What Is Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) – and How Ayfie Does It

Large Language Models (LLMs) have made remarkable progress in recent years, driving massive interest in generative AI across industries. Yet, many organizations have found that off-the-shelf AI tools often fall short. The answers sound fluent, but lack accuracy, depth, and most importantly, connection to a company’s own data.

That’s where retrieval augmented generation (RAG) comes in. RAG combines the generative power of language models with the precision of enterprise search, allowing AI to generate responses grounded in real, company-specific knowledge rather than guesses.

How RAG works

RAG typically operates in two main phases:

1. Ingestion – internal documents, databases, emails, reports, and system data are indexed and made searchable.

2. Retrieval and generation – when a user asks a question, the system retrieves relevant information from that index and then generates an answer grounded in that content.

The result is AI that doesn’t just “sound smart,” but is informed, producing fact-based answers with citations, context, and specificity.

Read another about idexing: The Secret behind Effective AI: Why Indexing is the Key to Succes

Ayfie’s approach: Index – Our RAG platform

At Ayfie, we’ve built our own RAG-based platform called Index – designed to help companies unlock the value of their data through structured retrieval and context-aware AI.

Index builds on more than 15 years of experience in information retrieval and text analytics, combining mature indexing technology with modern generative AI.

Key features:

• Pre-indexing and linguistic analysis of unstructured data before it’s passed to the language model, ensuring higher accuracy and contextual integrity.
• Full system integration: Index connects to over 150 sources including SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Slack, and internal databases.
• Enterprise-grade data control: Index can be deployed on-premises, hybrid, or in the cloud. Your data stays within your governance boundaries.
• Reduced hallucination risk: Because the LLM generates answers only from verified, approved data sources.

Why Index (RAG) create more business value

Generic generative AI often produces plausible but wrong answers because it can’t access your organization’s knowledge base. RAG fixes this by retrieving factual data first and generating language second.

With Ayfie Index, you gain:

• Accurate, context-aware insights grounded in your own data.
• Higher user satisfaction – employees and customers get clear, specific answers, not vague generalities.
• Lower costs – no need for extensive fine-tuning or expensive custom models.
• Data security and compliance – crucial for industries handling sensitive information (finance, legal, healthcare, and public sector).

Key use cases

RAG platforms like Index can transform multiple business functions:

• Knowledge management and intranet search: Employees can ask natural-language questions and get concise answers from across the organization’s data.
• Customer service chatbots: AI assistants retrieve and synthesize information from policies, CRM data, and documentation to provide case-specific answers.
• Document and report drafting: AI pre-populates relevant sections using verified internal data, saving time and improving consistency.
  
  

Challenges and considerations

While RAG significantly enhances accuracy, it depends on the quality and accessibility of underlying data. Challenges include:

• Data quality – inaccurate or outdated information leads to unreliable outputs.
• Multimodal inputs – interpreting graphs, images, or complex slides can be difficult without multimodal LLMs.
• Licensing and privacy – organizations must manage IP rights, compliance, and governance for all connected data sources.

Ayfie addresses these challenges through Index’s robust ingestion pipeline, linguistic enrichment, and configurable access controls.

Retrieval-augmented generation represents a major leap forward for enterprise AI. Bridging the gap between generative creativity and factual precision.

With Ayfie Index, organizations gain the power of RAG in a secure, scalable, and compliant way—turning fragmented information into actionable knowledge. Instead of generic AI answers, you get insights that reflect your company’s reality. 

Interested in seing how RAG can benefit your company? Reach out to us in our contact form and we'll happily show you.