Quanta in Claude and MCP

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI systems — chatbots, agents, coding assistants and other large language models — to the data, tools and content they need to answer real questions. It was introduced by Anthropic at the end of 2024 and was rapidly adopted across the industry: OpenAI added MCP support in ChatGPT and the Codex coding agent in 2025, Microsoft, Google and AI-native developer environments such as Cursor, Claude Code and GitHub Copilot all now “speak MCP”. By mid-2026, MCP has effectively become the default interface for AI systems to reach beyond their training data into live enterprise content.

MCP differs from a traditional API in three ways that matter to administrators, developers and the business users who eventually benefit from it.

• MCP is self-describing: a single endpoint advertises every tool, dataset and prompt the caller is entitled to, so an AI client can discover what it can do on the fly — no per-dataset integration project.
• MCP is conversational: instead of fetching a record by ID, an AI client asks a question and the MCP server returns a structured, source-cited answer the model can pass to the user.
• MCP is identity-aware: tools can be scoped to a project, group or team, and entitlements travel with every call.

Together, these properties unlock three classes of use case

• agentic workflows where a GenAI tool (e.g. Claude, MS Copilot) does work end-to-end (research, sales briefs, competitive boards)
• AI knowledge bases where external content sits alongside the customer’s own documents
• developer-native workflows where engineers pull intelligence into Python pipelines, notebooks or IDEs (Integrated Developer Environments) without calling a REST endpoint by hand.

IDC Quanta in Claude

IDC’s first MCP capability is the IDC Quanta in Claude — a production-grade MCP server that brings IDC’s research documents and quantitative data inside the Claude app. It is generally available today, through a Plugin for Claude. The Plugin bundles:

• an IDC Connector (the live MCP server linking Claude to IDC knowledge base)
• an IDC Quanta Skill that can be invoked by typing /idc-quanta in the chat. The IDC Quanta Skill is a packaged piece of know-how in natural language, covering dozens of common research-heavy workflows such as market share analysis, vendor evaluation, TAM and more, and the navigation, attribution and brand-voice rules that keep every answer auditable. This ensures those workflows are performed with consistent output, just the way IDC experts would.

An IT admin installs the Plugin once in Claude’s Enterprise organisation settings (see below) and it then becomes available to every IDC-entitled user the administrator unlocks, with optional automatic sync for ongoing updates.

Once an IT admin enables it inside Claude, every business or technical user with the right access can ask Claude an IDC-grounded question and receive a cited answer drawn from IDC Research, Trackers, Spending Guides, Black Book and other subscribed content — all without leaving the chat interface.

Group-level access is enforced automatically through OAuth single sign-on, and every answer carries an inline citation back to Home so reviewers and downstream consumers can verify the source.

MCP is an open standard. The same MCP nucleus IDC has developed for Claude is being extended to other partner surfaces and developer tools in 2026, so investing in IDC‘s MCP today connects naturally to the tools your team will use tomorrow.

MCP is becoming the de facto protocol for connecting enterprise AI to outside intelligence. IDC aims to make Quanta’s intelligence fabric available wherever developers build — with the entitlement controls, IP protection and developer experience expected of a modern platform. If you would like to learn more about supported platforms or join an early-access programs, please contact your IDC account manager.

Prerequisites

• Claude Enterprise Edition or Claude Teams Edition installed and in use across your organisation. For data security reasons, IDC Quanta in Claude is not available on Claude Pro or Free.
• Org-admin rights in your Claude environment.
• A GitHub account — the free plan is sufficient.
• An active IDC subscription with the relevant entitlement.

Why the Plugin is the recommended path
The IDC Quanta Plugin in Claude is the primary, fully supported way to deploy IDC inside Claude. Reasons to choose it over any other path:

• One install covers the whole organisation. The IDC Skill, navigation rules, brand voice and the MCP connector all activate in a single step; end users get IDC the moment they open Claude — no per-user setup.
• One IDC Skill, dozens of workflows. The plugin ships a single Claude Skill, whose dispatcher routes each user query to one of twenty analyst-calibrated workflows. Users do not need to know which workflow to invoke; Claude picks the right one.
• Answers are audit-ready by default. Every IDC-grounded response carries inline citations, source dates, and a live link back to Home.
• Automatic updates. GitHub auto-sync keeps the plugin current; no IT cycle needed for new workflows or updates.
• Coverage extends across the Claude surface. Once enabled, the plugin works in Claude desktop and web, in Claude Cowork, in Claude in Office (Excel, Word and PowerPoint add-ins), and in Claude mobile (iOS / Android).

Install steps (admin)

1. Create a GitHub account at https://github.com/signup (or use an existing one).

2. Send the GitHub username to IDC IT Support; IDC will invite the account as a collaborator on the private IDC plugin repository.

3. In Claude, open Organisation settings → Libraries → Plugins.

4. Click + Add plugins → Sync from GitHub → Connect to GitHub and sign in.

5. Click Select a repository, choose the IDC plugin repo, then click Create.

6. Toggle Sync automatically on so the plugin updates without further IT cycles.

7. Verify in Customize → Organisation plugins that IDC Quanta is listed and available.

End users authenticate individually through OAuth single sign-on to Home on first use; entitlements travel with their account.

Backup path — Custom MCP Connector + Skill

If the Plugin path is not yet available — for example, you do not have GitHub in place or are running a pilot — IDC offers a Custom MCP Connector path as a backup. This delivers the core IDC capability (search, query, citations, links back to source across IDC’s knowledge base) but requires manual, by-user installation of the IDC Quanta Skill. The drawback is that the IDC Quanta Skill is not distributed to the whole user base, and it is not automatically updated. We recommend to treat this path as a fallback and migrate to the Plugin once your environment supports it.

Steps (admin):

1. In the Claude Admin Console, add a new Custom Connector.

2. Paste the URL: https://mcp.<span data-highlighted="true" data-vc="highlighted-text">idc</span>.com/mcp.

3. Give it a recognisable name (for example “IDC Quanta”).

4. Leave the OAuth settings empty — authentication is handled per-user through Home sign-in.

5. Click “Add” – this will enable the Connector to your users

6. You can then manage which user groups get deployed the connector in your Claude admin console

Steps (each end user):

1. Open Manage Connectors, select IDC Quanta, click Connect.

2. Sign in with Home credentials. (Note: brand-new Home users must log in once to Home directly before attempting a Claude-originated login.)

3. Leave tool access on Always allow

4. Dowload the IDC Quanta Skill from this link

5. Install the IDC Quanta Skill into Claude by going into Customize → Manage Skills → Add –> Upload a Skill.

1. Commercial Support

For questions regarding licensing and entitlement (e.g., “How many seats does our contract cover?”), commercial access (contract terms and existing coverage, pricing, renewals, expansions etc.), general inquiries about IDC‘s offerings (including APIs, Quanta in Claude, MCP), contact your Customer Support or Sales representative. If you do not know or have one, please use IDC Contact.

2. Technical Support

IDC Support provides technical support for the IDC platform, which includes the Quanta in Claude (MCP connector) installation. IDC Support business hours are Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM ET

• MCP connector set-up/installation: Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM–5:00 PM ET

• MCP connector issues: 24/7 (P1 or P2 severity)

• Contact: idc_support@idc.com

For critical production incidents outside business hours, IDC offers 24×7 incident response support for Priority 1 and Priority 2 severity issues:

• Priority 1: complete service outage

• Priority 2: major feature degradation

Please reach out to idc_support@idc.com immediately if you believe your are experiencing a critical production issue.