How a CustomGPT Enhances Efficiency and Creativity at hagebau

Imagine you could automate everyday routine tasks while creating space for creative and innovative activities. This is exactly what the new AI chatbot hagebauGPT enables for the employees of hagebau – a Europe-wide network of wholesale and retail traders in the fields of building materials, wood, tiles, and DIY.

With hagebauGPT, employees can access company databases and internal knowledge sources securely and efficiently. This technology not only promotes the safe handling of generative AI but also improves business processes within the company. In the long term, this is expected to lead to greater efficiency and support employees in their daily work routine. In short, hagebauGPT impressively demonstrates how tailored AI solutions can create real benefits and a new dimension in the workplace.

The Challenge

When the new generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and others were released, hagebau quickly recognized the potential of these technologies to support their internal processes. However, with limited IT resources, the company faced the challenge of effectively implementing these innovative solutions.

With statworx as a strategic partner, hagebau decided to develop its own data-secure chatbot – hagebauGPT. This chatbot is based on the CustomGPT platform from statworx, which was specifically tailored to the needs of the company. In addition to secure integration into the hagebau cloud, CustomGPT offers the ability to integrate industry-specific functionalities and a customized user interface that aligns with the company’s brand guidelines.

The Technology

hagebauGPT uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to enhance generative AI models with specific knowledge from external data sources. The process consists of three steps: First, relevant knowledge (Retrieval) is found from the available data. Then, an instruction (Augment) is created, which the language model uses to generate a precise answer (Generation). RAG is particularly useful for answering specific questions, as it targets relevant parts of a dataset and thus reduces the risk of errors. Semantic search plays a crucial role by searching not only for keywords but also for meanings. This allows relevant information to be efficiently found from various data sources.

A typical use case for RAG is the deployment in FAQ bots, which use structured FAQ databases to respond to user inquiries. For unstructured data, such as technical manuals or marketing materials, advanced strategies are necessary to transform them into searchable formats. Here, RAG can be further optimized by combining semantic vector search and fuzzy keyword search. This hybrid search method ensures that both precise and contextually relevant information is efficiently identified.

The Outcome

The chatbot offers a variety of features, including processing voice inputs and interacting with internal manuals. Users can also upload and edit their own documents. Thanks to RAG, hagebauGPT integrates company data and also provides control over data security and privacy, as all data remains within the EU. These functionalities not only promote efficiency but also the creativity of employees by enabling new ways of interaction and problem-solving.

After a successful pilot phase, hagebauGPT was made accessible to all employees in May 2024. The response was overwhelmingly positive: Many employees actively use the chatbot and contribute new ideas for further use cases. This shows: hagebau’s journey with hagebauGPT is an example of how targeted investments in AI technology can yield long-term benefits. The company plans to further expand the chatbot’s functionalities with a particular focus on efficiency optimization. Through integration into existing business applications and continuous inclusion of employee feedback, the platform will be further improved and new, innovative applications will be explored.

Conclusion

The collaboration between hagebau and statworx impressively demonstrates how AI-powered technologies can not only increase efficiency but also provide a platform for creative solutions. Companies wishing to follow similar paths can derive concrete best practices from this.

CustomGPT offers companies the opportunity to meet their specific business requirements while ensuring data protection and security. In our case study with hagebau, you can read in detail how the implementation of a CustomGPT solution could also work in your company.