Otto Group develops internal tool with Microsoft Azure

Microsoft deliberately offers its Azure cloud service as a flexible and open system. Microsoft Azure includes the option of using the cloud service for the further development of internal tools. The Otto Group has done this and developed an AI assistant that is trained on internal Group content. The chatbot is based on ChatGPT and uses the Azure OpenAI service.

ogGPT: The Otto Group's in-house AI tool

The Otto Group uses the possibilities offered by Microsoft Azure with its self-developed chatbot called ogGPT. The challenges in the development of generative AI-supported tools are data protection-compliant and secure solutions that are legally compliant. With its ogGPT tool, the Otto Group has quickly developed a tool that is both secure and compliant with data protection regulations.

The launch of ogGPT within the Otto Group took place at the end of September. The internal generative AI is currently available to around 26,000 employees in German-speaking countries. The Group-wide launch is already in preparation. The professional use by employees is intended to simplify communication, the provision of information and assistance.

ogGPT is an AI language model. A team from Otto Group IT and the Digital & Consulting department developed the Group's own application. It only took a few weeks from concept to rollout. The training of the artificial intelligence is not to take place via chat and internal data. Instead, the Otto Group uses the Microsoft Azure OpenAI service. Companies can use the generative AI models from developer OpenAI via Azure. These are currently: ChatGPT, GPT-4 and DALL-E.

Development opportunities with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service

With its self-developed tool, the Otto Group demonstrates the possibilities offered by Microsoft Azure and the implemented OpenAI service.

In addition to the chat function, ogGPT offers numerous other functions. For example, employees can upload documents or create complete knowledge databases (knowledge bases). In these documents and databases, they interact with the generative AI, which answers questions whose answers can be found in the documents and databases.

ogGPT provides the source reference to the answer directly. This saves a long search within the documents and guarantees the traceability of the corresponding answers.

Thanks to the ChatGPT basis, which is available in several languages, ogGPT also recognizes these languages. This simplifies translations and searching for answers even in foreign-language documents and databases.

Sebastian Kauke, Otto Group Executive Board Member for E-Commerce, Technology, Business Intelligence and Corporate Ventures, is enthusiastic about the team's work and the rapid development of the in-house tool, but sees this as just the beginning: "The potential of artificial intelligence is huge, we are currently only seeing the tip of the iceberg. No other technology will be as disruptive as AI in the next few years."

Otto Group CEO Alexander Birken agrees: "This is just the beginning. We will continue to develop applications such as ogGPT in order to offer all colleagues even more exciting opportunities in the field of generative AI."

Develop your own tools such as ogGPT with Microsoft Azure

The Otto Group is demonstrating what will be of great importance to many companies in the future. The importance of artificial intelligence in the workplace is growing. Solutions for communication, data archiving, search functions and other applications that make everyday working life easier can be implemented using generative AI.

The functions of ogGPT such as voice control, text processing and search functions can be developed internally with Microsoft Azure, provided you have the necessary programming skills. In our three-day training on the design and implementation of a Microsoft Azure AI solution, you will learn how to use AI in Microsoft Azure and develop numerous helpful applications in practice.

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