Search is becoming obsolete with AI. It’s turning out that there’s no longer a need for teams to search for information but rather ask a question to AI and get the answer they were looking for.
The bane and boon of knowledge search has become apparent now that we’ve started to see the things AI can do for your teams. Knowledge search in itself is time-consuming - your teams have to spend hours searching through information that should be made available instantly. There’s so much information scattered across company databases and sources, the accessibility for a lot of which is dependent on hierarchical approvals, delays, and manual inefficiencies. What’s more, having to understand and curate responses for customers, prospects, or users from that information is another hassle.
AI knowledge search is the next big thing where companies will be able to use tools to not just find information but generate custom responses for better communication and faster resolutions.
Types of information in companies
Knowledge is available across databases and multiple sources - docs, files, sheets, apps, integrations, databases, etc. But most of this information is unstructured, almost gibberish that can’t be made sense of unless given meaning to. The other is structured data.
Structured data - This is data or information that is be organized, formatted, and easy to comprehend. This includes company internal project docs, help centers, troubleshooting, onboarding, campaign metrics - all data that can be easily found and comprehended.
Unstructured data - This is the data that contains company information but is not organized into hierarchies or structures. This includes customer emails, customer chats, meeting transcripts, social media exchanges - all this data contains valuable information but can’t be accessed easily or made use of.
Current (and traditional) way of accessing company data
Search has dominated the internet since we started using it heavily in the 90s. Search engines, intranets, wikis — everything is designed to be search-friendly. This is also why we have structured data in the first place — to be able to find information easily through layers and hierarchies. Companies have tons of data across integrated apps, databases, internal docs, customer conversations, project roadmaps, marketing campaigns, sales collaterals, HR policies, network requirements, and so much more lie within the confines of company information. All this has to be made accessible to employees but it also comes with its own hurdles.
The problem with searching for data
Searching is counterproductive. In larger organizations, you’re not just looking for information but also have to go through hierarchies, leading to delays and inefficient processes that are easily avoidable. For customer-facing teams, the time spent on searching is directly tied to brand image. Imagine you’re resolving a ticket — you can’t find the solution so you escalate the concern to an expert, the expert spends time understanding the concern and then curates a personalized response for the customer. Delayed responses or customer resolutions accumulate and can lead to customer dissatisfaction, which in turn effects business.
Not only that but overall employee productivity is affected when relying entirely on enterprise search. IT teams have more internal tickets to resolve when employees can’t troubleshoot problems themselves. HR has to spend time onboarding, training, and making sure employees are compliant with company policies. Sales have to worry about getting prospect information before interactions. Customer Success teams have trouble getting instant access to customer information like POCs and account details. All these are subtle problems that we deal with every day but don’t realize the impact it has on productivity.
What is AI knowledge search
Search is becoming obsolete with AI. It’s turning out that there’s no longer a need for teams to search for information but rather ask a question to AI and get the answer they were looking for. This is how AI knowledge search or AI enterprise search works — you can ask a question to the AI and it gives you the answer along with reference links to verify the credibility of the answer.
How does AI knowledge search benefit teams
Enable faster customer support - Support teams can leverage AI knowledge search to get instant answers to queries and resolve them faster. With Threado AI’s Chrome app, they can resolve queries within the same tool without having to switch between tabs or lose context. They can get summarized tickets, give personalized responses, or use custom commands to customers much faster.
Helps improve conversions for sales teams - Sales conversations are crucial for closing more deals and bringing more business. But not having prospect information on call or the right battle cards to win over potential trust can be detrimental to decision-making. With AI knowledge search, sales teams can get instant access to prospect information and personalize their interactions for better chances of conversions.
Better customer conversations for customer success teams - Customer Success teams can get instant insights into POCs and account information necessary for having better, more informed conversations with customers.
Free up IT teams with fewer internal tickets - IT teams spend a lot time resolving internal tickets about troubleshooting or software issues. With an AI helpdesk, employees can resolve queries on their own and don’t have to rely on IT teams to address their concerns.
Generate content for copies for marketing teams - Marketing teams can use the AI to not just lookup campaign information but also write copies for social posts, emails, summarize blogs, and get personalized content for targeted campaigns.
Improve employee experience for HR teams - HR teams no longer have to worry about onboarding new employees or ensuring they are compliant with company policies. Employees can leverage the AI helpdesk to understand how the company functions — everything from onboarding to payment and policy-related concerns can be resolved with it.
Best tools to consider for AI knowledge search
Threado AI
In building Threado AI, we realized 3 things: 1) since AI has redefined how we look for information, searching is becoming obsolete, or rather - ‘ask is the new search’. 2) with instant access to the company’s entire digital backyard, there’s no longer any need for hierarchical or manual delays unless there’s compliance involved. All information is accessible instantly. 3) The upper limit to productivity will be defined by individualistic capabilities i.e. teams can become exponentially productive with less friction.
