Answers · Entry 001
What is a private AI knowledge system for a small business?
Short answer
It is one record of the facts your staff look up every day, owned by your business, with a chat window on top that answers only from that record. Each answer shows the entry it came from. When nothing in the record fits the question, it says so.
Custom Solutions, Indianapolis · updated
What goes into it
Most owner-run companies keep their working knowledge in a few spreadsheets, a shared drive, years of email, and the memory of two or three long-time employees. During discovery we collect those sources and write down how each one is actually used.
We then merge them into a single record. Where two sources disagree, say two price sheets with different numbers for the same part, we list the conflict and you decide which is right before anything goes live. Your original files stay where they are until you sign off, and then we archive them. You can export the whole record to a spreadsheet whenever you want.
How staff use it
Each person gets their own login to a chat window. They type a question the way they would ask a coworker, for example "Which supplier stocks the 3/4 inch fitting, and what's the lead time?" The answer quotes the matching entry and names where it came from. If the record has nothing that fits, the reply says that instead of guessing.
Every question is logged. After a few weeks the log shows you what people look up most and where the record has gaps.
How it stays current
When something changes, a staff member tells the system what changed and where they heard it. The system shows the proposed edit and saves who made it, when, and the source. The earlier version is kept. A person you name as an approver signs off before the change is visible to everyone else.
What it does not do
It only knows what is in the record. The people who built that knowledge still settle the hard cases; the system makes what they already know available when they are busy, on vacation, or retired. Anything that goes to a customer is checked by a person first.
Related questions
- Who owns the data?
- You do. The system runs on hardware your business owns or in a cloud account in your company's name, whichever you prefer, and you can export the record to a spreadsheet at any time.
- Do we have to replace the software we use now?
- No. The record is built from the files you already have. Your accounting, email and job software stay as they are.
- How long does it take to set up?
- It starts with a paid discovery. The first build usually takes about nine weeks after that. The number and condition of your sources move that estimate more than anything else.