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IBM watsonx Orchestrate vs Workday Agent System of Record

IBM watsonx Orchestrate

Agent management platform to build, deploy, orchestrate, and govern AI agents

Workday Agent System of Record

Workday system of record to find, add, register, configure, monitor, and manage AI agents

Short answer

IBM watsonx Orchestrate is a platform to build, run, and govern AI agents, offered as SaaS or on premises; Workday Agent System of Record (ASOR) is set up in each Workday tenant to register and manage agents.⁠Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5, Source 6 ASOR gives each agent a unique Workday identity; in watsonx Orchestrate, per-agent identity is in private preview.⁠Source 7, Source 8

By Blocks.ai teamLast checked

Where each one sits

Six layers of running AI agents at a company, and what each product’s own public sources say it covers.

These aren’t the same kind of product

Where they overlap
Both list agents, including ones built elsewhere, and set rules for them: watsonx Orchestrate with a catalog and controls, ASOR with its Agent Registry and Workday security policies.⁠Source 3, Source 5, Source 9, Source 10, Source 11
Where they differ
Agents can also be built in watsonx Orchestrate, and agents built with its Agent Development Kit (ADK) run there.⁠Source 2, Source 12 ASOR is a functional area you enable in each Workday tenant.⁠Source 6
Running both
Workday announced IBM among the first partners in its Agent Partner Network in June 2025.⁠Source 13 Neither vendor publicly documents using the two together.
Public sources · checked 2 October 2026
  • Offered
  • Preview
  • Not publicly documented

IBM watsonx Orchestrate

  • Build agents: OfferedVisual builder and ADK⁠Source 12
  • Host and run agents: OfferedAgents run on watsonx Orchestrate⁠Source 2
  • Identity and access: PreviewAgent identity⁠Source 14
  • Registry and governance: OfferedAgentic Control Plane⁠Source 15
  • Traffic between agents, tools, and models: OfferedA2A calls to agent endpoints⁠Source 16
  • Agents across organizations: OfferedPartner A2A agents in catalog⁠Source 16

Workday Agent System of Record

  • Build agents: Not publicly documented
  • Host and run agents: Not publicly documented
  • Identity and access: OfferedAgent System User per agent⁠Source 7
  • Registry and governance: OfferedAgent Registry in Management Hub⁠Source 5
  • Traffic between agents, tools, and models: OfferedAgent Gateway for Workday APIs⁠Source 17
  • Agents across organizations: Not publicly documented

At a glance

TopicIBM watsonx OrchestrateWorkday Agent System of Record
What it isIBM describes it as an agent management platform to build, deploy, orchestrate, manage, and govern AI agents.⁠Source 1A functional area you enable in each Workday tenant to find, register, configure, monitor, and manage AI agents.⁠Source 5, Source 6
Where agents runAgents built with its ADK run on watsonx Orchestrate, offered as SaaS on AWS or IBM Cloud, or on premises.⁠Source 2, Source 4 Agents hosted elsewhere need an accessible endpoint.⁠Source 18External agents are registered through the ASOR API with the URL where each one is hosted.⁠Source 19, Source 20
Agent identityPer-agent identity through IBM Verify or Microsoft Entra is in private preview; existing authentication types use an impersonation model.⁠Source 8, Source 14A unique Workday identity per agent, using Agent System User accounts governed by Workday security policies and groups.⁠Source 7, Source 11
Pricing modelBy plan: Essentials from $530 a month for 4,000 monthly active users, Standard from $6,360 a month, and Premium on request.⁠Source 21 A 30-day free trial.⁠Source 21No additional specific SKU for ASOR.⁠Source 5 Workday-built agents in production need a Flex Credits policy opt-in; credit use depends on each agent’s skills.⁠Source 5, Source 22 The price of a Flex Credit is not publicly documented.
MaturityIBM said the unified release of watsonx Orchestrate was generally available in January 2024; the Agentic Control Plane followed in June 2026.⁠Source 23, Source 24 AI Gateway, which can discover agents on other platforms, is in preview.⁠Source 25Generally available since February 2026.⁠Source 26

