CData Software announced Connect AI, the first managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform that integrates AI assistants, agent orchestration platforms, AI workflow automation, and embedded AI applications with more than 300 enterprise data sources. With governed, in-place access to enterprise data, Connect AI preserves data semantics and relationships, giving AI complete understanding of the context. The solution also inherits user permissions and authentication directly from the source and can be deployed in the cloud or embedded within software products in minutes with point-and-click configuration.
Connect AI takes the same enterprise-grade connectivity technology already embedded by top technology companies including Palantir, SAP, Salesforce Data Cloud, and Google Cloud into their offerings, and reimagines it specifically for AI workloads with real-time semantic integration capabilities.
The solution builds on the momentum of the company’s MCP Servers, which have already seen thousands of users connect hundreds of data sources to AI assistants. The adoption validates AI’s need for governed enterprise data integration that understands context and relationships.
“Enterprises that want to safely and effectively put their business data to work with AI need real-time access combined with semantic understanding. AI needs to comprehend what data means, not just where it lives,” said Manish Patel, Chief Product Officer of CData. “With Connect AI, companies can for the first time give AI applications governed, live access to data across hundreds of systems with the contextual intelligence that transforms AI from a productivity experiment into a trusted enterprise tool”
Breaking the Enterprise AI Deployment Barriers
Connect AI solves two core challenges MIT identified in its recent research. MIT reported that despite $30-40 billion in enterprise AI investment, 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver measurable business impact, primarily due to data access and governance challenges.
First, through data-in-place access, Connect AI preserves the rich contextual relationships that AI agents need for intelligent decision-making, delivering both immediate data access and meaningful data understanding.
Second, Connect AI inherits existing security and authentication protocols set in the source system ensuring AI access remains aligned with organizational controls. Data access is logged under the identity of the authenticated user or agent for comprehensive governance. Additional AI controls can be layered and managed within Connect AI.
Immediate Impact on Enterprises’ and Software Providers’ Use of AI
Enterprises use Connect AI with AI apps to get contextually-aware answers from business data in seconds; work that previously required days or weeks of report building. Its ability to handle complex queries across diverse systems with semantic understanding enables sales teams to use Claude for pipeline insights, marketing teams to prompt ChatGPT for campaign analysis, and finance teams to rely on Copilot for real-time budget updates and financial reports. IT and AI Engineering teams can also power agents built through AI workflow automation and agent orchestration platforms with direct, scalable access to semantically-rich enterprise data.
ISVs embed Connect AI directly within their products to provide their end-users with self-service integration between their data sources and the ISV’s agentic capabilities.The white-label offering gives tech companies an edge in the race for AI users because their agents can operate on the full semantic context of their end-users’ business, and not just on data brought directly into their products.
“CData’s Connect AI with Acumatica completely changed how we access our ERP data,” said Bhavik Paryani, Growth and Strategy Leader at Paryani Construction. “I was able to pull live financial data and create an interactive dashboard right in the middle of a project meeting – our team could instantly dive into the numbers and get answers on the spot. Having this kind of immediate access to our business data through simple conversation with AI is game-changing for how we operate, furthering our ability to deliver projects on-time, on-budget, and to the highest quality standards.”
Industry Validation and Market Opportunity
This proven connectivity technology validates CData’s critical role in enterprise data connectivity and the company’s expansion into AI-native integration.
“Organizations are struggling to scale AI because data is often siloed, inconsistent, or poorly governed, creating risk and inefficiency. Many AI initiatives stall as companies wrestle with integrating multiple data sources while maintaining compliance,” said Stephen Catanzano, Senior Analyst, Data Management, Enterprise Strategy Group. “Tools like CData’s Connect AI are emerging in response to these widespread market challenges, reflecting the company’s vision to streamline AI-ready data access across enterprises.”
“Connect AI represents a significant milestone in CData’s mission to make every enterprise ‘AI-ready,’ with real-time semantic intelligence,” said Amit Sharma, CEO of CData. “We’re leveraging our deep expertise in enterprise data connectivity—built over years of connecting applications to hundreds of data sources—and reimagining it for the AI era. This allows us to provide breakthrough access and experiences that simply weren’t possible before for users of AI assistants and agentic systems. With thousands of customers across 100+ countries, we’re uniquely positioned to capture the massive market opportunity as enterprises move from AI experimentation to production deployment with intelligent, contextual data access.”
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