What is our primary use case?
I use Glean Platform for creating agents for different kinds of use cases. I built out agents using actions and custom actions. Actions pertain to the ones that Glean Platform already exposes or has. Glean Platform usually has connectors pertaining to connections with various HCM platforms or can read email inboxes. I create agents based on this and ensure that using these actions, I am able to accomplish the desired outcomes.
One of the major problems that I encountered is that there are a lot of policy documents in place that people usually need to read. These documents are very long and may pertain to employee benefits and other topics. Because these documents are extensive and it becomes difficult for an employee to read all of them, I built out an agent that goes through these documents, refers to them, and drafts structured responses based on the queries that users input. The agent is divided into various branches that can read documents pertaining to benefit policy, absences, leaves, and can respond with a structured response and provide accurate descriptions to the user.
What is most valuable?
I received positive feedback from users. Glean Platform also offers an ability to track user usage. I went on the platform and kept track of the analytics and noticed that many people were using this chatbot very effectively. The agent was helping them save a lot of time. The feedback noted from users was typically that the agent saved a lot of time and simplified complex concepts for them. It saved time reading large document files that they would have done originally. The agent also served them a unique purpose where they were able to get curated responses based on their queries and not have to read the entire document itself.
I also built out custom actions in order to reference internal sources. These custom actions were connected to sources that Glean Platform can then read. Custom actions are very useful in that they allow me to connect to sources and fetch data from those sources that I initially could not do and expose it to an AI agent. Glean Platform has a lot of various kinds of connectors and actions that they have in place. Glean Platform offers actions pertaining to data sources. Glean Platform offers actions pertaining to sources like Snowflake. They also have connectors for HCM platforms like Workday, where they allow interfacing with Workday and providing data from the platform. Glean Platform can also read data from Snowflake using Snowflake actions and offer structured insights on that.
What I really appreciate is its ability to chain actions one after the other and also reference an output of a previous action in the next step. The main action that I found particularly useful for Glean Platform is the ability to read emails based on the actions that they have built in. This is very helpful. Also, what I found useful is the GUI interface that Glean Platform offers that allows users to intuitively build out agents based on a GUI interface. The branching logic and looping is done very well in Glean Platform. The GUI has been very helpful for me because building out agents in an IDE or an integrated development environment is good from a developer perspective, but from the perspective of a user or a business side user who can intuitively just draft links and create branches, the experience is much better. Once these are secured by credentials, then fetching data from these platforms becomes very simple and intuitive. Glean Platform does a very good job at understanding and coagulating data and making sure that all of the data is populated correctly. The GUI makes things simpler and reduces the time to market effectively.
One thing that I noticed that was very good about Glean Platform as well is its ability to have actions from previous steps put into the next step. I can just quote an action of a previous step, and the output from that step is brought into the next step. In this manner, this is like writing a code script, but in a low-code manner. What I really appreciate about Glean Platform is the low-code, no-code interface that it offers. I can reference the platform very well, build out agents, reference previous steps, and I do not have to have a dependency on a code script. I can reference steps, get their outputs, put them into new steps, and the agent can then think and respond in a correct manner. What I have noticed is the reliability that these agents offer is very good.
Glean Platform has been very positive when I am using it in the organization. The major impact that I have noticed is how business users are now being impacted and they are using the platform because they understand it easily. It is so easy for business users to understand that the users are taking up ownership and building out agents. I have noticed that the number of agents on the platform has skyrocketed since its pilot earlier in the year. The feedback from the business has been very great, considering the fact that they mentioned that reading complex documents, getting analysis, building out, and streamlining their workflows is very good. This is the way I have seen a positive impact on the organization.
A metric that I can note is that the number of users using the agents has been increasing substantially every single day. The number of users who are being educated about the platform and are building agents because of its simplicity is very good and it is increasing on a day-to-day basis. The footfall on the platform has increased substantially and this is one of the major metrics that I have noticed in order to see the adoption of Glean Platform throughout the organization.
