The problem
Organisations routinely need to share knowledge with people outside their tenant — contractors, delivery partners, auditors, regulators, or members of the public. But enterprise AI tools like Microsoft Copilot are designed for internal users with licensed accounts. They can't provide governed, limited access to external parties without giving them access to the full tenant.
The result: knowledge gets shared by email, as PDF attachments, or not at all. External stakeholders are left without the context they need, and the organisation loses control of what was shared.
How AnswerVault helps
AnswerVault lets you create governed knowledge bases from curated document sets — and give external users access to query them. External users see only what you've chosen to include. They don't need a Microsoft licence, Copilot subscription, or access to your SharePoint tenant.
Use cases being piloted today
- Contractor onboarding — Give delivery partners access to project documentation, SOPs, and technical standards without granting them tenant access.
- Partner enablement — Let channel partners query product documentation, pricing guidelines, and integration specs in natural language.
- Regulatory and audit support — Provide auditors with a queryable interface to compliance documentation, policies, and governance records.
- Citizen and public access — Public sector organisations can offer citizens AI-powered access to published guidance, policy documents, and service information.
Why this matters for regulated organisations
- Governed, not open — You choose exactly which documents are queryable. External users can't see beyond what you've curated.
- Audit trail — Every query and access event is logged. You know who asked what and when.
- No tenant exposure — External users never access your Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or Confluence tenant.
- Data sovereignty — All processing happens on EU/UK infrastructure. External access doesn't change the data residency posture.
- Cost-effective — No per-user licence fees for external users. Copilot would require a full M365 licence for each external party.