Since the beginning of time, every aspect of human life has relied on searching for answers to questions we do not know. This process has led us to a time where technological advances mean searches can be completed in milliseconds, providing us with a range of answers to choose from.

Our standards for search have rapidly changed with each technological advance.  From text, to voice, to AI, the way we look for answers in our personal life has set expectation of what we believe should be readily available in the workplace as well.

The rise of ChatGPT

The evolution of search has been accelerated this year with the introduction of ChatGPT to the masses. While AI-enabled search has been available in businesses across the globe, ChatGPT introduced the concept of a bot that searches for your question to provide a suggested answer to the average internet user.

As I write this blog, I have yet to come across anyone who hasn’t been impressed with its capabilities, especially since you can continue your conversation to evolve the answer to match the style you ask it to return in. It’s like having your own personal genie in a digital bottle – let it out and ask away. Further reiterating that as a generation we need answers to our questions faster than ever. In turn, our customers expect their problems solved faster again.

It is no wonder that tech companies have been quick to bring the capabilities of ChatGPT and other AI models to their offerings. Google, as the most used platform for searching, is on the cusp of releasing their next-level search, and Microsoft has already released their new version of Bing with ChatGPT built-in to compete in that space.

The high-profile launch of the new Bing was great until stories started to emerge of unhinged answers being returned, causing alarm for some. There is no doubt that it will be fine-tuned to improve the quality of answers against the parameters Microsoft will set, but will that improve user confidence? Only time will tell.

Microsoft have also announced the introduction of Chat GPT technology in Microsoft 365 products, proving that AI has well and truly made inroads into making the lives of software users more productive. With any enhancement, use cases and benefits to the user have to be right, it’s safe to say that there are super exciting times ahead in the world of tech driven by human interactions.

Search is evolving, and so are we

At RightAnswers search has been an integral part of our success story. Our enterprise customers around the globe rely on finely tuned search results driven by the latest AI and Machine learning technologies. Through federation we connect disparate systems and repositories to provide a single pane of glass for employees.

After all, the value in knowledge management software is driven by getting the right answer, to the right person, at the right time.

We are excited to launch the evolution of our search, enabled by Solr. Just as the power of the sun nourishes the planet and gave visitors from Krypton superhuman capabilities, Solr will help us bring the next generation of search to RightAnswers.

With search being an important and integral part of the RightAnswer user experience, our team have been fully focused on making the switch a seamless one. The trust that has been built requires us to uphold the highest standards in our development and not to rush into creating something that will affect the ability for an end-user to get the answers they rely on.

Time to shine

The introduction of Solr will give us a robust and solid foundation to develop new search-related features that will improve the user experience and help our customers in their drive for customer service excellence.

We are excited to be working on enhancements that will empower our users to be even more efficient in delivering the highest standard of service to their customers. These include improvements in:

Search personalization – using metrics at a user level to enhance search relevancy

Intent awareness – being able to analyse search terms and mapping out the relationships between words, allowing for more accurate results

Trending algorithms – taking metrics from user activity like upvoting, views in a shorter period of time will take priority over long term usage, this will mean more accurate trending data i.e. something viewed 10 times this week is more important than something viewed 1000 times 2 years ago but not recently

If RightAnswers was a movie, these would be the trailer to the blockbuster that we are busy developing. We can’t wait to show you what’s coming next and will be providing updates in the coming months.

If you’re searching for best-in-breed knowledge management software with a cutting edge roadmap, I trust this blog has given you the most relevant and right answer.

Want more information? Get in touch with the team and we will be happy to show you the power of RightAnswers.