CRIO and Todata Debut AI Analytics to Optimize Clinical Trials

OMAHA, Neb. – January 21, 2026 – CRIO, a leader in eSource technology for clinical research, has announced a strategic partnership with Todata Analytics, integrating the latter's SiteGrades platform into its partner ecosystem. The collaboration promises to provide clinical research sites with powerful, real-time business and operational intelligence, addressing a long-standing need for data visibility and efficiency in the industry.

The Data Dilemma in Clinical Research

Clinical research sites are the operational backbone of drug development, yet they often operate in a state of information overload coupled with a lack of actionable insight. Site managers and coordinators frequently juggle multiple, disconnected systems: an Electronic Data Capture (EDC) system for trial data, a Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS) for logistics, separate financial software for billing, and various spreadsheets for everything in between.

This fragmentation creates data silos, making it incredibly difficult to get a unified, real-time view of site performance. Answering fundamental business questions—such as "Which of our trials are most profitable?" or "Are we on track with enrollment for our most critical study?"—can require hours of manual data extraction, compilation, and analysis. This administrative burden not only slows down decision-making but also diverts valuable resources away from patient care and trial execution. The lack of immediate visibility can lead to missed enrollment targets, inefficient resource allocation, and unforeseen financial shortfalls, ultimately impacting the speed and success of clinical development.

A Seamless Bridge to Actionable Intelligence

The partnership between CRIO and Todata Analytics aims to dismantle these data silos. By establishing SiteGrades as a certified analytics solution in CRIO's Partners Program, the collaboration offers CRIO customers an "effortless integration path" to a sophisticated business intelligence tool.

Once connected, SiteGrades provides real-time dashboards that visualize key performance indicators, including patient enrollment pace, exam room utilization, and financial metrics. The platform was designed to augment, not replace, existing systems. It can connect not only to CRIO's eSource platform but also to a site's financial systems, HR platforms, and other data sources to deliver a complete operational picture in a single, unified interface.

"Sites want better visibility into their business and operational data, but they don't have the time or technical expertise to continuously connect their systems," said Raymond Nomizu, Co-CEO of CRIO, in the official announcement. "Through this partnership, we're excited to expand access to analytics capabilities that can help sites better understand and act on the data they capture within CRIO."

A key advantage of the integration is its accessibility. The solution involves no per-user licensing fees and requires no significant technical lift from the site's IT staff, allowing entire organizations to gain access from day one. This model removes the typical financial and technical barriers that prevent smaller or less-resourced sites from adopting advanced analytics.

Nicole Osborn, CEO and Principal Owner of Todata, highlighted the user-centric philosophy shared by both companies. "CRIO is an ideal partner because their products are so user-centric," she stated. "We used CRIO when we led a site network. It was an immediate upgrade, and it just kept getting better as they added features that made things easier for people at every level of our organization."

The Rise of the AI-Powered Analyst

Perhaps the most transformative aspect of the SiteGrades platform is the inclusion of Tod AI, Todata's compliant artificial intelligence layer. This feature functions as an intelligent assistant, enabling team members to ask complex operational and financial questions in plain English and receive instant, data-sourced answers.

Instead of navigating complex dashboards or requesting custom reports, a site director could simply ask, "What was our revenue per employee last quarter, broken down by therapeutic area?" or "Show me the enrollment trends for our top three studies over the past 60 days." Tod AI queries the integrated data from CRIO and other connected systems in real time, presenting the answer with supporting charts and visualizations. This capability effectively democratizes data analysis, putting the power of a senior business analyst into the hands of the entire operational team, 24/7.

This AI-driven approach is part of a larger industry trend. The market for AI in clinical trials was valued at nearly $4 billion in 2025 and is projected to experience explosive growth, driven by the need to accelerate drug development timelines and improve efficiency. By automating data analysis and surfacing critical trends, AI can help sites optimize everything from patient recruitment to resource management, potentially reducing study startup times and accelerating enrollment by significant margins.

Building a Collaborative HealthTech Ecosystem

This partnership is also a prime example of the strategic shift towards building integrated technology ecosystems in healthcare. Rather than attempting to create a single, monolithic platform that does everything, CRIO is curating a network of best-in-class, CRIO-certified partners through its Partner Program. This strategy allows the company to focus on its core competency—eSource technology—while providing its customers with pre-vetted, seamlessly integrated solutions for other critical functions like analytics, patient recruitment, and site enablement.

By bringing Todata's purpose-built analytics into its ecosystem, CRIO enhances the value of its own platform without needing to develop the technology in-house. For clinical research sites, this means access to a suite of complementary tools that work together harmoniously, reducing the friction and complexity of adopting new technology. This collaborative model fosters innovation and provides users with more choice and flexibility to build a technology stack that meets their specific needs.

Ensuring Security and Compliance in the AI Era

The introduction of AI into workflows involving Protected Health Information (PHI) rightfully raises questions about security and compliance. Both CRIO and Todata have built their platforms on secure, compliant foundations to address these concerns head-on. CRIO's system operates on the Google Cloud Platform, adhering to SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA standards with full data encryption.

Similarly, Todata's SiteGrades and Tod AI operate within a secure SOC 2 and HIPAA-compliant framework. For its AI capabilities, Todata partners with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, implementing strict data protection protocols. Critically, the company guarantees that customer data is never used to train foundation AI models. Furthermore, Todata has opted out of Azure's default data retention policy, meaning user prompts are processed in-memory and immediately discarded. All data processing is regionally isolated to comply with data sovereignty laws, and the entire system operates on a read-only basis, ensuring the integrity of the original data sources.

With the integration available immediately, clinical research sites using CRIO now have a direct path to leveraging their own data for strategic advantage, potentially transforming their operational efficiency and financial performance in an increasingly competitive landscape.