From archives to organisational memory
In 2016, we said: “There is gold in the archives.” This film shows how that idea continues to develop, together with our clients.
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An idea from 2016
Looking beyond the scan
A Dutch newspaper featured us in 2016 under a headline that translates as “There is gold in the archives”. We described “a kind of Google, searching rapidly through the mountain of data”. And said: “If you throw away your archive, you throw away your future.”
Behind those words was a conviction: an archive is not simply something to preserve. It holds knowledge that can help an organisation move forward. Why a decision was made, what has already been investigated and which agreements were reached.
The vision was already there. The technology has since matured, allowing us to do much more with it. Together with our clients, we continue to build on that foundation.
The essential foundation
Digital and usable first
To use archival knowledge with AI, the information must first be digitally available and usable. For paper records, that starts with careful digitisation. Text recognition, context, relationships and provenance follow. Existing digital files need the same attention.
A folder full of scans is not yet an organisational memory. That is why we connect digitisation and archival processing with metadata and preparation for further use.
From books and documents to usable source dataKnowledge within reach
Ask questions, trace the sources
An AI-powered organisational memory can help colleagues ask questions about their organisation's information. References to the original documents allow answers to be checked.
This can run locally, on the organisation's own servers. Access permissions determine which information each person may consult. Good source data, up-to-date information and human review remain important.
More about local AI on your own archival dataLooking ahead together
A foundation for the next steps
The film also looks ahead to AI agents that could support tasks such as gathering information, preparing requests for quotations and helping to monitor agreements.
They need reliable organisational knowledge and clearly defined authority. The information we make carefully accessible today can therefore also become a foundation for future applications.
The situations in the film are illustrative examples. The configuration and capabilities depend on the organisation's sources, rights and working processes.