Barely a month after partner-turned-rival Gusto Inc. announced a major expansion to its payroll processing platform, Zenefits Inc. is releasing an update of its own that promises to up the ante in the automation department.

What should draw the most attention from customers is the Z2 release’s set of 17 integrations that make it possible to tap employee records in Zenefits from third-party applications. Startups, for instance, now have the ability to pull information about their workers’ equity holdings into eShare Inc.’s capital management platform for analysis. And Google’s G-Suite can be used to automatically open corporate email accounts for new hires after they’ve been added to the payroll.

Zenefits plans to double down on its partner engagement efforts in a bid to provide more such integrations over time. Chief executive officer David Sacks told TechCrunch that “we want to let 1,000 flowers bloom here [and] anybody will be able to get a developer key” as part of the initiative. However, he stressed that third-party applications will have to go through a security review before they’re allowed to access employee data stored in his company’s platform. The goal is to provide customers with value added capabilities that Zenefits doesn’t have the time or resources to develop on its own.

Those partner-supplied features will complement the platform’s native feature set, which has also been enhanced as part of today’s update. The biggest addition is a new payroll management function that is set to directly compete with Gusto’s, though Sacks said that that the latter service will continue to be sold through the built-in integration marketplace. Zenefits is making the offering available in California on launch and will gradually expand to other states over the coming months.

The payroll tool is joined by a benefits catalog that aims to reduce the amount of hassle involved in finding a good plan. Instead of having to consult a broker, employees can now assess the different options that their company offers themselves through the Zenefits interface. Payroll administrators, meanwhile, have access to a new mobile knowledge base app called HR Advisor that provides best practices for managing worker compensation.

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