Workday Acquires Evisort: Enhancing Document Management with AI-Powered Solutions

Workday announced its acquisition of Evisort, an AI-driven contract management platform, on Tuesday. While the financial details remain undisclosed, this strategic move aims to enhance Workday's existing finance and HR software with advanced AI document processing capabilities.

Terrance Wampler, Workday's group general manager, emphasized the value that Evisort’s technology brings to the table. “Evisort will help us fulfill our vision of empowering customers to extract insights from their most valuable data,” Wampler explained. “With AI-enabled document intelligence, they’ll gain the ability to quickly and efficiently act on critical insights.”

This acquisition marks another step in Workday’s commitment to AI innovation, building on a series of AI-centric acquisitions that began in 2014 with HR analytics firm Identified. In 2018, it acquired SkipFlag, known for its self-building AI knowledge base derived from internal enterprise communications.

Founded in 2016 by Harvard Law and MIT researchers Amine Anoun, Jake Sussman, and Jerry Ting, San Francisco-based Evisort has quickly made its mark in the industry. The startup provides AI-based modules that allow users to analyze various documents, including revenue contracts and asset agreements, for errors or omissions, and receive suggestions for document improvements.

Evisort’s capabilities extend to highlighting critical aspects within documents, such as unclaimed benefits, evaluating language against historical standards, and automatically reminding clients of significant deadlines like contract renewals.

Competition in the AI document management sector is intense. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market may reach $19.32 billion by 2032. Despite an initial security challenge, Evisort has successfully broadened its client roster, partnering with major brands such as Microsoft, the Motley Fool, NetApp, and Vonage.

Before its acquisition, Evisort had secured $155.6 million in funding from investors like General Atlantic, TCV, Vertex Ventures, and Microsoft’s M12, as reported by Crunchbase. CEO Jerry Ting noted that soon, Workday customers can anticipate Evisort’s features—including chatbots designed to reference company knowledge bases for HR and finance policies—integrating into Workday’s offerings.

“AI is a powerful force, reshaping how organizations turn unstructured document data into strategic decisions,” Ting stated in a press release. “We’re thrilled to merge Evisort's document intelligence capabilities with Workday's unified finance and HR platform, enabling customers to effectively use critical business data within a cohesive system.”

Workday plans to finalize the acquisition—its second of the year after HR platform HiredScore—by the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, pending standard closing requirements.

In recent years, Workday has significantly increased its investment in AI technologies. In 2023, the company announced a $250 million expansion of its Workday Ventures VC fund to support initiatives in AI, machine learning, and workflow automation. Additionally, AI functionalities have been integrated into Workday’s HR products, including automated “agents” for repetitive back-office tasks.

During the Workday Rising conference, CEO Carl Eschenbach described AI as a “tectonic shift” with “immense potential” for enterprises, while also acknowledging the challenges many organizations face in effectively implementing AI to achieve meaningful results.