Enhancing IT Operations Efficiency with IBM Watson Discovery
A large European retail and distribution enterprise struggled with fragmented documentation, slow IT issue resolution, and heavy dependency on manual knowledge retrieval across multiple stores and support environments. With thousands of daily employee queries and large volumes of operational data, the organization needed a scalable way to centralize knowledge and empower teams with faster insights.
By partnering with Nexright, the enterprise deployed IBM Watson Discovery, enabling AI-driven document search, natural language understanding, and rapid retrieval of relevant information. This allowed IT teams to access troubleshooting steps, SOPs, and technical knowledge within seconds—significantly enhancing service responsiveness and reducing operational overhead.
Business challenge
The enterprise faced mounting pressure to support large-scale store operations, internal IT teams, and service desks with accurate and timely data. Critical knowledge—SOP manuals, store system guides, error codes, vendor documentation—was stored in disparate formats and repositories, causing inefficiencies.
Key Challenges:
- Fragmented Knowledge Sources
Documentation existed in PDFs, email archives, SharePoint folders, and legacy systems—making retrieval slow and unreliable. - High Dependency on Manual Effort
Agents repeatedly searched, read, and interpreted complex documents during support calls, delaying resolutions. - No Unified View of Operational Insights
Support teams lacked real-time visibility into recurring issues, root causes, and store-level operational signals. - Growing Scale & Complexity
With new store openings and system updates, the documentation volume increased and became harder to maintain manually.
The enterprise needed a centralized, AI-powered knowledge platform that could understand natural language queries, index all operational documentation, and instantly surface accurate, actionable insights.
Solution
Partnering with Nexright, the retail group implemented IBM Watson Discovery to unify and automate knowledge retrieval across all IT operations.
Solution Highlights:
- AI-Driven Search engine
Watson Discovery was trained on thousands of internal documents, enabling support teams to ask questions in natural language and receive precise, context-driven answers instantly. - Automated Document Understanding
AI extracted insights from highly technical documents—error logs, SOPs, protocols—reducing manual reading and interpretation. - Operational Knowledge Hub
Nexright created a central knowledge repository that indexed store operations manuals, POS system documentation, vendor updates, and support records. - Natural Language Troubleshooting
Agents could now ask questions like
“What does error code R45 mean on the POS system?”
and instantly receive structured steps, root causes, and corrective actions. - Continuous Learning Framework
Nexright set up feedback loops to ensure Watson Discovery improved accuracy as more queries, corrections, and documents were added. - Accelerated IT Ticket Resolution
Average resolution time decreased significantly, reducing operational backlog and improving employee experience across stores.
Solution components
- IBM Watson Discovery
- IBM Cloud Pak® for Data (optional deployment)
- Nexright AI and Integration Services
Intelligent Document Search
AI-powered understanding of complex operational documents, extracting insights beyond simple keyword search.
Natural Language Querying
Support teams receive direct answers without navigating long manuals or reading through irrelevant content.
Automated Insight Extraction
Identifies patterns from recurring issues, enabling proactive improvements in IT operations.
Result
- Reduced issue resolution time by 45%, enabling faster store-level operations support.
- Improved accuracy of responses, lowering escalation volumes and dependency on senior specialists.
- Centralized over 3,500 documents across store operations, POS systems, HR systems, and IT protocols.
- Cut manual documentation lookup time from minutes to seconds, improving daily productivity for 1,000+ employees.
- Created a sustainable, AI-driven knowledge ecosystem, reducing long-term operational costs.
Nexright helped us transform our operational knowledge into a powerful AI-driven solution. With IBM Watson Discovery, our teams now find answers instantly, resolve issues faster, and operate with far greater confidence. This implementation has fundamentally improved the speed and quality of our IT operations.
— Head of IT Operations, European Retail Organization