How Information Overload is Draining Your Workplace Productivity
Tired of the daily information scavenger hunt? Finding the information you need shouldn't be a chore in today's fast-paced workplace. It should be seamless, intuitive, and get you back to work – fast. That's why LumApps is thrilled to introduce Ask AI, our augmented search engine that takes knowledge management and information retrieval to the next level. AskAI doesn't just find keywords; it understands the meaning behind your searches. It then uses AI to direct your queries to the right information sources intelligently, and allows you to take action directly. Let's see how AskAI can transform your organization’s knowledge and boost employee productivity.
The Productivity Drain: Why Finding Information at Work is a Struggle
We've all been there. The frantic search for that one crucial document. The endless scrolling through file folders. The pinging of colleagues, hoping someone knows where that information is, or who to ask. It's a universal workplace frustration, and it's costing businesses dearly.
Employees are spending valuable time hunting for what they need – time that could be better spent on actual work. This impacts productivity, innovation, and even employee satisfaction. According to [Insert Forrester/Gartner/Other Analyst Quote Here - Example: "Forrester found that information workers spend approximately 19% of their time searching for information," or "Gartner research suggests that employees waste 2.5 hours a week searching for information,"], this isn't just a minor inconvenience; it's a significant drain on company resources. This leads to a frustrating experience and slows down the entire organization. It could be as simple as searching for the latest pricing, or as complicated as finding the right expert for a complex task, we are drowning in information that is hard to retrieve. The issue is not the information, but the ability to instantly find what is relevant and needed.
LumApps Ask AI: Smarter and Actionable Search, Faster Results
LumApps has always been about connecting people and information. We understand the frustration of the daily information hunt. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Ask AI, an augmented search experience that transforms how you find what you need within your organization. We have re-invented how search works within the digital workplace.
Ask AI isn't just about indexing keywords; it’s about understanding intent and delivering highly relevant results. Here’s how we’re doing it:
Semantic Search: Gone are the days of rigid keyword matching. Ask AI leverages powerful semantic search, allowing you to query using synonyms, acronyms, and natural language. The search algorithm understands what you mean, not just what you type. You can ask “Find marketing collaterals”, but also “Ggive me documents from the Go Fast campaign” or “Can someone explain to me the pricing of the Pro offer?”.
Search Rules & Intelligent Routing: We go beyond simple queries. Ask AI uses sophisticated search rules to understand your intent. For example, a search for "PTO" might route the query to your HR system, a search for "sales manager for Spain" would go straight to the organization chart, and a search for "product pricing" would leverage the pricing AI assistant. We adapt the search to what the employee is looking for and the context.
Diverse Search Capabilities: Ask AI provides targeted and diversified search based on your query. We understand each type of request and where to find the information:
- LumApps Sources Search: Full index of content, tailored search rules by content type, folder, or community.
- External sources: Access to the same quality of search for your external data sources. That could be documents stored in Microsoft 365 SharePoint folders or Google Drives
- AI-Powered Search: We leverage Google Vertex AI and Azure OpenAI for powerful search indexing and retrieval.
- Bring Your Own Agent: Companies with their own LLM and RAG agent setups can integrate those directly into Ask AI for an even more customized and optimized search experience. In simpler terms, if you have your own AI tools that you've specifically trained for your company, you can plug them into AskAI to make your search results even more relevant to your unique needs
- Image Search: Search content and images not only by the text surrounding them but even by the content of the pictures.
Ask AI in Action: Real-World Use Cases
The power of Ask AI is best understood through its practical applications. Here are just a few ways Ask AI can empower your workforce:
- General Company Queries: Quickly find company news, understand organization structures, or identify subject matter experts. Examples: "What's new in the company?",
- People Query: Find who does what: "Who is the sales manager for Spain?", "Who knows about AI in the company?".
- Business Application Query: What is the tool to report an incident?
- Policy and Procedure Access: Find internal policies quickly and easily. Examples: "What is the HR policy for time off?", "What are the IT rules for password creation?".
