The Identity-to-Action Gap
Truly knowing the customer (personalized identity) and connecting the customer instantly to services (rapid automation) are absolute necessities to scale and grow your business. Historically, it has been challenging to achieve both, likely because one existed within an IT department and the other in Marketing–or similar. But today, 60% of custom apps built by employees are outside of the IT department, bringing a rise to the gen-AI no-code shift. In fact, according to Gartner, AI-builders outnumber developers 4 to 1 and 70% of new no/low-code customers will come from buyers outside of the IT department in 2025.
Your customer login – or Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) system does a stellar job of authentication, securing the login, and protecting sensitive data. But when a customer asks an AI agent to perform a task—like “reorder my last purchase” or “upgrade my subscription”—that rich, authenticated user context often fails to translate securely and efficiently into an actionable command for the autonomous agent.
This disconnect creates friction, slows down valuable transactions, and forces businesses to build expensive, fragile custom integrations.
The solution is a new standard: the Model Context Protocol (MCP). MCP is the critical layer that securely bridges a customer’s verified identity (via login) to the AI agent delegated to act on their behalf, directly translating security and personalization into accelerated revenue.
Let’s unpack both the “non-stop” customer login flow and the rise of the no-code shift.
Trend 1: Non-Stop Customer Login
The market for Customer Identity and Access Management isn’t just growing; it’s booming, reflecting the central importance of secure customer experiences. Forecasts indicate the global CIAM market is set to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) exceeding 13% through 2033.
Why it Matters: The login screen has become the first touchpoint for revenue generation. Customers demand both ironclad security—meaning Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and passwordless options—and hyper-convenience, such as seamless Single Sign-On (SSO). When this experience is poor, abandonment rates soar. When it’s excellent, customer lifetime value (CLV) increases.
The Challenge: CIAM platforms store the who and the what-they-can-do (permissions), but this data is frequently locked away. It is often unavailable in a standardized, real-time format for the operational systems—or, critically, the AI agents—that need to execute transactions based on that verified identity.
Trend 2: Gen-AI and No-Code Workflows
Simultaneously, Generative AI has moved from a novelty to a necessity. The Gen-AI market is currently valued in the tens of billions and is projected to see a CAGR of over 40% through the end of the decade. This growth is driven by the shift from simple chatbots to sophisticated autonomous agents capable of executing high-value, multi-step tasks.
These agents can:
- Process a complex return, applying the correct loyalty points.
- Modify a subscription tier, dynamically calculating a prorated refund.
- Instantly fulfill an order based on customer chat history.
This era of automation is being accelerated by No-Code/Low-Code platforms, which democratize workflow creation. These tools empower non-developers to build rapid, high-impact processes that interact directly with core business logic.
The Missing Link: Autonomous agents and no-code workflows are immensely powerful, but they are “blind” without verified context. Giving an AI agent the delegated power to act on a customer’s behalf—handling money, changing addresses, or accessing private data—requires absolute, cryptographic assurance of: WHO is delegating the action, and WHAT specific permissions they possess. Without this assurance, the risk of data leaks and prompt injection attacks makes scaled agent deployment too dangerous.
MCP: The Secure Bridge for Identity Delegation
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) provides the essential piece of the puzzle. Think of MCP as the USB-C port for AI agents – or perhaps the ‘dongle.’ It is an open standard that standardizes the secure, two-way communication between an AI agent (the client) and an external tool or data system (the server).
The Critical Function: Identity + Action
When CIAM and MCP are integrated, they create a highly secure delegation flow based on established identity protocols like OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect (OIDC):
- Authentication: The customer logs in using their CIAM solution (validating identity, MFA, etc.).
- Delegation: The application captures the authenticated user’s identity claims (like their user ID and permissions/scopes) and sends this verified context via the MCP to the agent.
- Actionable Intelligence: The AI agent receives the claims and knows exactly:
- WHO the customer is.
- WHAT they are allowed to do (e.g., they have the execute:purchase scope but not the admin:account scope).
- WHEN the action is being delegated, allowing for real-time risk assessment.
This standardized approach ensures that every agent action is auditable and based on explicit, verified user consent, fully eliminating the security risk inherent in “blind agents” that guess context or rely on overly permissive credentials.
The Revenue-Driving Outcomes of MCP Adoption
Implementing MCP is not just a security measure; it is a direct investment in faster, more profitable customer interactions.
1. Hyper-Personalization at Scale
Agents instantly access deep, verified customer context (recent purchases, known preferences, lifetime value) the moment the customer logs in. This enables dynamic, personalized recommendations that feel less like marketing and more like helpful service, leading to significantly higher Average Order Value (AOV).
- Example: “Welcome back, Sarah. Based on your recent order for ‘Alpha-Series’ power tools, I see we have a specialized extended warranty available, and I can apply your loyalty discount right now. Would you like me to add it?”
2. Reduced Friction and Instant Commerce
MCP allows customers to delegate complex tasks with a simple natural language prompt, eliminating clicks and waiting time. This capability reduces the burden on contact centers (cutting costs) and enables instant commerce, accelerating conversions. Tasks that once required a complex web form or a call center queue are resolved in seconds.
3. Unified Customer Experience and Trust
By standardizing the identity handoff, MCP ensures that whether the user is interacting with your brand via a mobile app, a website chat widget, or a third-party Gen-AI assistant, their identity and permissions remain consistent. This unified, secure, and predictable experience builds stronger brand trust and drives customer retention.
4. Accelerated Time-to-Market for Agent Features
Developers no longer need to build custom, fragile identity wrappers for every new AI tool or workflow. By relying on the MCP standard for identity and permission handoff, teams can deploy new, high-value agent capabilities much faster, dramatically shortening the time-to-market for revenue-generating features.
Invest in the Identity-to-Agent Connection, Now
CIAM established who the customer is. Generative AI established what the business can automate. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) establishes the secure, necessary connection between the two.
I’d be remiss to not mention an immediate risk that needs to move in parallel to the above motion. Along with standardizing agent access comes the risk of agents with too much permission, or (more likely) simply forgotten agents who were set up as a trial or by someone within the business to use once. There are great solutions emerging to keep the agent lifecycle in check using, you guessed it, AI. Bottomline, minimum access checks, and lifecycle policies are a requirement with this implementation model.
Businesses that move to adopt MCP are modernizing their tech stack and future-proofing their identity infrastructure, transitioning beyond simple authentication to a new era of secure, agent-driven commerce. The ability to delegate trust securely and instantaneously is the next major competitive frontier—and it is one that translates directly and measurably into significant revenue growth. Adopt MCP and turn every login into an opportunity for instant, personalized action.