I use Glean Platform's analytics dashboard. That has been very helpful in order to track usage across the platform as well as the different agents that have been built on the platform. Glean Platform's analytics dashboard has led to an increase in adoption of the platform because I can streamline and notice where more enhancements are required and add connectors or build agents accordingly.
The major impact or productivity gains that I have seen is on the business side, where users have noted substantial productivity gains in repetitive tasks that they used to perform. For example, reading emails and generating insights or filling out manual documents that they used to do is now done by agents, and this has been very helpful for the users. In terms of productivity gains, this has been a boon for the users in my company. I have noticed a lot of time saved using Glean Platform. Many manual processes that required substantial time to be invested by employees now have massive time saves. What I have noticed is that these repetitive processes have been automated and the times have reduced from substantial hours or days to a matter of minutes.
What needs improvement?
What I would like to see is an ease by which I can have different connectors set up. Right now I have to do a lot of back and forth in order to have these connectors enabled. Having them by default on the platform would be very helpful for me.
Also, when developing custom actions, having a developer portal where users can track the log of how the requests are being sent to custom endpoints created would be helpful because right now I do not have anything of that nature. It is just a final response that I get and it becomes very difficult to keep track of what is happening in the backend.
Also, the latency that the platform offers is a little high right now. What I have noticed is that on a particular query, the user has to wait a long time in order to get responses. If there is a way to reduce this time and improve performance by decreasing the time for responses, that would be very good. I believe that the latency offered is a little high right now. If I can get prompt responses quickly, then that would be a real user experience enhancement.
Also, what I have noticed is the problem that developers face when creating custom actions in Glean Platform, where we are not able to keep track of what is happening in the backend. A logger of sorts would be very good so that I can maintain an idea of what is happening in the backend. If that issue is resolved, along with also the issue of having custom connectors available from the start rather than going to Glean Platform and having conversations about the thing, then it would be very good. If these issues are resolved, then it would be a strong 10 out of 10 from me. But as of now, it will be an 8 out of 10.
Glean Platform is a very capable platform. It is good for indexing documents and reducing manual workflows by incorporating an element of AI in it. Business usage can be increased as well. The one caveat is if there are developers who are creating actions on Glean Platform, then I must keep an eye on the logging that I have for the platform because interacting with the backend systems becomes very difficult using Glean Platform.
Also, what I have noticed is that it is a real challenge in terms of latency as some of the responses may take a little while to load. However, what I have noticed is that the responses are usually very accurate, and so it is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. This is what I would advise to someone who is looking at Glean Platform.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Glean Platform for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Glean Platform is a relatively stable platform with minimal downtimes. The experience has been very positive on my end. I have not noticed any downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Glean Platform's scalability is very good. The number of users who have been using the platform in the company has been increasing on a daily basis and the number of agents have also been increasing, but the platform has been very capable in handling everything and the increased number of users. In terms of scalability, the platform is very good and the experience is very positive.
How are customer service and support?
I have interacted with Glean Platform's support team. The experience is very positive. They are very prompt to give responses and it is a very great process interacting with them.
They have been very great in helping out with problems regarding custom action configurations and also building out specs for the custom actions. In that manner, Glean Platform's support team has been very good. They are also very knowledgeable and are prompt in their responses. This makes it a real breeze in order to develop on the platform because of the prompt support. I am very happy with the support and I would really recommend it.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I noticed a lot of time saved using Glean Platform. Many manual processes that required substantial time to be invested by employees now have massive time saves. What I have noticed is that these repetitive processes have been automated and the time has reduced from substantial hours or days to a matter of minutes.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Glean Platform was the first solution I evaluated and used in my organization. Glean Platform was the only one that I evaluated.
What other advice do I have?
I think Glean Platform is a very capable platform and that the enhancements it offers and the way it is structured is very helpful. I believe that it is capable and it really enhances the user experience a lot by the user-friendly GUI that it is offering. Also, the ability to create agents that streamline business processes is a real aid in my opinion. I would highly recommend Glean Platform for usage in your company.