to optimize pricing, assortment, and inventory. Learn more at www.datavations.ai.

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SOURCE Datavations

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Research Solutions to Announce First Quarter Fiscal Year 2027 Results on Thursday, November 12, 2026

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November 5, 2026

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HENDERSON, Nev., Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Research Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSSS), the leading AI-powered research workflow platform, will hold a conference call to discuss its financial results for the first quarter fiscal year 2027 ended September 30, 2026, on Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. ET. A press release containing the company’s financial results will be issued following the market close. Management will host the conference call, followed by a question-and-answer period.

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2026
Time: 5:00 p.m. ET (2:00 p.m. PT)
Dial-in number: 1-203-518-9765
Conference ID: RESEARCH

Please dial into the conference 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay via the investor relations section of the company’s website at http://researchsolutions.investorroom.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through December 12, 2026. To access the replay, dial 1-412-317-6671 and use replay ID 11162891.

About Research Solutions
Research Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: RSSS) is a vertical SaaS and AI company that simplifies research workflow for academic institutions, life science companies, and research organizations worldwide. As one of the only publisher-independent marketplaces for scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content, the company uniquely combines AI-powered tools—including an intelligent research assistant and full-text search capabilities—with seamless access to both open access and paywalled research. The platform enables organizations to discover, access, manage and analyze scientific literature more efficiently, accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. For more information and details, please visit www.researchsolutions.com 

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SOURCE Research Solutions, Inc.

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Cainiao Launches AI and Embodied Intelligence Industry Partnership, Touts World’s Largest Real-World Training Network

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November 5, 2026

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HONG KONG, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Cainiao, a global leader in e-commerce logistics and technology, today launched a new industry partnership initiative for AI and embodied intelligence, opening its global warehouse network to partners to build the world’s largest logistics real-scene training cluster for AI and embodied intelligence.

The move is aimed at supporting technology training, real-world validation and industrial deployment, as AI and robotics companies look for more practical pathways to scale.

Cainiao also unveiled a new “Global Tech in Three Days” service for AI computing and robotics companies, offering end-to-end supply chain support spanning prototype testing, scaled delivery and overseas operations.

“AI has become a new engine of productivity,” said William Xiong, CEO of Cainiao Global. “Over the past decade, Cainiao has built an open, efficient and sustainable smart logistics network. As AI and embodied intelligence move from the lab into real industry, we want to leverage our global network to help partners accelerate value creation.”

As AI continues to advance, intelligence is increasingly extending from the digital world into physical industries, making physical AI a key direction for the next wave of industrial transformation. According to the company, the next decade could see major advances in the sector, with efficiency improvements potentially reaching 10 to 50 times.

To support this transition, Cainiao is opening dozens of industry-specific proof-of-concept scenarios covering core operations such as warehouse picking, intelligent navigation and delivery, high-altitude inspection, security operations, aviation logistics and auto parts management, and providing partners with a platform for joint R&D, real-machine training and business validation.

With its global logistics network spanning multiple countries, industries and operating environments, Cainiao covers the full chain from domestic pickup and cross-border line-haul to overseas fulfillment. The network handles high volumes of multi-SKU shipments and can provide embodied intelligence companies with a larger, more realistic environment for training and validation.

Cainiao has already scaled pilot deployments across express delivery, e-commerce, FMCG and auto parts scenarios, covering three major task types: basic tasks such as parcel feeding and labeling, mid-level precision tasks such as small-item sorting, and advanced long-horizon tasks such as palletizing and complex depalletizing, helping robots expand from single-point operations to more sophisticated real-world applications.

The company also introduced its “Global Tech in Three Days” service to support the global expansion of consumer robot makers, AI computing companies and embodied intelligence hardware and component suppliers. Built on its global express, air freight and warehousing capabilities, the one-stop service provides hard-tech companies at different stages with integrated support, including customs support, forward and reverse logistics, high-value cargo insurance, forward warehousing and spare-parts management.

Global express is designed for on-demand needs such as R&D testing, customer demos, product fulfillment and small-batch replenishment. Global air freight is tailored for large, high-value shipments including AI infrastructure equipment, control systems and core modules, while the global warehouse network supports regional stocking, multi-country warehousing and local delivery.

“We want to extend the global logistics capabilities we have built for e-commerce into AI and embodied intelligence,” Xiong said. “Our goal is to make intelligent technologies go global as efficiently and simply as e-commerce parcels.”

Cainiao will continue expanding partnerships with technology companies and research institutions to advance AI validation and industrial applications, and help build a global AI innovation ecosystem.

The company has signed initial cooperation agreements with leading firms in AI computing and embodied intelligence, with nearly 100 representatives from across the industry chain attending the launch event in Hong Kong.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cainiao-launches-ai-and-embodied-intelligence-industry-partnership-touts-worlds-largest-real-world-training-network-302929590.html

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