Tools

Tools extend Cotera's capabilities beyond data analysis, connecting your intelligent workflows to external systems and services. They bridge the gap between AI insights and real-world actions, enabling your agents to fetch additional data or execute tasks in your business systems.

What Are Tools?

Tools are integrations that allow Cotera to interact with external systems, APIs, and services. While agents provide intelligence and datasets provide the data foundation, tools provide the connections that turn insights into actions.

Think of tools as the hands and eyes that your AI can use - they can reach out to gather more information when needed, or take concrete actions based on what the AI discovers in your data.

How Tools Work in Cotera

Tools operate in two distinct ways within the platform, giving you flexibility in how you architect your automated workflows:

Tools Within Agent Columns

When you equip an agent with tools, you're giving that AI the ability to decide when and how to use those external capabilities. The agent can dynamically choose which tools to use based on the data it's processing.

For example, an agent analyzing customer feedback might use a search tool to find relevant product documentation when it encounters a technical question, or use a notification tool to send alerts when it identifies urgent issues.

Standalone Tool Columns

Tool columns create direct integrations without requiring an agent to make decisions. These are perfect when you want precise control over what data gets sent where, or when you need to perform data transformations before taking action.

This approach is ideal when you know exactly what should happen with your data - like sending information to external systems, or updating records in connected platforms.

Types of Tool Capabilities

Tools fall into two main categories that serve different purposes in your workflows:

Data Fetching Tools

These tools bring additional information into your analysis by connecting to external data sources. They expand the context available to your agents and workflows beyond what exists in your primary dataset.

Action Tools

These tools execute tasks and send information to external systems. They transform AI insights into concrete business actions by updating records, sending communications, or triggering workflows in your existing systems.

The Extensive Tool Ecosystem

Cotera integrates with hundreds of different tools and services, covering the major platforms and APIs that businesses rely on. This extensive ecosystem means you can likely connect to the systems you're already using without custom development.

Additionally, Cotera can add custom tool connections on demand to meet your specific business needs, ensuring that unique integrations or specialized systems can be included in your automated workflows.

Choosing Your Tool Approach

The choice between agent-with-tools versus standalone tool columns depends on your specific workflow needs:

Use agent-with-tools when:

• You want the AI to make intelligent decisions about when to take actions
• The appropriate response varies based on the data being analyzed
• You need flexible, context-aware automation

Use tool columns when:

• You need precise control over what data gets processed and sent
• You want to perform data transformations before taking action
• You have straightforward, predictable integration requirements

Tools in Practice

Tools transform your data workflows from analysis-only to action-oriented operations. Instead of just understanding what's happening in your data, you can automatically respond to what you discover.

Customer sentiment analysis becomes customer outreach. Inventory monitoring becomes automatic reordering. Quality issues become immediate notifications to relevant teams.

Building Connected Workflows

Tools are what make Cotera truly operational rather than just analytical. They ensure that the intelligence you build around your data can flow back into your business systems, creating closed-loop automation that improves operations in real-time.

By connecting your data insights to the tools that run your business, you create automated workflows that don't just understand your operations - they actively improve them.