We want to inspire today’s teams to not just adapt to AI but exploit it. Marketing, Sales, Support, Customer Success, IT, HR - every department can benefit from AI. From onboarding employees to internal troubleshooting, from generating content to better sales conversations - everything that drains hours of employee time can be done in minutes with AI.
Threado AI aims to transform how teams find information and get work done.
Key features -
Easy to setup - Threado AI is an off-the-shelf, customization solution. No dev work or APIs are required, just connect your apps in minutes and start using it.
AI Assistant - Threado’s AI Assistant offers precise, customizable responses across Slack, Chrome, Microsoft Teams, and as a Chrome app.
Seamless Integrations - Threado AI integrates with some of your favorite ticketing, CRM, and knowledge management tools like Zendesk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Intercom, Notion, Confluence, Slack, and Google Drive.
Analytics & Monitoring - Threado’s Analytics feature provides scalable, intelligent visualizations of AI performance, identifies knowledge base gaps, and offers detailed usage reports for optimizing support efficiency.
Security - Threado AI is Soc 2 Type II certified which means that it’s been designed to keep all your private data secure, no matter what happens.
Guru
Guru is a robust AI-powered knowledge management tool designed to centralize and streamline company knowledge, making it accessible and useful for teams across various departments. By integrating with popular communication and productivity tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zendesk, Guru helps eliminate information silos and improves workflow efficiency. It offers features like an easy-to-use knowledge base, AI-powered search, and automated workflows, ensuring accurate, up-to-date, and readily available information.
Key Features -
AI-Powered Search - Quickly finds relevant information from the knowledge base using AI, reducing the time spent searching for answers and boosting productivity.
Seamless Integrations - Integrates with numerous platforms including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zendesk, Salesforce, and more, ensuring that knowledge is accessible within the tools teams already use.
Automated Knowledge Capture - Automatically captures and updates knowledge from various sources, maintaining the accuracy and relevance of the information without manual input.
Glean
Glean is an enterprise AI platform designed to unify and enhance access to company data by providing intelligent search, knowledge management, and AI-driven insights. It integrates with various tools to deliver personalized, context-aware answers, boosting productivity and efficiency across teams.
Key Features -
Knowledge Graph - Connects and organizes all enterprise data, providing comprehensive, contextually relevant search results.
Advanced Personalization - Tailors responses based on user roles, activities, and collaborations for highly relevant information delivery.
Custom AI Applications - Enables creation of no-code AI agents and chatbots, and offers APIs for custom AI solutions, ensuring seamless integration into existing workflows.
Tettra
Tettra is an AI-powered knowledge management tool designed to create, organize, and maintain an internal knowledge base. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Slack, enabling teams to instantly access and share information, automate knowledge verification, and reduce redundant questions.
Key Features -
Internal Knowledge Base - Easily create and manage internal documentation using existing content from Google Docs, Notion, and more.
AI-Powered Q&A - Instantly answers team questions within Tettra or Slack, leveraging AI to search through company knowledge.
Knowledge Automation - Ensures information accuracy by automating content verification and identifying knowledge gaps.
Document360
Document360 is a comprehensive knowledge base software designed for creating, managing, and publishing documentation. It caters to both customer-facing and internal knowledge management needs, providing tools for efficient content creation, organization, and analytics. Its features are designed to streamline the documentation process, improve accessibility, and enhance user experience through powerful search and integration capabilities.
Key features -
Advanced Editing and Publishing - Supports Markdown and WYSIWYG editors, article templates, and version control.
Comprehensive Analytics - Provides insights into article performance, user engagement, and search behaviors to optimize content.
Customizable Branding and Integrations - Allows customization of the knowledge base’s appearance and integrates with third-party tools like Intercom and Slack.
Moveworks
Moveworks is the universal AI copilot for search and automation across all your business applications. The Moveworks Copilot is powered by an industry-leading Reasoning Engine that uses a combination of public and proprietary language models to understand employee queries, and then build and execute multi-step plans that achieve them. It does this by linking into systems (like ITSM, HRIS, ERP, identity management, and more) with native and custom-built integrations that turn natural language into powerful automation for employees.
Key features -
Intuitive AI-copilot - A single support hub that translates messages, generates summaries, and cites sources.
Limitless integrations - Get integrations for your favorite apps and tools that teams use regularly - Salesforce, SAP, Zendesk, ServiceNow, etc.
Adaptable and Secure AI - Moveworks leverages a combination of LLMs, all trained on workplace interactions, and is secure through and through.