In a short space of time, generative AI has completely transformed expectations surrounding technology. Organisations are investing in co-pilots, AI assistants and AI agents to work faster, gain better insights and give staff direct access to knowledge. The possibilities seem endless. Yet in practice, we see that many AI projects, after a promising start, run up against the same limitations. Answers turn out to be incomplete, information is out of date, or users lose confidence in the results. Not because the AI technology is failing, but because the underlying information infrastructure is simply not yet ready for it.

The reality is that AI can only add value when it has the right context. In most organisations, knowledge is scattered across dozens of systems. Documents are stored in SharePoint, customer data in CRM systems, procedures on network drives, and additional information in ticketing systems, wikis or databases. It is often a challenge for staff to find the right information quickly. It is no different for AI. When a model has access to only part of the available knowledge, it produces answers that are incomplete or even incorrect. Ultimately, AI without context remains little more than a well-informed guess.

The problem isn’t with the AI model

Yet many organisations focus primarily on the choice of model when developing their AI strategy. There is extensive discussion about which co-pilot or language model is the most advanced, whilst the more important question is often overlooked: does AI have access to the knowledge required to provide a reliable answer? You could compare it to a new employee who, on their first day at work, has no access to documents, systems or historical information. No matter how talented that employee may be, without context it will be difficult to make the right decisions. The same applies to AI.

Enterprise Search as the foundation for AI

That is why Enterprise Search such a crucial link in successful AI implementations. Enterprise Search brings together information from various sources and makes it accessible and searchable in a uniform manner. This includes not only documents, but also data from applications, databases and other business systems. This in itself delivers benefits, as staff can find the right information more quickly and spend less time searching. However, the real added value arises when this central knowledge base is combined with AI.

From Enterprise Search to Search AI

With the rise of AI Search and techniques such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) are giving rise to a new generation of AI applications. Instead of relying solely on the knowledge with which a model was originally trained, AI can first retrieve relevant information from within the organisation itself and use this to formulate a response. As a result, responses are not only more accurate and up-to-date, but are also much better aligned with the organisation’s context. The likelihood of ‘hallucinations’ decreases, whilst confidence in the results actually increases.

Is your organisation ready for trustworthy AI?

This is precisely why Enterprise Search is increasingly forming the foundation for successful AI initiatives. Organisations that invest today in making their knowledge accessible are simultaneously laying the groundwork for reliable and scalable AI applications in the future. The question, therefore, is no longer whether you will engage with AI, but whether your information management is ready for AI to genuinely add value.

At Puur Data, we believe that successful AI starts with reliable information. That's why we help organisations to bring together data from various sources and the power of Enterprise Search., Elastic to optimally utilise generative AI. By making knowledge accessible to both employees and AI applications, we create a foundation upon which organisations can work smarter, faster, and with greater confidence.

Do you want to deploy AI based on the knowledge already present within your organisation? Discover how Enterprise Search and Search AI together form the foundation for reliable AI applications and how Puur Data can help your organisation with this.

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