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In Brief
- New job-specific plugins tailor Claude to roles like HR, finance and design.
- Claude now works directly inside apps like Excel and PowerPoint.
- Scheduled tasks let Claude run recurring work automatically at set times.
Claude Cowork dug deeper into the workplace this week with a number of new integrations and capabilities. Anthropic's Claude AI can now operate directly within Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, eliminating app-switching and signaling a new front in the enterprise AI platform wars. Claude can also now run recurring tasks automatically at set times: things like a morning news brief, weekly spreadsheet updates or a Friday team presentation — no manual trigger needed.
The updates to Claude Cowork pull context and data from enterprise software tools while users remain in their current workflow. Anthropic also introduced industry-specific plugins for financial services, sales, human resources, design and operations roles, collaborating with FactSet, S&P, LSEG and Apollo.
New Claude Cowork Capabilities
Anthropic aims to make Claude function as a collaborative partner within existing enterprise tools with the new features.
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Office app integration | Claude operates within Excel and PowerPoint natively |
| Financial services plugins | Scenario modeling for private equity and investment work |
| HR plugins | Job description and offer letter development |
| Design plugins | Creative brief assembly for design workflows |
| Cybersecurity tool | Scans codebases for vulnerabilities, suggests patches |
Scott White, head of product for enterprise at Anthropic, told CNBC the company views itself "as a platform, not a product, trying to own every workflow." He claims the integration should make Claude "like a real, fully capable virtual collaborator."
These capabilities reflect broader trends in the workplace AI sector, where digital workplace tools increasingly embed intelligence directly into employee workflows.
Recent Anthropic Developments
San Francisco-based Anthropic demonstrated explosive growth through 2025 and early 2026, securing $13 billion in funding in September 2025 at a $183 billion valuation and raising its 2026 revenue forecast by 20% to $18 billion in January 2026. In February 2026, Anthropic announced a $30 billion Series G at a $380 billion valuation, disclosing a $14 billion revenue run rate.
The company released Claude Opus 4.6 on Feb. 5, claiming state-of-the-art performance. Anthropic acquired Vercept on Feb. 25, a startup focused on AI perception and interaction problems. The acquisition aims to enhance Claude's ability to interact with live software applications the way a human would.
Vercept's co-founders — Kiana Ehsani, Luca Weihs and Ross Girshick — will join Anthropic to work on computer use capabilities.
Enterprise adoption accelerated through strategic integrations. Google opened Workspace to Claude in April 2025, while Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs had embedded Anthropic engineers for six months to build autonomous agents.
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