What Anthropic is (in plain English)

• Anthropic builds Claude, an AI assistant designed to be reliable, understandable, and easy to guide. The company is known for a strong AI safety focus, with formal policies and research to keep models helpful and within guardrails. (anthropic.com)

• Claude comes in modern model families like Opus 4.1, Sonnet 4, and Sonnet 3.7, giving you a choice between top-end reasoning or speedy day‑to‑day work. You can use Claude on the web, desktop (Mac/Windows), iOS, and Android. (docs.anthropic.com)

Plans (individual and work)

• For individuals: Free, Pro, and Max (5x or 20x higher usage than Pro). Max is aimed at heavy daily users who need much larger sessions and early access to features. (anthropic.com)

• For organizations: Team and Enterprise (“Claude for Work”) add admin controls, more usage, and enterprise security features. Enterprise also unlocks a larger context window and compliance controls. (anthropic.com)

Core things Claude does well for back-office teams

• Content and knowledge work

• Drafts and rewrites policies, SOPs, emails, and training materials; summarizes long docs with very long context windows (up to 200K tokens standard, and larger on Enterprise for Sonnet 4). Great for creating consistent internal documentation fast. (support.anthropic.com)

• Data analysis and reporting

• The built‑in Analysis tool lets Claude write and run code in a safe sandbox to analyze CSVs/Excel, generate charts, and show the exact steps it ran so results are auditable and reproducible. Artifacts give you a clean workspace to view and iterate on outputs (dashboards, docs, code) side‑by‑side with chat. (anthropic.com)

• Coding and internal tools

• Claude Code works from your terminal and CI to read/edit files, run commands, open PRs, and automate chores like linting or release notes—useful for IT, data, and automation teams that support the back office. Premium seats on Team/Enterprise include it. (docs.anthropic.com)

• Research and fact-finding

• Research mode lets Claude search the web and stitch together findings with citations—handy for vendor checks, market scans, or policy updates. (support.anthropic.com)

• Connectors and workflow integration

• With Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) and the Connectors Directory, Claude can connect to tools like Google Workspace and other apps, and desktop extensions can (with policy controls) access local files or calendars. This turns Claude into a practical assistant inside your existing stack. (docs.anthropic.com)

Enterprise-grade security, privacy, and controls

• Security and admin controls

• SSO, SCIM, role-based permissions, audit logs, JIT provisioning, and custom data retention are available on Enterprise. These are the basics you need for back‑office governance and compliance. (support.anthropic.com)

• Compliance posture

• Anthropic reports certifications including SOC 2 Type I/II, ISO 27001, and ISO/IEC 42001, and offers HIPAA‑configurable options for eligible commercial services. BAAs are available for certain HIPAA‑eligible services (e.g., first‑party API) but do not cover general chat products. This matters for regulated back‑office workflows. (privacy.anthropic.com)

• Data usage clarity

• For commercial offerings (Team/Enterprise/API), Anthropic states it does not train models on your chats or code; Anthropic acts as a processor, and customers remain data controllers. Enterprise admins can set retention windows and review audit logs. (privacy.anthropic.com)

• For consumer tiers (Free/Pro/Max), Anthropic recently updated policies to allow model training on chats/coding if users opt in, with up to 5‑year retention for opted‑in data; this change does not apply to Claude for Work or API. Good to know for mixed-license environments. (privacy.anthropic.com)

Where Claude runs (and why it helps IT)

• Besides Anthropic’s own apps and API, Claude is available through Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI, which can simplify deployment, networking, and procurement. Microsoft 365 Copilot also added Anthropic models for certain workflows. (aws.amazon.com)

Why this is relevant for a solid back office

• Standardize and speed up routine work: Create procurement templates, HR letters, policy refreshes, and meeting summaries with consistent tone and formatting. The long context window reduces copy‑paste and rework. (support.anthropic.com)

• Make analysis traceable: The Analysis tool shows the code and calculations behind charts and metrics. That transparency is audit‑friendly and helps finance/ops trust the output.