Informatica readies new Claire Copilot capabilities for IDMC

Enterprise data management vendor Informatica is adding new capabilities to Claire Copilot, the generative AI assistant in its Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC).

IDMC sits on top of enterprise databases, ingesting and cataloguing from various sources and applying data governance rules as it goes. It includes tools for extract, transform, load (ETL), data observability for data quality, and master data management.

Informatica introduced an AI-powered recommendation tool called Claire a few years ago, and has continued to evolve it with the Claire GPT chat interface and, more recently, the automation capabilities of Claire Copilot.

This week, Informatica is showing off future Claire Copilot features, and introducing other new capabilities across IDMC.

Some of the most interesting capabilities are so far only available “in preview” — software-as-a-service jargon for features that aren’t yet fully finished or supported.

They include Claire Copilot for Data Integration and for iPaas. The data integration copilot will enable enterprise users to generate data pipelines using natural language, receive context-aware execution recommendations, and automate documentation, in turn enhancing the efficiency of data ingestion, replication and integration, Informatica said.

The Copilot for iPaaS preview will enable enterprise users, even non-technical users, to set up complex multi-step, app-to-app integration processes, the company said. Other uses of this feature includes enabling non-technical users to generate single-app processes, automate object mappings, and produce business and technical summaries through the assistant’s NLP-based interface.

GenAI recipe book

Other new features are finished and generally available, a set of generative AI recipes for application integration. These are prebuilt integration process templates aimed at accelerating the development of generative AI-driven applications and simplifying their deployment across several platforms.

The recipes work with Amazon Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, Databricks Mosaic AI, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Gemini, and Salesforce among others, the company said.

Other updates to the suite includes the addition of AI support for unstructured data processing and transformation that will enterprises unlock new insights.

Separately, as part of new updates, Informatica is integrating Claire GPT to its MDM SaaS module, which will enable NLP-based search and metadata exploration of business entities and associated attributes within master Claire-generated glossary descriptions.

Claire GPT can also reduce manual effort by automatically generating consistent and comprehensive glossary descriptions and aliases, the company said, adding that this also improves data understanding across teams.  

Claire GPT for MDM SaaS and additional AI support for unstructured data processing will be made available later in April.

Prepare for AI with the help of AI

The new tranche of updates being added to the IDMC suite is expected to help enterprises prepare data for AI use cases with the help of AI, said Hyoun Park, chief analyst at Amalgam Insights.

“Informatica has targeted its AI efforts in the core audience of data management professionals who have to categorize, augment, and integrate data in a repeatable fashion,” Park said.

Amalgam Insights estimates that nearly 40% of enterprise data is not prepared for analytic and AI training efforts due to low quality.

“The ability to accelerate these efforts will make a difference in determining whether enterprises can start with value-driving AI initiatives this year or wait until next year,” Park said.

Nucleus Research principal analyst Alexander Wurm said the updates, especially the ability to understand natural language, align with a wider trend of democratizing data access, empowering more employees to interact with data without needing deep technical expertise.

“By leveraging natural language processing, these tools simplify complex data integration tasks, enabling faster and more efficient workflows,” Wurm said, adding that the timing of the updates are critical for enterprises as most of them are either piloting or deploying AI-based solutions.

Although every vendor is announcing some version of AI, said Park, Informatica’s strength lies in providing a breadth of data services under one roof for clients that includes a combination of low-code integration, unstructured data support, master data support, and integration services. As part of the updates, Informatica has also added a generative AI-powered natural language interface for the Data Marketplace module inside IDMC to allow users to discover data more easily.