Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the North American Collaboration and Cloud Summit (NACCS), and I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of Microsoft 365 content presented by dedicated volunteers and Microsoft 365 experts. One key takeaway that stood out to me was the critical importance of having a robust information architecture in place before deploying Copilot or any generative AI solution in your organization.
For small businesses, understanding and implementing a strong information architecture is crucial to a successful generative AI rollout. There are five key pillars to focus on: user-centered design, findability, scalability, consistency, and efficiency.
User-Centered Design: This is the most important pillar. Your information architecture must be intuitive and easy for people to use. If it’s not user-friendly, it simply won’t be used. Keep your metadata tagging simple and your governance straightforward. Align your architecture with user goals and behaviors to ensure it meets their needs.
Findability: Data within your architecture must be easily searchable and accessible for both Copilot and end-users. If data can’t be found, it’s essentially useless. Make sure your data is organized in a way that makes it easy to locate.
Scalability: Your architecture should be designed to grow with your business and data needs. Without scalability, you’ll find yourself having to reinvent the wheel every few years as your business expands.
Consistency: Consistent storage and tagging of information and data are essential. This ensures that your data is clean and easily readable by both end-users and Copilot.
Efficiency: Efficiency ties all the other pillars together. An efficient information architecture ensures that your Copilot experience is smooth and easy to use, saving time and resources.
If you’re ready to get started on building a strong information architecture for your small business, feel free to contact us for a free consultation and a 30-day plan to get you on the right track!