Introduction
In a significant move, Egnyte has introduced a range of generative AI tools and revealed more details about its future plans in this area. The company’s chief strategy officer, David Spitz, emphasized that Egnyte is not just jumping on the bandwagon of generative AI but has been incorporating AI into its platform for over a decade.
ChatGPT-like Interface
Egnyte’s new interface allows customers to interact with their stored content using natural language. This means that business users can ask questions and receive answers, perform tasks such as creating summaries of documents or reviewing transcripts of video and audio to generate key points or summaries. This is a significant step forward in making AI accessible to all business users on the platform.
Background Tasks vs. Forefront
Unlike many enterprise companies announcing generative AI capabilities this year, Egnyte has been working behind the scenes to incorporate AI into its platform for over 10 years. The company has been focusing on background tasks such as privacy, security, and infrastructure management. However, with today’s announcement, Egnyte is bringing AI to the forefront of its platform.
Powerful Search Capabilities
Spitz highlighted that in the future, customers will be able to query across multiple documents within a single folder or across multiple folders to locate content related to a particular subject. This will bring powerful search capabilities to the content repository. He also mentioned that later this year, Egnyte plans to introduce natural language-based search, which will enable users to find specific information more efficiently.
Models and Fine-tuning
Egnyte co-founder and CEO Vineet Jain emphasized that they are building their solutions on existing foundational models. Currently, these models are based on GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 via Microsoft Azure, but Egnyte still needs to fine-tune these models for specific customer requirements. This is particularly important in industries like life sciences and financial services where language usage can be unique.
Ensuring Accuracy and Confidentiality
Jain assured that the company has taken necessary measures to ensure accuracy and confidentiality of customer data. They have worked closely with Microsoft to prevent any customer data from being shared with foundational models or other customers, while also ensuring that generated information respects access controls.
Competitive Advantage
Egnyte’s announcement is in line with many enterprise companies announcing generative AI capabilities this year. However, it’s essential for Egnyte to have its own spin on these tools to remain competitive. Box announced similar features earlier this year in May, highlighting the importance of innovation and differentiation in the market.
Business Performance
Egnyte has been a steady performer in the enterprise software space. The company surpassed $200 million in revenue in the first quarter this year with 25% revenue growth. This success is attributed to Egnyte’s focus on building a solid business while competitors took bigger chunks of investment capital and tried to move faster.
Availability
The new tooling will be offered to a limited number of customers initially, allowing Egnyte to test and refine it in production environments before making it more widely available. It is unclear when the features will become generally available, but it’s expected to be sometime later this year.
Conclusion
Egnyte’s introduction of generative AI tools and its roadmap demonstrate the company’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction. By leveraging existing foundational models and fine-tuning them for specific industries, Egnyte aims to bring powerful search capabilities and natural language-based search to its platform, setting it apart from competitors.
Future Prospects
As Egnyte continues to invest in AI research and development, we can expect the company to remain a key player in the enterprise software space. With its focus on innovation, customer satisfaction, and confidentiality, Egnyte is well-positioned for long-term success in an increasingly competitive market.
