Teach it once, answer forever.
The sale no longer waits for the one person who knows the answer.
A knowledge base is the collection of documents, answers and pages an AI assistant is allowed to answer from. Instead of guessing, the assistant searches this collection for passages that match the customer's question and writes its reply from what it finds. Keeping the collection current is how you change what the assistant says.
- Four ways in: files, plain text, question and answer pairs, website crawl
- Websites re-crawled on a schedule so answers follow the site
- Folders and visibility control what each source is used for
- Ask it a question yourself and see the answers it used
How it works.
- 01
Add a source
Upload a file, paste text, write a question and its answer, or give a website address. Files are stored against your workspace and extracted in the background.
- 02
Let it read
Each source is broken into passages the agent can search. A large file takes a few minutes, and the source says when it is ready to answer with.
- 03
Ask it something
Type a customer question yourself. You see the answer and the sources it came from, which is the fastest way to find a gap.
- 04
Keep it current
Website sources re-crawl on a schedule and skip pages whose content has not changed. Files and text are re-indexed when you edit them.
Four ways to get knowledge in
Most businesses already have the answers written down somewhere. Whichever shape yours are in, you should not have to rewrite them to use them here.
- Upload a file and the text comes out of it on its own
- Plain text for the answers that only live in someone's head
- Question and answer pairs for the questions you get every day
- Read your own website, as much or as little of it as you choose
Built for the second message
A customer's follow-up is rarely a full question. "And in blue?" is read against what they just asked, so a two word reply still finds the right answer instead of the nearest one.
- A follow-up read in the context of the question before it
- Matches on the words you wrote, and on what they mean
- A question phrased differently still finds the right answer
Control what gets used where
Not every document should be in play for every question. You decide which sources the agent can reach, and who else can see them.
- Folders to group sources by topic or team
- Keep a source to yourself, or share it with the workspace
- Mark a source so the agent always has it, matched or not
- Refresh on demand after a batch of edits
Websites that stay in step
Change a price on your site and the answer changes with it. Re-crawls run on a schedule and cover the same pages the first read did.
- A changed page is updated, not added a second time
- Pages that have not changed are left alone
- Read it again yourself when you have just published something
Your help articles answer too
Help articles you write in Otobiz are part of the same set of answers, so publishing one is enough for a customer to get it in chat.
- Write, publish and edit articles in the workspace
- A published article answers a customer directly in chat
- Every draft names the article it answered from
What it does not do.
A source has to be added before it can be used. Nothing is inferred from a page you have not connected.
A crawl reads what a page serves to a plain reader. Content that needs a login or heavy scripting may not be captured.
Adding knowledge changes the next reply, not replies that were already sent.
Common questions
What file types can I upload?
- Documents are uploaded and the text comes out of them on its own. Very large files are refused, and a workspace has an overall storage ceiling.
How does the AI decide which passage to use?
- It matches the customer's question against your own sources, reads a follow-up in the context of the message before it, and uses the closest passages to write that reply.
Does it only match the exact words?
- No. It matches the words you wrote and what they mean, so a customer who asks the same thing in different words still gets the right answer.
How often is my website re-crawled?
- On a schedule, with each site read again when it is due. You can also refresh one immediately after publishing something.
Can I test an answer before customers see it?
- Yes. Ask a question and see both the answer and the sources behind it, so you can spot a missing or out of date one before a customer does.
What happens if nothing matches?
- The reply is marked as having no source behind it. That is your signal to add the answer.
Can I keep a source private?
- Yes. Any source can be kept to yourself instead of shared with the whole workspace.
Do question and answer pairs beat documents?
- For frequent, specific questions they are usually cleaner, because the answer is already written the way you want it said. Documents cover the long tail.
Does the knowledge base cross workspaces?
- No. Everything you upload belongs to your workspace alone, and no other business can read it.
Every question in one place, answered once.