Connecting an AI assistant to your store, your files or your customer records can save real time. It also hands a piece of software the keys to those systems. The useful question is the one you would ask about a new employee: what does this role need access to?
How assistants reach your systems
Most assistants connect through connectors, small programs that sit between the assistant and a system such as your store or CRM. Many are built on the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for this purpose. The connector decides what the assistant can read and what it can change. That makes the connector the place where your rules are enforced.
Decide the access before the connection
- List the tasks. Reading sales figures needs far less access than editing products or issuing refunds.
- Grant the minimum. Start read-only. Add the ability to change things one task at a time.
- Keep control in your hands. An administrator at your company should be able to see the permissions and change them, without asking the vendor.
- Know where the data goes. Check whether what the assistant reads is stored, and whether it is used to train anything.
- Give each person their own sign-in. A shared connection means you cannot tell who asked the assistant to do what.
When the standard connection is not enough
Off-the-shelf connectors are built for the simple case: one account, broad access. A business with several stores, or with stricter rules about who may change what, often needs a connector built for it. That is usually a small project. It is also the difference between a tool your team uses every day and one that is switched off after the first scare.
Related service: AI integration.