The Claude integration market attracts wildly uneven players. This guide gives you an objective reading grid: six verifiable criteria, a set of questions to ask in any RFP, and the classic pitfalls to avoid.
A Claude integration partner is a firm that designs, deploys and operates AI agents built on Anthropic's Claude models, connecting them to the enterprise IT estate. Choosing one comes down to six verifiable criteria: a checkable legal entity, sourced client references, published governance, demonstrable specialisation, contractual reversibility and public technical proof.
of AI POCs are abandoned before production (S&P Global, 2025). An integration partner is judged on its ability to clear that bar, not on its slides.
of enterprise GenAI pilots deliver no measurable P&L impact (MIT, 2025). The difference is made in IT integration and governance, not in the model.
of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027, according to Gartner. Picking a fragile vendor means joining that statistic.
None of these criteria requires taking the vendor's word for it: each one can be verified before you sign.
Who signs the contract? Check the company registration, financial health and group backing. A production agent programme commits your organisation for years: your partner must be built to last, with a structure able to honour its commitments.
References with context, scope, results and an identifiable sponsor. Be wary of spectacular percentages with no source: ask for a direct conversation with an existing client. A reference that can be neither sourced nor contacted is not a reference.
A production agent without a documented governance framework is a liability. The methodology must be public and enforceable: trust zones, human oversight, traceability, alignment with ISO 42001 and the EU AI Act. If it is not published, it probably does not exist.
"Official partner" means nothing without proof. Verify any partnership claim at the source, and assess real specialisation: share of activity dedicated to Claude, command of MCP and Claude Code, published technical content.
Your prompts, agents, data and documentation must remain your property. Demand contractual and technical reversibility: open formats, code delivered into your environments, and a knowledge transfer planned from day one.
A genuine specialist shows its work: accessible demos, public tools, technical articles, contributions to the ecosystem. A sales-only shopfront with no published technical proof is a warning sign, not a mark of seriousness.
We apply this grid to ourselves: our own positioning is detailed point by point on our Claude partner page. See our Claude partner page →
25 questions organised into 5 themes. Copy them into your RFP: the answers, or the lack of them, will do the sorting.
No names here: patterns. If you recognise several of them in the same vendor, walk away.
"Top 10 Claude integrators" published by one of the integrators in the ranking. These self-serving listicles are marketing, not evaluation. Always cross-check with independent sources and direct references.
A "partner" logo with no link to an official directory, a status impossible to confirm at the source. Ask for proof. A serious player documents what it claims, or does not claim it.
No clear registration, no identifiable team, no address, a structure created only months ago. Your project deserves a counterparty that will still exist at the end of the contract.
A vendor that shines in demos but cannot say who will supervise the agents in production. If the run is not in the proposal, failure is already written: the POC will stay a POC.
A firm that designs, deploys and operates AI agents built on Anthropic's Claude models: use-case framing, integration with the IT estate through the Claude API and the MCP protocol, plus governance and supervision of agents in production.
Depth. A generalist agency covers several models at surface level; a Claude specialist masters every capability and limit of the model, the MCP ecosystem, Claude Code and the agent patterns that hold up in production. For a critical project, specialisation cuts down trial and error.
Ask for three client cases with context, scope, results and sponsor, then a direct conversation with at least one client. A reference that can be neither sourced nor contacted is not a reference: it is a sales argument.
At the source. If the vendor claims partner status, ask for the link to the official directory or a verifiable confirmation. Absent proof, treat the claim as a marketing argument, not a fact.
Two to four are enough if the grid is well built. What matters is not volume but comparability: ask every vendor the same questions, require written answers, and compare the precision of the answers as much as their content.
Ownership of prompts, agents, connectors and documentation, code delivered into your environments, open formats and a planned knowledge transfer. Reversibility is negotiated before signing, never after.
We built this guide to be judged by it: an entity backed by Groupe Reej Consulting (Nanterre Trade Register 878 427 798), a published LOOP™ governance methodology, documented reversibility, and an exclusive specialisation in the Claude ecosystem. Our partner page details every point. →
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