Workato Partners with Confluent to Power AI Agents That Detect and Act in Real Time

Key Terms

model context protocol technical

A model context protocol is a set of rules or guidelines that determine how a financial model interprets and applies information within a specific situation. It helps ensure consistent and accurate analysis by clarifying what data or assumptions are relevant in a given scenario. For investors, it provides clarity on how predictions or assessments are made, increasing confidence in decision-making.

apache kafka technical

Apache Kafka is an open-source software tool companies use to move and store streams of information in real time, like a high-speed conveyor belt that carries messages, transactions, and sensor readings from one system to another. Investors care because it enables firms to react instantly to market data, customer behavior, or operational problems, improving decision speed, product reliability, and the ability to create new revenue streams or cut costs.

orchestration platform technical

An orchestration platform is software that coordinates and automates how different applications, servers, or services work together, like a conductor directing musicians so each part starts and stops at the right time. For investors, it matters because it can cut labor and error costs, speed product updates, and let a business scale reliably—factors that directly affect profitability, operational risk, and growth potential.

New Integration Connects Confluent Streaming Agents with Workato Enterprise MCP to Close the Gap Between Signal Detection and Business Execution

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Workato®, the Enterprise MCP company, today announced a technology partnership with Confluent, Inc. (Nasdaq: CFLT), the data streaming pioneer, that unites real-time signal detection with enterprise-wide orchestration. The integration connects Confluent’s Streaming Agents with Workato Enterprise MCP (Model Context Protocol). This enables organizations to automatically detect patterns in massive event streams and reliably execute advanced, multi-step workflows across any enterprise system.

The Challenge: AI Agents Stuck in Prototype Purgatory

Organizations are successfully deploying AI agents that detect patterns in massive data streams - monitoring transactions, customer behavior, supply chain events, and operational metrics in real-time. Yet these intelligent systems remain trapped in observation mode, unable to act on the signals they detect. When an AI agent identifies a critical business moment, it triggers manual processes that take hours or days to coordinate across disconnected enterprise systems, by which time the opportunity has passed or the problem has escalated.

From Signal to Solved in Seconds

By combining Confluent's data streaming platform - built by the original co-creators of Apache Kafka^® and capable of processing millions of events per second with Workato's proven orchestration platform connecting 12,000+ applications, businesses can now deploy AI agents that don't just observe, they act. The joint solution creates a closed-loop system where Confluent Streaming Agents continuously monitor real-time data streams, web clicks, transactions, IoT sensors, support tickets, and logistics events using Apache Flink^® SQL to detect patterns that matter.

When a Streaming Agent identifies a critical signal, it makes an MCP tool call to Workato, passing structured context about what's happening and what needs to happen next. Workato receives that context and orchestrates the response across the enterprise. A single signal might trigger workflows that span ERP systems, warehouse management, CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, and support systems, executing in seconds what previously took days of manual coordination.

What Makes This Integration Unique

The integration leverages Model Context Protocol (MCP), the emerging standard for AI agent interoperability. Confluent Streaming Agents use MCP to make tool calls to Workato Enterprise Skills - production-grade workflows that can be simple single actions or complex multi-step orchestrations. This architecture enables:

• Secure connections: All communication between Confluent and Workato is encrypted and authenticated
• Structured context passing: Streaming Agents pass rich context, including detected patterns, relevant data, and recommended actions
• Reliable execution: Workato ensures workflows execute with enterprise-grade error handling, retry logic, and audit trails
• Bi-directional flow: Workflow results feed back into Confluent as new events for continuous learning and optimization

AI agents can initiate sophisticated multi-system responses with full governance and reliability at enterprise scale.

Real-World Impact: Retail, Supply Chain, and Customer Experience

The integration unlocks transformative use cases across industries:

• Retail & E-commerce: Detect viral product moments, supply-demand imbalances, or competitive pricing shifts in real-time, then automatically orchestrate inventory reallocation, dynamic pricing updates, and marketing campaign launches across hundreds of locations.
• Supply Chain & Logistics: Monitor carrier capacity, weather patterns, and delivery commitments continuously, then instantly reroute shipments, update customer notifications, adjust warehouse operations, and rebalance transportation networks, all before customers experience delays.
• Financial Services: Identify fraud patterns, compliance violations, or market anomalies as they emerge, then execute immediate responses, freezing accounts, triggering verification workflows, alerting teams, and documenting actions for audit trails within seconds.

"Agentic AI is stuck in prototype purgatory at most enterprises because AI agents can't reliably act on the real-time signals that drive business outcomes," said Shaun Clowes, Chief Product Officer at Confluent. "By combining Confluent’s real-time intelligence layer with Workato’s execution layer, this partnership enables closed-loop agentic operations, allowing business to act on insights instantly and move faster than their competition.”

"Most enterprises have invested heavily in both streaming platforms and integration platforms, but these technologies have operated independently," said Adam Seligman, Chief Technology Officer at Workato. "This partnership changes that equation. When Confluent Streaming Agents make MCP calls to Workato, they're not just triggering simple API calls, they're initiating production-grade orchestrations that touch dozens of systems with full governance, error handling, and audit trails. This is how enterprises actually put AI agents to work."

Powering the Agentic Enterprise

This partnership extends Workato's position as the leader in agentic orchestration. The Workato platform already enables thousands of enterprises to connect AI agents – including Claude, GPT, and custom models – to the applications and workflows that drive business outcomes. By integrating with Confluent's real-time data streaming platform, Workato now bridges the critical gap between signal detection and business execution, enabling organizations to build truly autonomous systems that sense, decide, and act at enterprise scale. The Confluent integration joins Workato's growing ecosystem of MCP-enabled capabilities, positioning the platform as the execution layer for the agentic enterprise.

“Delivering enterprise integration continues to be a barrier to Agentic AI delivering value at scale. Workato's production-grade integration and orchestration offering reliably executes complex workflows across thousands of applications, rather than just connecting them,” said Dave Marcus, Principal Analyst at Analysis.tech. “This partnership showcases the best of Workato and Confluent, seamlessly integrated and delivering real world value.”

The Future of Enterprise Intelligence

As enterprises accelerate their adoption of agentic AI, this partnership establishes a blueprint for how organizations will compete in the next decade. The ability to detect signals in real-time and execute orchestrated responses across entire business ecosystems will separate market leaders from those left behind.

"This is just the beginning," said Seligman. "We're moving toward a future where every business process has an intelligent agent monitoring it, and every agent has the orchestration power of the entire enterprise at its fingertips. That's not a five-year vision, it's happening now."

Extend your platform into the agentic future. See how you can amplify your agents, empower your customers, and keep your platform at the core of every process. Reach out to Workato today to learn more.

About Workato

Workato transforms technology complexity into business opportunity. As the leading agentic orchestration company, Workato empowers enterprises to connect and unify data, processes, applications, and experiences. Its AI-driven platform enables teams to navigate complex workflows in real-time, driving efficiency and agility. Trusted by more than 12,000 global customers, Workato empowers organizations of every size to unlock new value and lead in today’s fast-changing world. Learn how Workato helps businesses of all sizes achieve more at workato.com.

Source: Workato

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251211198989/en/

Joseph Hollister

Communications Lead

joseph.hollister@workato.com

Source: Workato