What each one is

IBM watsonx Orchestrate

IBM describes watsonx Orchestrate as an agent management platform to build, deploy, orchestrate, manage, and govern AI agents, for IT, security, and AI leaders.⁠Source 1 IBM says it added an Agentic Control Plane in June 2026 to monitor agents’ health, adoption, and quality.⁠Source 24, Source 27

Workday Agent System of Record

Workday Agent System of Record (ASOR) is a functional area of a Workday tenant for finding, registering, configuring, monitoring, and managing AI agents.⁠Source 5, Source 6 Workday calls it the single source of truth for a company’s agents, whether Workday, the customer, or a partner built them.⁠Source 26

The differences that matter

  1. Building and running agents

    IBM watsonx Orchestrate

    IBM says agents can be built in a visual builder with drag-and-drop and natural language; Agent Development Kit agents run on watsonx Orchestrate.⁠Source 2, Source 12

    Workday Agent System of Record

    ASOR takes an external agent’s definition through an API; in 2025 Workday announced a low-code agent builder for its separate Workday Build.⁠Source 5, Source 28, Source 29

    watsonx Orchestrate supports IBM-hosted and third-party models.⁠Source 30 Which models ASOR supports or includes is not publicly documented.

  2. How access is controlled

    IBM watsonx Orchestrate

    On SaaS outside AWS GovCloud, controls can block unsafe content, protect sensitive data, and restrict network access; agent controls also cover external A2A agents.⁠Source 3

    Workday Agent System of Record

    Workday security policies and groups set each agent account’s access; acting for a user, an agent gets only what both may do.⁠Source 7, Source 11

    The watsonx Orchestrate security control center shows each agent’s connections, tools, and permissions; Workday’s Agent Interaction Policy sets which users may invoke specific agent skills.⁠Source 31, Source 32

  3. Agents built elsewhere

    IBM watsonx Orchestrate

    Agents hosted elsewhere, such as A2A agents, need an accessible endpoint; except on premises, partner A2A agents can be added from the catalog.⁠Source 10, Source 16, Source 18

    Workday Agent System of Record

    External agents are currently registered only through the ASOR API, with a definition based on the A2A Agent Card; partner-built agents are supported.⁠Source 5, Source 19, Source 20

    watsonx Orchestrate can show traces exported by registered external agents; ASOR’s per-agent analytics reports cover Workday-built agents only.⁠Source 5, Source 33

For security teams

What a security review asks, answered from each vendor’s public documentation.

TopicIBM watsonx OrchestrateWorkday Agent System of Record
Network exposureExternal agents need accessible endpoints.⁠Source 18 On IBM Cloud: a Satellite TLS tunnel, private endpoints, and network controls.⁠Source 3, Source 34, Source 35, Source 36Third-party agents call Workday APIs through Agent Gateway’s regional endpoint.⁠Source 17 Whether agents need an inbound endpoint isn’t publicly documented.
IdentityPlatform SSO uses OIDC or SAML.⁠Source 37 Per-agent identity is in private preview; existing authentication types use an impersonation model.⁠Source 8, Source 14Unique Workday identity per agent.⁠Source 7 External agents use OAuth 2.0 or signed JWTs; third-party (self-built) agents’ tokens last 4 hours.⁠Source 7, Source 38
Access changes and revocationOn IBM Cloud, undeploying a released agent version is logged; removing an agent from AI Gateway’s directory (preview) is permanent.⁠Source 39, Source 40Deactivating an agent hides it from users; Workday says the change can take up to a minute at Agent Gateway.⁠Source 5, Source 17
Audit trailAudit events can be routed where you choose on IBM Cloud, or sent to your S3 and CloudWatch on AWS.⁠Source 41, Source 42An audit trail report covers agent transactions; delegated actions record both the agent and the user.⁠Source 7, Source 43
ComplianceIBM says watsonx Orchestrate is FedRAMP authorized on AWS GovCloud (US) and the company holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification.⁠Source 44, Source 45Workday says its SOC 2 report covers Workday Enterprise Products; ASOR isn’t named.⁠Source 46

Full comparison

18 criteria in five groups. Every cell links to its source, or says no public source answers it.

