Synergy over Silos – the New Age of Knowledge

Polaris is a production of Synozur – the transformation company. Synozur reimagines business for our clients, navigating the complexities of transformation and strategy with ease.

In this conversation, Chris McNulty and Gabriel Karawani discuss the challenges of fragmented information in digital workplaces and the introduction of Atlas, a knowledge assistant designed to improve productivity and knowledge management. They explore the future of AI in knowledge management, common misconceptions about AI, and the importance of integrating knowledge with AI systems. The discussion includes success stories from organizations using Atlas, the risks of relying on public AI, and the ethical considerations surrounding AI use. They also address the challenges of capturing tacit knowledge and measuring success in knowledge management.

Key Takeaways 

The "Toggle Tax" is Real: Fragmented apps and data silos cause employees to toggle between tools ~1,200 times a day, wasting nearly 4 hours a week (about 9% of work time) just reorienting. Unified knowledge systems can recover this lost productivity. 

First-Gen AI Fell Short: Early AI assistants created isolated "islands of AI" within each tool, adding to silos. Business leaders now demand Omni AI – solutions that integrate data across all platforms for cohesive answers. 

Integrated Knowledge = Competitive Edge: Companies relying only on public AI (like generic chatbots) get "vanilla" answers, while those who leverage proprietary knowledge via tools like Atlas gain trusted, context-aware insights tailored to their business – a significant competitive advantage. 

Atlas Platform in Action: Atlas, ClearPeople's intelligent knowledge platform, auto-captures and classifies information across Microsoft 365 and other systems, acting as an "ultimate knowledge assistant" that delivers precise answers with sources cited for trust. This reduces search time and surfaces expertise within the organization. 

AI Needs Quality Data: Generative AI isn't magic – it's only as smart as the data you feed it. Context is king – AI must know which knowledge base or document version is relevant. A key Atlas benefit is robust metadata (like tagging content by client, project, or jurisdiction) so AI uses the right information when answering. 

Ethical, Responsible AI is Essential: Enterprises should implement AI with transparency, security, and governance. Gabe notes the importance of ethical AI use, complying with standards (like ISO/IEC 42001 AI management systems) and emerging regulations (EU AI Act) while building a culture that encourages sharing knowledge responsibly. 

People + AI, Not vs. AI: Successful adoption requires empowering people with AI, not replacing them. Atlas's approach augments human expertise – e.g. capturing experts' know-how and making it discoverable – so employees spend less time searching and more time innovating and collaborating on higher-value tasks. 

Sound Bites (Gabe Karawani) 

"It became a case of 'The answer is GenAI – now what's the question?' People assumed generative AI would magically solve knowledge problems. In reality, AI needs guidance and context to be useful." 

"If you run your business on public AI, you'll get vanilla answers. Your competitor using AI trained on their own knowledge will eat your lunch with richer, precise insights." 

"Think of Atlas as your ultimate knowledge assistant. It connects you instantly with the right information and experts inside your organization by automatically capturing and classifying knowledge at scale." 

"Unless an AI agent can connect to the right contextual knowledge, it's likely to give a perfectly credible answer based on the wrong data. That's a big problem we solve – making sure AI is grounded in truth." 

References

Toggle Tax: Harvard Business Review – "How Much Time and Energy Do We Waste Toggling Between Applications?" (Murty et al., 2022). Study of 137 workers found ~1,200 app/website toggles per day and ~4 hours per week lost to reorienting. https://hbr.org/2022/08/how-much-time-and-energy-do-we-waste-toggling-between-applications  

Retirement of Viva Topics (February 2024) to refocus on generative AI, with full retirement by Feb 2025. Organizations using Viva Topics are advised to prepare alternatives for knowledge discovery. https://www.reworked.co/digital-workplace/microsoft-is-retiring-viva-topics-heres-what-you-can-do/  

Agent2Agent (A2A) Protocol – An open standard (initially by Microsoft and Google, now Linux Foundation) for secure, interoperable communication between AI agents. Announced in 2025 and backed by over 100 tech companies, A2A enables different AI systems to "talk" to each other and collaborate. https://www.zdnet.