We built a company-wide AI search platform. Employees search approved information across departments, ask follow-up questions and get answers that cite the source documents.
Industry: Professional & Business ServicesService: AI & AutomationUpdated
Overview
The challenge
Sales, operations, HR, delivery, finance and support all had useful documents and systems. Employees often didn't know where to look first, so one question could mean checking several tools or asking several people.
The company wanted a single search experience, but it did not want every department to migrate its content into a brand-new system.
Employees jumped between shared drives, wikis, project tools and internal systems.
People often didn't know which department held the information they needed.
Routine questions travelled through Slack, email and meetings because knowledge was hard to discover.
The solution
We connected approved documents, knowledge bases, internal tools and department content where they already live, with no large migration.
The RAG layer pulls relevant information from every connected source, but only from what the person asking is allowed to see.
Generative AI combines what it finds into one response, with links back to each supporting source.
Before and after
Before
Tool by tool
Employees searched each system on its own.
After
One search layer
A single question searches every approved source.
Before
Ask around
People contacted several departments to track down information.
After
Found wherever it lives
Relevant answers surface no matter which team wrote the content.
Before
Broad sharing
Content was sometimes copied to more places just so people could find it.
After
Permission-aware
Search follows the access rules already in place.
Key features
Employees search connected knowledge from every department in one conversational interface.
Business impact
Fewer tool switches
Retrieval uses only the sources the current user is allowed to open.
Business impact
Safer knowledge access
Information from several approved sources is summarised into one clear response.
Business impact
Quicker cross-team understanding
Results
Less Time Finding Information
Employees search several approved sources with one question.
Before: Separate ToolsAfter: Unified Search
Fewer Internal Hand-Offs
People find knowledge held by other departments without asking around.
Before: Ask AroundAfter: AI Discovery
Better Knowledge Control
Search results stay in line with each source's existing permissions.
Before: Duplicate SharingAfter: Permission Aware
Faster delivery
Reusing tested components cut the setup work, so the search layer launched sooner and our effort went into connecting each department's sources.
Our tested access layer read each source's own permissions, so restricted department content stays with the people already allowed to see it.
A proven retrieval layer searched drives, wikis and project tools together, so no department had to move its content.
Ready-made connectors kept the search index in step with each department's systems as documents changed.
Existing quality monitoring flagged weak answers that drew on several departments, so we could tune retrieval.
Trust and control
Answers only draw on content the person asking is already allowed to see, department by department.
ACCESS CONTROLLEDApproved company content is retrieved before an answer is written, so responses rest on real documents.
RAG GROUNDEDAnswers can link to the drive file, wiki page or system record they came from.
TRACEABLEWhen a department changes a policy, document or process, the search layer can pick up the change.
UPDATE READYThe search layer connects to each department's existing drives, wikis, project tools and internal systems, so nothing has to be migrated. When someone asks a question, the RAG layer retrieves relevant content from every source they can access. Generative AI then combines it into one answer with links to the sources.
Retrieval uses only the sources the person asking is already allowed to open, so restricted department content stays with the people cleared to see it. The search layer follows existing access rules instead of copying content to new places. That also ended the need to duplicate documents just to make them findable.
Departments kept their content where it was. We connected approved documents, knowledge bases and internal tools in place, with no large migration. Employees now ask one question instead of checking several tools or asking around on Slack, by email and in meetings, and each answer links to its sources.
If your teams keep asking around for documents that already exist, we can help you add one AI search layer over the tools you already use.