ChatGPT is a powerful partner at work that can summarize documents, brainstorm ideas, and support workflows. But out of the box, it doesn’t know your specific business. Without access to your enterprise data systems, it can only make reasonable guesses — or simply hallucinates.
CData Connect AI delivers a managed, secure bridge between ChatGPT and your live enterprise systems, enabling ChatGPT to reason over real business context — your CRM, ERP, support, and finance systems — and return more accurate, trustworthy responses.
Connect AI works with all the ChatGPT features users know and love like GPTs, actions, chaining, tool calls, and prompt flexibility. This blog explores how Connect AI enhances those ChatGPT-native capabilities by allowing them to connect to data while keeping business data secure and governed at every step.
Unlock ChatGPT's full potential with connected data
Beyond chat: GPTs, actions, and AI agents
ChatGPT is more than a conversational assistant. Users build custom GPTs, integrate actions, and chain workflows across tools. But without context, those tools lack specificity or the ability to take real action.
Custom GPTs become more valuable when they can access and reason over your data model — like CRM account structures, Jira product hierarchies, internal metric definitions, or contract terms.
Actions like API calls or data writes become safe and precise when grounded in governed data access and business semantics.
ChatGPT Agent workflows can orchestrate multi-step tasks (e.g., fetch data, update records, send alerts). But without integration, they remain disconnected.
When ChatGPT has access to real data through Connect AI, these capabilities evolve from experiments to meaningful productivity tools.
Turn responses into actionable outputs
ChatGPT excels at writing and generating writeups. But when supported by live data context and information, it can become that much more valuable. Connect AI enables ChatGPT to return:
Interactive analyses built on real CRM, finance, support, or usage data
Summary tables you can filter, sort, or export
Visualizations you can embed, refine, or share
Instead of having to manually add Excel spreadsheets for every query, you can enable ChatGPT to fetch exactly the relevant data built from your actual systems, updated to the minute.
A governed, secure bridge between ChatGPT and your systems
Integrating ChatGPT with business systems requires a balance of access and control. CData Connect AI provides that balance:
Identity propagation and dynamic access control: Each ChatGPT query runs under the user’s identity and honors existing permissions from the source.
Row- and column-level filtering: Enforce fine-grained policies, like hiding PII or limiting revenue visibility by region.
Comprehensive audit logging: Track which GPT or user accessed which data, when, and why.
SSO integration: Control access via your existing identity provider—no extra credentials required.
These safeguards ensure your GPTs and agents remain within your governance boundaries, providing the necessary guardrails to feel comfortable connecting real enterprise data to AI.
Real-time queries, no pipelines required
Most AI-data integrations copy data into lakes, warehouses, or vector stores—adding latency, complexity, and versioning risk.
Connect AI takes a different path:
Query where data lives: Prompts are translated into SQL or native queries pushed to your source systems.
Always current: Your responses reflect live data, not yesterday’s snapshots.
Lower overhead: No replication, no sync delays, no duplicate systems.
Performance-aware: Uses indexes, filters, and pushdown to keep response times fast.
This approach keeps ChatGPT grounded in your actual operations, enhancing existing usage output and expanding the capabilities ChatGPT can be used for.
Semantic context built for your business
Raw tables don’t explain how your business works. Connect AI provides a semantic understanding of data so ChatGPT can interpret not just data, but the critical context around where and how the data was created.
Business object intelligence: Encodes relationships across objects like "Opportunity," "Invoice," and "Subscription."
Context-aware translation: Understands terms like "monthly recurring revenue" and applies the correct filters.
Business logic awareness: Includes custom metrics, rules, and formulas in GPT responses.
Relationship mapping: Guides GPT to join related entities across schemas accurately.
This reduces hallucinations and drives consistency in AI-generated outputs.
One connection, many use cases
With a single Connect AI MCP connection setup, you can power:
All use the same access controls, governance, and semantic model—no separate MCP integration needed for each.
Built for scale and compatibility
CData Connect AI is built for high performance:
Scales with demand: Handles concurrent users, complex queries, and multi-tenant deployments.
Broad connectivity: Works with Salesforce, NetSuite, Snowflake, and hundreds more.
MCP-ready: Supports the evolving Model Context Protocol standard for LLM integrations.
Selective transfer: Only exposes required fields and rows to optimize token usage.
Use cases that change daily workflows
Executive intelligence: ask for insights, not exports
Prompt ChatGPT: “Show me monthly recurring revenue, churn rate, and expansion by region for this fiscal year.”
Connect AI returns a live dashboard—no BI tool or CSV exports needed. Executives can filter by region, export to PDF, and ask follow-up questions.
Sales and support analysis
Ask: “Which accounts are at risk this month? Show open support cases alongside usage drops.”
ChatGPT can cross-reference CRM, support, and usage data to return a prioritized list for outreach or workflow triggers.
GPTs that understand your domain
Build a GPT like "Customer Insights GPT" that includes your data model, metric definitions, and semantics. Your team can ask questions without redefining terms or structures each time.
Agent workflows with guardrails
With Connect AI, GPTs can safely execute controlled actions:
Create a support case for account X
Update opportunity stage for a list of deals
Trigger renewal outreach for accounts with declining usage
Each action is auditable and constrained by your access rules.
Cross-domain narratives
Ask: “Write a Q3 review combining marketing, operations, pipeline, and churn.”
ChatGPT can synthesize across campaign, finance, CRM, and usage systems to produce a unified summary.
Start using Connect AI with ChatGPT
Add your sources to Connect AI (CRM, SaaS, databases) and configure access rules.
Get your MCP endpoint (e.g., https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp).
In ChatGPT, enable add a connector using your MCP endpoint and Connect AI credentials.
Start chatting or build GPTs. Example prompt: “Create a churn analysis by user cohort.”
Define any actions (e.g., create, update) and govern them using Connect AI access settings.
ChatGPT can immediately start acting on live data without needing data pipelines, lakes, or custom integrations.
Drive impact with real-time intelligence
CData Connect AI is the first managed MCP platform built specifically for AI-data integration:
Unified access for chat, GPTs, and agents
Governance at every level: user, row, module
Semantic intelligence that reflects your business
Live queries—no ETL, no lag
Built-in performance optimization
Broad compatibility with SaaS, databases, and APIs
If ChatGPT is your AI of choice, add CData Connect AI for more valuable outputs that actually drive business bottom line, with an enterprise-grade foundation that makes it secure, governed, and data-aware.
Try CData Connect AI today
When you connect ChatGPT to your business systems using CData Connect AI, your GPTs, agents, and dashboards stop guessing—and start delivering actionable insight. Start your free trial of CData Connect AI, connect your first source, and ask your first live question in ChatGPT.
Explore CData Connect AI today
See how Connect AI excels at streamlining business processes for real-time insights.
