Start with the job, not the model
The most successful assistants we see are narrow at first: answering policy questions, summarizing case files, drafting a first-pass report section. A defined job makes it possible to measure quality and to design the right guardrails.
Context is the product
An assistant is only as useful as the information it can reach. That means investing in document intelligence, clean metadata and retrieval that respects existing access controls.
- Index the documents people actually use, not everything.
- Preserve structure — tables, headings and references carry meaning.
- Apply the same permissions the source systems enforce.
Design for trust
Users adopt tools they can verify. Show the sources behind an answer, make it easy to flag a poor response, and be explicit about what the assistant cannot do. These small design choices do more for adoption than any model upgrade.
Measure what matters
Track resolution rate, time saved per task and the share of answers users accept. Review failures weekly in the first months — they are the fastest route to improvement.