What does SWIRL do? A closer look

People often ask me, “What does SWIRL do?” Over the years, I’ve given several explanations. I frequently hear from others that “SWIRL is like Perplexity AI for internal data.” While this is a fair comparison, the reality is more nuanced, especially considering the shifts in enterprise IT brought on by the cloud.

Understanding SWIRL in Today’s Context

In the cloud era, the delineation of “the corporate perimeter” has changed significantly. Most enterprise workloads are now hosted in the cloud, meaning they reside within someone else’s application environment. This shift complicates the simplistic analogy between SWIRL and Perplexity AI.

Based on what I have read, Perplexity operates by scraping the web and leveraging generative AI services like OpenAI to summarize the gathered information. They don’t provide generative AI but integrate existing services to deliver insights. This approach parallels what SWIRL does, but there are key differences.

A Journey Back to the Personal Search Engine

A long time ago, while working at another search firm, we cooked up a Personal Search Engine. The idea was to tailor search capabilities to individual users’ needs, making it easier to find relevant information quickly... Fast forward to today, and we see this concept resurfacing, albeit in a more advanced and user-friendly form.

What Makes SWIRL Different

The primary difference between the old concept of a Personal Search Engine and what SWIRL offers today lies in the interface and capabilities:

1. Conversational Interface: Unlike the traditional approach of configuring multiple web UIs, SWIRL allows you to interact with it through a conversational interface. This makes the process more intuitive and accessible, eliminating the need for users to navigate complex settings or worry about exact search terms.
2. Personalized: One of the practical advantages of SWIRL is that it plugs-in to the single sign on (SSO) infrastructure. So each user can talk about, and receive AI insights that are personal - based entirely on their authorized view of the enterprise data universe.
3. Infrastructure Software: SWIRL is software you install in your own environment - private cloud etc. It's not a service you have to vet, trust and hope doesn't get hacked someday.

SWIRL’s Core Strengths

At its core, SWIRL is designed to handle the complexities of modern enterprise data environments. Here are a few of its key strengths:

• Internal Data Focus: SWIRL specializes in navigating and extracting insights from internal data sources. This capability is critical for enterprises that need to leverage vast amounts of proprietary data stored across various systems and applications.
• Real-Time Data: SWIRL gets information quickly & securely without moving data around. This allows user to access the latest data without any hassle or extra effort.
• Security and Compliance: Unlike traditional web scraping and data aggregation methods, SWIRL operates within the secure boundaries of your enterprise environment. This approach ensures compliance with data governance policies and protects sensitive information.
• Integration with Generative AI: While SWIRL is not a generative AI, it integrates seamlessly with leading generative AI services. This hybrid model allows SWIRL to provide sophisticated insights and summaries by leveraging the best available AI technologies.

Bringing It All Together

So, when people say, “SWIRL is like Perplexity AI for internal data,” they capture part of the picture. However, SWIRL goes beyond this by addressing modern enterprises’ specific needs and challenges. It combines the principles of the Personal Search Engine with advanced AI capabilities and a conversational interface, making it a powerful tool for navigating and extracting value from internal data.

The shift to cloud-based environments has redefined how we think about corporate data and applications. SWIRL adapts to this new landscape, offering a solution that respects the complexities of modern IT infrastructures while delivering user-friendly and insightful interactions.

In Conclusion & The Future of Search

Reflecting on the journey from the early days of the Personal Search Engine to the advanced capabilities of SWIRL today, it’s clear that what’s new is indeed old again, but with significant improvements. The evolution of search and AI technologies has brought us to a point where we can interact with our data more naturally and efficiently than ever before.

For those curious to see what a conversation with your data looks like, ping me for a demo anytime!