Anthropic has unveiled a major update for its AI assistant Claude, introducing Microsoft Excel integration and a suite of financial service-focused agentic skills aimed at enhancing enterprise productivity and automation. The Excel connector, currently available as a research preview, enables Claude to analyse, modify, and perform tasks directly within spreadsheets — marking a significant step toward embedding agentic AI into daily business workflows.
The company highlighted the update in a newsroom post, noting that users will now have access to a Claude sidebar within Excel, allowing seamless interaction with their data. “The AI chatbot can read, analyse, modify, and create new workbooks,” Anthropic said. To ensure transparency and security, Claude “provides full transparency about the actions it takes by explaining its changes and letting users navigate to the referenced cells.”
This new capability builds on Claude’s existing Microsoft 365 integration, which already allows the AI assistant to search for files, emails, and Teams conversations. The Claude for Excel feature is currently available in beta for Max, Enterprise, and Teams users, with a wider rollout expected soon.
In addition to the Excel connector, Anthropic also announced six new data connectors designed to link Claude with third-party platforms. These are built on the company’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), which standardises how AI systems interact with external data hubs. The supported platforms include Aiera (real-time earnings call transcripts), Chronograph (financial and operational data), Egnyte (secure document access), LSEG (live market data), Moody’s (credit ratings and company data), and MT Newswires (financial and economic news).
Anthropic is also expanding its Agent Skills framework — sandboxed environments where Claude operates autonomously with predefined scripts and tools. The company introduced six new financial analysis-focused skills:
• Comparable Company Analysis: Enables evaluation using valuation multiples and operational metrics.
• Discounted Cash Flow Models: Offers full projections, WACC calculations, and sensitivity tables.
• Due Diligence Data Packs: Transforms data room documents into Excel spreadsheets.
• Company Teasers and Profiles: Generates concise overviews for pitch books and buyer lists.
• Earnings Analyses: Extracts insights from quarterly financials and transcripts.
• Initiating Coverage Reports: Produces in-depth company and industry analyses with valuation frameworks.
These new skills and integrations are also being rolled out in preview for Max, Enterprise, and Teams users, positioning Claude as a more capable agentic AI assistant for finance and enterprise operations.
