An AI assistant that answers from your own documents
A company AI assistant lets your staff ask everyday questions, like “how do I book holiday?” or “where’s the engagement letter template?”, and get an answer from your own handbook, procedures, policies and templates, with a link to the document it came from. It only uses what you’ve given it, and it says when it doesn’t know.
Like a private ChatGPT that only reads your documents
Your staff already have questions. At the moment they ask whoever is sitting nearest.
That works, but it interrupts two people, and the answer depends on who’s in. A knowledge assistant gives everyone the same answer, from the same documents, at any time of day.
Staff ask in their own words, for example in a Teams chat. The assistant searches the documents you’ve given it, finds the passages that answer the question, and writes a short reply with a link to the source. The technique is called retrieval-augmented generation: a large language model writes the answer, but only from what it found in your documents.
Your documents aren’t used to train the AI. The assistant reads the relevant parts each time someone asks.
- 1Question in Teams“How do I claim mileage?”
- 2Searches your documentsFinds the expenses policy and the claim form
- 3Answers in plain EnglishThe steps, the form, who approves it
- 4Links the sourceSo they can check the detail themselves
- 5Counts what it couldn’t answerGaps show up on your AI dashboard
The questions that interrupt your best people
Holidays and HR basics
Booking holiday, reporting sickness, who to tell about what. Answered from your staff handbook.
“How do I book holiday?”
Templates and forms
A link straight to the current version, so old copies saved on desktops stop going out to clients.
“Where’s the engagement letter template?”
How we do things
Your processes, step by step, from your own procedures: opening a file, raising an invoice, ordering equipment.
“What’s our process for a new client?”
Policies
IT, data protection, expenses and your AI safe-use policy, explained in plain words with the policy linked for the detail.
“Can I use ChatGPT for client work?”
New starters
The questions people feel awkward asking in their first weeks, answered without anyone stopping what they’re doing. It works alongside the onboarding journey in the standard pack.
“Who do I ask about parking?”
Gaps in your documents
Questions it can’t answer are counted, so you can see where documentation is missing or out of date. They show on your AI dashboard.
“We’ve never written that down.”
Only your documents, and only what each person may see
The assistant only uses the documents it’s been given. It doesn’t answer from the internet or from guesses about how other businesses work.
It respects who can see what. Someone who can’t open the partners’ folder won’t get answers drawn from it.
When the documents don’t cover a question, it says so rather than guessing. AI tools can give confident answers that are wrong, known as AI hallucination. Answering only from your documents makes that much less likely, and the source link makes any answer quick to check. It doesn’t make mistakes impossible, which is why the link is always there.
Good answers need good documents
The assistant is only as good as what it reads. If the handbook is three years out of date, so are the answers.
At set-up we work with you to choose which documents go in, take out old versions and duplicates, and agree who keeps each one up to date. The list of questions it couldn’t answer then becomes a to-do list for whoever looks after your procedures.
Expect it to find gaps early on. That’s useful in itself.
It tells people where to go, not what to decide
- It explains how to book holiday; a manager still approves it
- It points to the sickness or grievance policy; anything personal goes to a person
- It finds the template; a qualified person still writes the advice
- It answers staff questions about your business; it isn’t for advising clients
Sometimes you already own the answer
If you have Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, a Copilot agent built on your SharePoint documents may do the job, and we’ll tell you so at the free automation audit. Alphabyte IT handles Copilot licensing and switching it on safely; we help you get real work out of it. More in our Microsoft 365 Copilot explainer.
- A small team where everyone knows everything. If questions are rare and answers quick, an assistant adds little.
- Very little is written down. It can’t answer from documents that don’t exist. Writing the key procedures comes first.
Private to your business
- We build with Anthropic’s Claude through its business service, which doesn’t train on customer data and is covered by a data processing agreement.
- You choose which documents go in. Personnel files and client files usually stay out.
- Answers follow your existing permissions, so access is no wider than it is today.
- We never use consumer chatbots with client data. For documents that shouldn’t leave the building, in-house AI on our own hardware in Cardiff is coming soon.
An approved assistant also gives staff a safe place to ask, which helps with shadow AI: people pasting work into free chatbots because nothing better is on offer. The AI safe-use policy we set up for every Monthly AI Support client sets the ground rules.
Included in Monthly AI Support
The company knowledge assistant is part of the standard pack we set up for every Monthly AI Support client, from £459 + VAT a month on a 12-month minimum term. Adding documents and improving answers over time uses your plan hours.
A version for your website
We can also build an assistant for your website that answers visitors’ questions from content you’ve approved, such as your services or what to bring to a first meeting, and hands over to a person when it can’t help or the visitor asks. It isn’t part of the standard pack: we build it to order, using plan hours or as a single project with a fixed quote based on £145 + VAT an hour.
AI assistant questions
Is this a private ChatGPT for our company documents?
In effect, yes. Staff ask questions in plain English, as they would in ChatGPT, but the answers come only from the documents you’ve given it, with a link to the source. It runs on Anthropic’s Claude through its business service, which doesn’t train on your data, not on a consumer chatbot.
Where do staff use it?
Usually in Microsoft Teams, where they already work, so there’s nothing new to log in to. We agree the best place with you at set-up.
Can it show people documents they aren’t allowed to see?
No. It respects who can see what, so each person only gets answers from documents they can already open. We check your permissions during set-up, because if a folder is open to everyone, the assistant will treat it that way.
What happens when it doesn’t know?
It says so rather than guessing, and the question is counted. The questions it couldn’t answer show on your AI dashboard, so you can see which documents need writing or updating.
Do we need Microsoft 365 Copilot?
No. The knowledge assistant doesn’t need Copilot licences. If you already have them, a Copilot agent built on your SharePoint documents may do a similar job, and we’ll tell you honestly which makes more sense.
Can we have one on our website too?
Yes. We can build one that answers visitors from content you’ve approved and hands over to a person when it should. It’s built to order rather than included in the standard pack.
Guides on this topic
Jargon explained: AI hallucination Large language model (LLM) Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
Need your IT looked after too?
Alphabyte IT, our sister company, has looked after IT, security and support for businesses across South Wales since 2009.
How often does your team ask the same questions?
Tell us in a free automation audit. We’ll look at your handbook and procedures and show you what a knowledge assistant could answer from day one.
Book a Free Audit →