IBM watsonx Orchestrate and Workday Agent System of Record compared on 18 criteria
IBM watsonx OrchestrateWorkday Agent System of Record
What it is
What it is and who it’s forIBM describes it as an agent management platform to build, deploy, orchestrate, manage, and govern agents, for IT, security, and AI leaders.⁠Source 1Set up in each Workday tenant to find, register, configure, monitor, and manage AI agents built by Workday, partners, or the customer.⁠Source 5, Source 6
MaturityIBM said its unified release was GA in January 2024; the Agentic Control Plane followed in June 2026.⁠Source 23, Source 24 AI Gateway and some dashboards are in preview.⁠Source 25, Source 27Announced in February 2025; generally available since February 2026.⁠Source 26, Source 47
Control
Agent registry and discoveryIBM says its searchable catalog holds prebuilt and custom agents and tools.⁠Source 9 AI Gateway’s agent directory (preview) lists imported external agents.⁠Source 40The Agent Management Hub lists Workday-built, partner-built, and self-built agents with status.⁠Source 5 Some, such as HiredScore and Evisort agents, aren’t in ASOR.⁠Source 5
Identity and access controlPlatform SSO with OIDC or SAML, and user, builder, and administrator roles.⁠Source 37, Source 48 Per-agent identity is in private preview.⁠Source 8Each agent has a unique Workday identity, governed by security policies and groups.⁠Source 7, Source 11 An Agent Interaction Policy sets who may use its delegate-mode skills.⁠Source 32
Ownership, policy, and revocationOn SaaS outside AWS GovCloud, controls can block unsafe content, protect sensitive data, and restrict network access.⁠Source 3 Agent owners: private preview.⁠Source 8Admins set each agent’s skills and who can use it, and activate or deactivate it.⁠Source 5, Source 11 A deactivated agent is hidden from users and can be reactivated.⁠Source 5
Audit log and observabilityTraces give a high-level view of what an agent does with a request.⁠Source 49 Audit events can go to your destinations on IBM Cloud, or to your S3 and CloudWatch on AWS.⁠Source 41, Source 42An audit trail report covers agent transactions; delegated actions record the agent and the user.⁠Source 7, Source 43 Per-agent analytics reports cover Workday-built agents only.⁠Source 5
Connection
How agents connectAgents hosted elsewhere need an accessible endpoint.⁠Source 18 IBM publishes outbound IPs to allowlist; on IBM Cloud, a Satellite TLS tunnel and private endpoints.⁠Source 4, Source 34, Source 35Third-party agents reach Workday APIs through Agent Gateway, a single regional endpoint.⁠Source 17 Outbound-only use is not publicly documented.
Agents across organizationsExcept on premises, catalog partner A2A agents can be collaborators.⁠Source 16 Partner-held controls, beyond issuing credentials, are not publicly documented.ASOR manages partner-built agents; a definition can carry an ID locating each one in the partner’s system.⁠Source 5, Source 20 Partner-held controls are not publicly documented.
Protocol supportCalls external A2A agents over JSON-RPC 2.0 and exposes its agents through A2A endpoints.⁠Source 50, Source 51 Imports MCP tools; OAuth 2.1 isn’t supported for MCP connections.⁠Source 52API registration is based on the A2A Agent Card.⁠Source 20 Outside assistants can call the Self-Service Agent over A2A, and tool search can filter by SOAP, REST, or MCP.⁠Source 53, Source 54