- Product Information: Equip your teams with specific product knowledge. Examples: "What is the pricing for our Pro offer?", “What are the most frequent objections I should handle about the Enterprise Edition?”. In this case, we may leverage an AI agent created by your Product Marketing team with specific prompts to answer these product-related questions.
- The Hybrid Approach: Let the power of the index find the document, or use a specific agent to handle a laser focus use case. You have total control.
The value of Ask AI comes from its ability to adapt to your specific needs. You gain both the broad-reaching benefits of intelligent search as well as the ability to drill down to a specific topic, with curated documents, and a finely-tuned AI.
Your Choice, Your Control: Bring Your LLM or Use LumApps
We understand that organizations have diverse needs when it comes to AI. That’s why Ask AI offers both:
- LumApps Instance: We leverage Google’s Vertex AI and OpenAI in Azure to provide a powerful, out-of-the-box AI search experience. All AskAI customers by default have access to these search engines. The search index is hosted here by default with a stable and predictable price.
- Bring Your Own LLM/RAG: Companies can directly plug in their own LLM and RAG agents (built with Vertex or Azure OpenAI studio) to tap into specialized internal knowledge. They are more flexible and often allow more customization.
- Hybrid model: Enjoy both worlds. Use our search engine and pay-as-you-go for the other use cases.
This hybrid approach allows you to balance ease of implementation with highly customized search experiences, maximizing value for your organization.
The Secret Weapon: Actionable Search with Micro-Apps
Ask AI goes beyond simply finding information; it enables action. With our micro-apps functionality, we're extending search beyond results to actionable outcomes.
Imagine this: You search for "request time off." Ask AI pulls up your PTO balance and presents a dedicated micro-app to submit a request directly in your HR system (Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, etc.) without leaving your LumApps. No more context switching and navigating into complex 3rd-party system interfaces. This allows you to take action directly from your search results. This level of integration accelerates daily tasks for employees and provides a powerful and instant experience.
What's Next: The Future of AI-Powered Intranet
Ask AI is LumApps' powerhouse for Knowledge Management and Augmented Search. But we're taking AI even further. Our vision is to use AI to augment the capabilities of every employee, content contributor, and administrator. Here are just some of the ways we'll be extending those capabilities in the coming months:
- Grounded Gen’ AI Integration for Content Creation: We're linking Ask AI with our generative AI capabilities to enable powerful content creation, such as generating internal job announcements based on existing data or crafting case studies from previous successes. We are not limited to structured documents and can go far beyond.
- Gen’ AI Everywhere for Enhanced Employee Experience: We're bringing Gen’ AI to every corner of the LumApps experience to break down barriers and enhance workflow, including:
- Breaking the Language Barrier: Seamless language translation within the platform will enable global teams to collaborate and communicate more effectively. No more lost-in-translation moments!
- Text-to-Speech, Especially for Mobile Frontline Workers: Empower your frontline workers to access critical information on the go, even when they can't look at a screen. Simple search and action with your voice is the key to digital workplace adoption for all your workforce.
- Sentiment Analysis for HR Insights: Equip HR with powerful, actionable insights into employee engagement by analyzing the sentiments expressed in platform communications. We provide the best data to make the best decision to engage with your employees.
- Intelligent Content Grading and Recommendations: Help content creators manage the flow of information in large organizations. With the use of AI, you can recommend the best practice, and manage the lifecycle of the document to keep the content relevant and fresh.
- Knowledge Management Evolved: We're enhancing the entire knowledge management lifecycle—from expert identification, content creation, to curation, all within the LumApps environment. We want the intranet to be your central hub to find, create, and share knowledge. We’ll enhance knowledge management from A to A, making the intranet the source of truth. The employee hub will help you curate knowledge and will be enriched with GenAI to create and update content collaboratively.
Final Thoughts
Let's be honest, sometimes trying to find information at work feels like getting lost in a digital wilderness. You’re not just lost, you’re probably also thinking “What now?”. But fear not, intrepid knowledge seeker! With Ask AI, you’ve got a reliable guide (and maybe a compass) to not only navigate all that information chaos but also act on it, directly from your search results. Ready to trade the frustration for effortless finding and doing? Reach out today – we promise no more wandering through file folders and systems.
