Smartsheet announced a major upgrade to its Managed Connectivity Platform (MCP) Server, adding native support for Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise alongside the existing Anthropic Claude integration. The expansion is positioned as a way for enterprise teams to tap the same live‑work intelligence that powers Smartsheet, no matter which generative‑AI tool they prefer. At the same time, Smartsheet introduced Smart Assist, an AI companion embedded directly in the Smartsheet interface. Smart Assist lets users pose natural‑language questions or describe tasks and receive answers that are grounded in real‑time project data, eliminating the need to switch between separate AI platforms and the work management system.
The announcement underscores Smartsheet’s broader strategy of turning “the work” into “the intelligence.” By anchoring AI connectors to two decades of operational data, the company claims its MCP Server can deliver context‑rich, actionable insights rather than generic summaries. This approach is intended to help large, cross‑functional teams—such as construction, data‑center, and healthcare‑facility projects—make faster decisions, reduce manual errors, and keep AI‑driven workflows aligned with the actual state of work across the organization.
New AI Connections and Smart Assist Unveiled
The updated MCP Server now integrates three additional large‑language‑model services:
- Microsoft Copilot – Microsoft’s enterprise‑focused assistant that can generate content, summarize data, and automate routine tasks.
- OpenAI ChatGPT – The widely adopted conversational model that supports a broad range of natural‑language queries.
- Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise – Google’s next‑generation model designed for high‑security, enterprise workloads.
These connectors sit alongside Anthropic’s Claude, which has been available since the MCP Server’s launch in March. Smartsheet describes the server as “grounded in 20 years of operational data,” meaning each AI call can reference live work items, status fields, and project hierarchies stored in Smartsheet. The result is a shift from “basic read access” to “full‑picture” understanding, allowing AI to suggest next steps, auto‑populate fields, or flag risks based on the current state of work.
Smart Assist extends the same principle to the Smartsheet UI itself. Users can type a question such as “What is the critical path for Project X?” or request a task like “Create a new milestone for the data‑center rollout next month.” The assistant then pulls the latest data from the platform, formulates a response, and can even execute the requested action without the user leaving Smartsheet. This native experience complements recent feature releases—Smart Columns and the AI Dashboard Builder—by ensuring that AI‑driven guidance is available wherever teams spend time, whether inside Smartsheet sheets, dashboards, or external AI chat windows.
Chief product and technology officer Pratima Arora emphasized the strategic intent:
“The problem most teams run into isn’t access to AI. It’s that their AI has no idea how their organization actually works. When every major AI assistant connects to it, teams stop chasing information and start making decisions.”
By linking the AI assistants to Smartsheet’s live work data, the company aims to eliminate the friction of context switching and to ensure that AI recommendations are always rooted in the most recent project reality.
Adoption Since the Claude Integration
The MCP Server’s first major rollout—its Claude integration—debuted in March. The early adoption metrics, released alongside the new connectors, illustrate rapid scaling:
| Metric | Since March |
|---|---|
| Unique users | Over 22,000 |
| AI actions | More than 3 million |
| Weekly active users | Grew from < 1,000 at launch to > 9,000 (≈ 9× increase) |
| Weekly tool‑call volume | Rose from 42,000 to > 700,000 |
| AI actions in first 10 days of June | > 860,000, with record daily organization counts on June 9 (1,767) and June 10 (1,825) |
| Live‑work impact | ~ 33 % of AI‑driven actions create, update, or modify a work item |
| New organizations | ~ 3,000 net‑new in the last 30 days; ~ 700 new each week |
These figures demonstrate not only raw usage growth but also a tangible shift from “answer‑only” interactions to actions that directly modify Smartsheet objects. The data aligns with Smartsheet’s claim that connected AI “drives outcomes, not just answers.”
A regional operations leader at DPR Construction, Matthew Feagin, highlighted the practical benefits for complex, technical projects:
“Smartsheet is the backbone for managing all of the most dynamic parts of the process. Now with the Smartsheet MCP Server, our teams can securely connect to their preferred AI tools to quickly build workflows, test ideas and get answers using natural language, all in a fraction of the time. That means our frontline workers can easily create Smartsheet solutions tailored to their unique challenges, helping them solve problems faster and reduce errors.”
Availability, Governance, and Developer Resources
All three new AI connectors—Copilot, ChatGPT, and Gemini Enterprise—are available immediately to all Smartsheet customers. However, the Copilot and ChatGPT integrations are currently limited to U.S. customers, with a rollout to APJ (Asia‑Pacific‑Japan) and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) regions slated for the near future. Existing Claude and Gemini Enterprise connections, as well as the Smart Assist companion, are already globally accessible.
Smartsheet stresses that every connector shares a common governance framework. IT administrators can define policies around data access, model usage, and audit logging, ensuring that enterprise‑wide AI deployment complies with security and compliance standards. This unified governance layer is intended to give CIOs confidence that AI augmentation does not bypass existing controls.
For developers, Smartsheet released the CLI Agent Power Tools, an open‑source toolkit comprising six Claude Code agents purpose‑built for the MCP Server. The toolkit is free to use and can be extended to automate custom workflows, build bespoke integrations, or experiment with new prompting strategies—all without additional licensing fees.
Key Takeaways
- Smartsheet’s MCP Server now connects to Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, and Google Cloud Gemini Enterprise, expanding beyond the earlier Claude integration.
- Since the March launch, the platform has logged over 22,000 unique users, 3 million AI actions, and a 9× rise in weekly active users.
- Smart Assist, an AI companion inside Smartsheet, is available globally, while Copilot and ChatGPT connections are currently limited to U.S. customers with broader rollout planned.
TechInsyte's Take
The expanded AI ecosystem gives CIOs and CTOs a way to embed generative AI into existing workflow tools without forcing a migration to a single vendor. Smartsheet’s emphasis on live work data aims to keep AI output actionable, but the real test will be how consistently the connectors surface context‑rich answers across varied enterprise processes. Buyers should monitor rollout progress in APJ/EMEA and evaluate governance controls before scaling AI‑enabled workflows.
Source: Businesswire