Frameworks, models, and clouds supportedIBM says it supports native, Langflow, LangGraph, and A2A agents.⁠Source 55 Agents with an OpenAI-style chat completions endpoint and Copilot Studio agents can be added.⁠Source 50Registration records each agent’s platform, or OTHER.⁠Source 20 Workday names the Gemini Enterprise app as an outside assistant able to call its Self-Service Agent.⁠Source 53
Operations
Deployment options and data residencySaaS on AWS or IBM Cloud, or on premises on IBM Cloud Pak for Data or IBM Software Hub.⁠Source 4, Source 56 The control plane isn’t supported in AWS GovCloud (US).⁠Source 27Set up in each Workday tenant.⁠Source 6 Agent Gateway has public endpoints in eight regions, including the US and EU.⁠Source 17 A self-hosted option is not publicly documented.
Compliance attestationsIBM says the product is FedRAMP authorized on AWS GovCloud (US), and the company holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification.⁠Source 44, Source 45 Premium lists a HIPAA-ready option.⁠Source 21Workday says its SOC 2 report covers Workday Enterprise Products and its ISO 42001 certificate covers Workday Platform; ASOR isn’t named.⁠Source 46
Support and SLAOn AWS, IBM states a 99.9% availability SLA.⁠Source 57 On IBM Cloud, it points to the base IBM Cloud Service Description.⁠Source 58 Support cases can be opened.⁠Source 59Workday says its company-wide support is 24/5, with severity 1 cases 24/7/365, or 24/7/365 with Success Plans.⁠Source 60 An ASOR uptime SLA is not publicly documented.
Time and effort to get runningIBM’s administrator guide covers environment setup and user access.⁠Source 61 Platform SSO is configured with IBM.⁠Source 37 The control plane needs the Admin or Builder role.⁠Source 27Enable the ASOR functional area and set its security policies.⁠Source 6 Registering an external agent includes finding the IDs of the Workday APIs it will use.⁠Source 19
Pricing model and public pricesEssentials from $530 and Standard from $6,360 a month, sized by users and messages; Premium on request.⁠Source 21 List prices are indicative.⁠Source 21 30-day free trial.⁠Source 21No additional specific SKU for ASOR.⁠Source 5 Workday-built agents in production need a Flex Credits policy opt-in.⁠Source 5 A credit’s price is not publicly documented.
Building
Agent building toolsIBM says agents can be built in a drag-and-drop visual builder or with the Agent Development Kit, and Langflow workflows deployed as tools.⁠Source 2, Source 12You provide an external agent’s definition through an API.⁠Source 5 Workday announced the low-code Flowise Agent Builder for its separate Workday Build in 2025.⁠Source 28, Source 29
Model accessIBM-hosted and third-party models, varying by cloud, region, and deployment.⁠Source 30 Default in most regions: GPT-OSS 120B via Groq.⁠Source 30 Others as virtual models.⁠Source 62Workday’s AI agents use large language models.⁠Source 5 Which models ASOR supports or includes is not publicly documented.
Integrations and ecosystemIBM says its catalog lists prebuilt IBM and partner agents, and ISVs can list agents through Agent Connect.⁠Source 9, Source 63 Sold via the IBM Cloud Catalog or AWS Marketplace.⁠Source 21In February 2026, Workday said more than 65 partners were connecting agents to ASOR.⁠Source 26 Workday says partner agents have been on its Marketplace since June 2025.⁠Source 13

