How SmartSearch Grew into a Knowledge Solution for PGGM 

What started as a specific information need within the legal domain has grown into an organization-wide innovation. Lauryn Cuffy, Innovation Manager, and Louic Vermeer, Data Specialist, explain how SmartSearch now supports more than thirty teams across PGGM in quickly finding reliable information. 

The original request came from pension lawyers, Lauryn explains. They work with nearly half a million documents, carefully organized by case file. While this structure works well for case-based work, there was also a need to search across files. For example, to find specific topics or search through all emails and legal correspondence. 

From First Application to a Scalable Platform 

From the very first version, we chose a platform approach. The need originated from one target group, but the underlying question was relevant across PGGM: how can you quickly find relevant and reliable information in millions of documents? 

Today, more than thirty teams have their own environment within SmartSearch. In asset management, for example, the platform is used to locate specific information in extensive reports from external managers. Teams such as audit, compliance, and facility management also use SmartSearch to efficiently search, summarize, and compare documents. 

Security and Ease of Use 

Louic explains: “SmartSearch must not only be able to quickly unlock relevant information, but also strictly respect existing authorizations and access rights. This ensures that users can only access information for which they are authorized.” 

The Technology Behind SmartSearch 

SmartSearch uses Elasticsearch, among other technologies, a database that excels at searching large volumes of text. On top of that, we use AI technology, a proprietary SharePoint indexer, and custom-trained models. This enables us to make hundreds of thousands of documents searchable quickly and accurately, tailored to the PGGM context. 

The development of SmartSearch is very much a collaborative effort. Users and developers work together to build a search solution that is usable for all PGGM teams and can be adapted to individual needs. 

More Focused Search, Faster Insights 

SmartSearch is evolving from a search engine into a platform that helps users find answers. With AI capabilities such as text summarization and natural language querying, users can quickly locate the information they need. 

According to Lauryn, user feedback is essential in this process. “Colleagues who use SmartSearch help us improve the platform. By sharing experiences, questions, and ideas, we can continue developing it in ways that align with the needs of the organization.”