Enterprises face significant hurdles in deploying AI agents that can effectively automate complex business processes, primarily around data connectivity, context, and control. CData Software, a leader in data connectivity, has announced a solution by integrating its Connect AI platform directly within Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Agent 365. This integration enables the rapid creation of AI agents that can securely read, write, and act on real-time data across more than 350 enterprise systems.
Quick Intel
CData's Connect AI platform now integrates with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Agent 365.
It provides AI agents with secure access to 350+ data sources like Salesforce and SAP.
The platform solves key gaps in agent deployment: connectivity, context, and control.
It uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for universal connectivity.
The system teaches agents the schema and business logic of each source system.
It includes identity-first security, ensuring governance and inherited permissions from source systems.
As organizations move to implement AI agents, they often struggle with three core challenges. The CData Connect AI platform addresses these by providing a single, managed MCP platform that offers universal connectivity to hundreds of systems. Beyond simple access, it provides semantic intelligence, teaching AI agents the underlying metadata, schema, and business relationships native to each system. This allows agents to perform sophisticated, multi-source analysis that was previously difficult or impossible to achieve.
A key differentiator of the platform is its ability to go beyond basic data retrieval. It provides agents with a unified semantic interface that understands how different source systems work, including their entity relationships and business logic. This prevents "context overload" for the AI and enables agents to execute complex queries across multiple systems simultaneously. The platform handles schema translation and API differences, which optimizes performance and prevents token explosion, a common cost and efficiency issue in large language model applications.
For IT leaders, the integration delivers the control required for secure deployment. The platform features identity-first security, where permissions from source systems (RBAC) flow through unchanged via OAuth and single sign-on. This ensures that AI agents operate with the principle of least privilege, adhering to existing governance frameworks. Comprehensive audit trails provide full visibility, allowing enterprises to maintain compliance while empowering agents to act on live data.
The integration of CData Connect AI with the Microsoft Copilot ecosystem marks a significant step towards practical, large-scale enterprise AI agent deployment. By solving the fundamental challenges of connectivity, context, and control, it transforms AI agents from conceptual tools into powerful, secure, and actionable assets that can automate complex processes across the entire business data landscape.
About CData Software
CData Software is a leading provider of data access and connectivity solutions. Our self-service data products and connectivity solutions provide universal access to live data from hundreds of popular on-premises and cloud applications. Millions of users worldwide rely on CData to enable advanced analytics, boost cloud adoption, and create a more connected business. With thousands of customers across 100+ countries, CData is redefining data-driven business through AI-ready connectivity.
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