Which to choose

Choose IBM watsonx Orchestrate if

  • You want to build and run agents on one platform, with the Python Agent Development Kit or, IBM says, a visual builder.⁠Source 2, Source 12
  • You need an on-premises install (IBM Cloud Pak for Data or Software Hub), where some agent controls aren’t available, or SaaS.⁠Source 4, Source 56, Source 64
  • You run it as SaaS outside GovCloud and want controls that can block unsafe content, protect sensitive data, and restrict network access.⁠Source 3
  • You want prebuilt IBM and partner agents from a catalog that, IBM says, shows how each connects to systems such as SAP.⁠Source 9

Choose Workday Agent System of Record if

  • Your agents mostly work in Workday, and each should have a unique Workday identity under your existing security policies and groups.⁠Source 5, Source 7, Source 11
  • You want an agent acting for a user limited to what both may do, with audit entries naming both.⁠Source 7
  • You want Workday-built, partner-built, and self-built agents listed with their status in one Agent Management Hub.⁠Source 5
  • You already run Workday and want agent governance in the same tenant, with no additional specific SKU to buy for ASOR.⁠Source 5, Source 6

Questions buyers ask

How is each one priced?

IBM watsonx Orchestrate’s paid plans start at $530 a month for Essentials and $6,360 for Standard; Premium is priced on request.⁠Source 21 ASOR needs no additional specific SKU; Workday-built agents in production need a Flex Credits policy opt-in.⁠Source 5 A credit’s price is not publicly documented.

Do they support MCP and A2A?

watsonx Orchestrate calls external A2A agents, exposes its agents through A2A endpoints, and imports MCP tools.⁠Source 50, Source 51, Source 52, Source 65 In ASOR, API registration is based on the A2A Agent Card, outside assistants can call Workday’s Self-Service Agent over A2A, and tool search can filter for MCP tools.⁠Source 20, Source 53, Source 54

Where does each one run?

watsonx Orchestrate is offered as SaaS on AWS or IBM Cloud, and can be installed on premises on IBM Cloud Pak for Data or IBM Software Hub.⁠Source 4, Source 56 ASOR is set up in each Workday tenant.⁠Source 6 A self-hosted option for ASOR is not publicly documented.

Can either one work with agents from other companies?

Except on premises, watsonx Orchestrate can add partner A2A agents from its catalog as collaborators.⁠Source 16 ASOR manages partner-built agents.⁠Source 5 Controls a partner keeps over its agents once brought in are not publicly documented for ASOR, or for watsonx Orchestrate beyond issuing credentials.

How we compare

Read the full method

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Sources

70 public sources, each with the date we checked it. Every one opens in a new tab.

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  2. Source 2: Welcome to IBM watsonx Orchestrate Agent Development Kit IBM · checked Back:abcdefg

  3. Source 3: Protecting assets with controls IBM · checked Back:abcdef

  4. Source 4: Regional availability and outbound IP addresses IBM · checked Back:abcdef

  5. Source 5: About Workday Agents (Workday Administrator Guide) Workday · checked Back:abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz27

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  24. Source 24: Agentic Control Plane in IBM watsonx Orchestrate: One place to control every AI agent IBM · checked Back:abc

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  31. Source 31: Managing access using the security control center IBM · checked Back to text

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  33. Source 33: Exporting observability traces with OpenTelemetry (watsonx Orchestrate ADK docs) IBM · checked Back to text

  34. Source 34: Configuring TLS tunnel IBM · checked Back:ab

  35. Source 35: Using private network endpoints IBM · checked Back:ab

  36. Source 36: Configuring network controls IBM · checked Back to text

  37. Source 37: Configuring SSO for platform access IBM · checked Back:abc

  38. Source 38: Concept: External Agent ASU Considerations (Workday Administrator Guide) Workday · checked Back to text

  39. Source 39: List of events for activity tracking IBM · checked Back to text

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  56. Source 56: Installing on IBM watsonx Orchestrate On-premises IBM · checked Back:abc

  57. Source 57: High availability, business continuity, backups and disaster recovery on AWS IBM · checked Back to text

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  59. Source 59: Getting help and support IBM · checked Back to text

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  64. Source 64: Managing asset controls IBM · checked Back to text

  65. Source 65: Adding an agent-to-agent connection IBM · checked Back to text

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