Anthropic Expands Claude with Excel Integration: Anthropic has announced a significant update for its AI assistant, Claude, introducing new connectors and advanced agentic skills aimed primarily at financial service professionals. The biggest highlight of the update is the integration of Claude with Microsoft Excel, enabling users to analyze, automate, and manage data seamlessly within spreadsheets.
Claude’s Integration with Microsoft Excel
In a newsroom post, Anthropic revealed that Claude can now be used directly inside Excel through a new sidebar. This feature allows users to interact with the AI assistant while working on their spreadsheets. Claude can read, analyze, modify, and even create new Excel workbooks. Importantly, Anthropic emphasizes transparency—Claude will explain every change it makes and allow users to navigate directly to the referenced cells for verification.
This functionality extends Claude’s already growing ecosystem within Microsoft 365. Previously, the AI could search for emails, files, and Teams conversations. The new Excel support builds on this foundation, enhancing productivity for business users. The integration is currently in beta and available to Max, Enterprise, and Teams users, with a wider rollout expected soon.
New Connectors for Third-Party Data Access
Alongside Excel integration, Anthropic is introducing six new connectors built using its Model Context Protocol (MCP). This framework standardizes how AI systems like Claude interact with third-party platforms, improving efficiency and reliability when handling external data.
The new connectors include:
- Aiera: Provides real-time earnings call transcripts.
- Chronograph: Delivers operational and financial data for asset managers.
- Egnyte: Enables secure enterprise file access and search.
- LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group): Offers live market data.
- Moody’s: Grants access to credit ratings, company data, and financial research.
- MT Newswires: Supplies real-time news on global markets and economic events.
These integrations allow Claude to pull, process, and analyze data from trusted financial sources, making it a powerful tool for analysts, investors, and corporate users.
Expansion of Claude’s Agentic Skills
Anthropic is also enhancing its Agent Skills—specialized environments that allow Claude to execute complex tasks with precision. Each skill operates within a secure, sandboxed workspace equipped with the resources and scripts necessary for the task.
The six newly introduced financial agentic skills are:
- Comparable Company Analysis:
Enables Claude to evaluate a company’s performance using valuation multiples and operational metrics. - Discounted Cash Flow Models (DCF):
Helps users perform free cash flow projections, WACC calculations, and sensitivity analysis for scenario planning. - Due Diligence Data Packs:
Processes raw data from document rooms into structured Excel spreadsheets for faster analysis. - Company Teasers and Profiles:
Generates concise overviews for pitch books, buyer lists, and presentations. - Earnings Analyses:
Extracts insights from quarterly earnings reports and financial transcripts. - Initiating Coverage Reports:
Creates detailed industry analyses, company research, and valuation frameworks for financial professionals.
Like the Excel integration, these agentic skills are available in preview for Claude Max, Enterprise, and Teams subscribers.
A Step Toward Smarter Financial AI Workflows
Anthropic’s latest update demonstrates a clear focus on building AI-driven financial intelligence tools that prioritize both functionality and transparency. By merging Claude’s reasoning capabilities with live data access and powerful analytical models, users can expect a more cohesive experience across financial operations—from research and due diligence to valuation and reporting.
This move also strengthens Anthropic’s position in the enterprise AI space, putting Claude in closer competition with tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT for Excel and Microsoft Copilot. With continued development and user feedback from its preview programs, Claude’s new capabilities could soon redefine how professionals interact with financial data.
In short, Anthropic’s newest update for Claude is more than a productivity enhancement—it’s a strategic step toward making AI an integral part of corporate decision-making.
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