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An Overview of Glean for IT Service Management

Key Features and Capabilities of Glean for IT Teams

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Glean Review

Glean Review: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

Glean is an AI-powered enterprise search and knowledge management platform that redefines how teams access and utilize company information. 

By connecting data across applications like Slack, Google Workspace, Jira, and Salesforce, Glean eliminates information silos and enables employees to find answers, documents, and expertise through a single, intelligent search interface. 

IT operations, internal support, and knowledge management teams rely on Glean not just for search—but for automating workflows and making organizational knowledge instantly accessible.

What Is Glean?

Glean is an AI-powered workplace productivity platform designed to centralize and intelligently search across an organization's entire digital ecosystem. Using advanced technologies like Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), Glean connects to 100+ enterprise applications, creating a unified knowledge hub where employees can find documents, answers, and experts through natural language queries. 

The platform serves organizations from growing startups to large enterprises, with strong adoption among IT teams, operations managers, and internal support staff who need fast access to accurate, permissions-aware information for decision-making and workflow automation.

What is Glean used for?

Common use cases for Glean include streamlining knowledge discovery, automating workflows, and improving team productivity across diverse organizational functions:

  • Enterprise Knowledge Search - Unified search across all company applications eliminates time wasted switching between platforms and hunting for scattered information
  • Employee Onboarding - New hires access relevant documents, policies, and team information instantly, dramatically reducing ramp-up time and improving early productivity
  • IT Service Management - Automated ticket routing, knowledge base search, and workflow execution reduce manual support tasks while maintaining service quality
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration - Teams quickly identify subject matter experts, access shared resources, and coordinate projects without information bottlenecks
  • Workflow Automation - Custom AI agents automate repetitive processes like approvals, document summarization, and task routing based on organizational knowledge
  • Compliance and Audit Support - Rapid retrieval of records, communications, and documentation needed for regulatory compliance with complete audit trails

Key Features of Glean

The platform's comprehensive functionality centers around AI-powered search and automation:

  • Universal Search provides a single interface that searches across all connected enterprise applications, delivering contextually relevant results through natural language understanding rather than keyword matching.
  • AI Assistant goes beyond search to automate tasks, generate content, and provide conversational access to organizational knowledge using company-specific data.
  • Custom AI Applications enable organizations to build specialized agents and workflows without coding, allowing subject matter experts to create always-available AI assistants.
  • Enterprise Integrations connect seamlessly with 100+ business applications including communication tools, document repositories, and project management platforms.
  • Security and Permissions maintain enterprise-grade access controls, ensuring users only see information they're authorized to access while providing comprehensive audit trails.
  • Workflow Automation executes complete processes from request intake through resolution, handling approvals, system updates, and notifications automatically.
  • RAG Technology separates information retrieval from answer generation, ensuring responses are factually grounded in current company data rather than generic AI outputs.

Glean Pricing

Glean uses a subscription-based pricing model tailored to enterprise customers with custom quotes based on organizational requirements.

Plan Type Pricing Model Key Features
Enterprise Search XXX Universal search, basic AI assistant, standard integrations
Work AI Suite XXX Custom agents, advanced automation, generative AI features
Custom Enterprise XXX Tailored integrations, dedicated support, advanced security controls

Glean Pros & Cons

Glean offers significant advantages for knowledge-intensive organizations while presenting some implementation considerations.

Glean Pros

  • AI-powered contextual search delivers highly relevant results even with imperfect keyword queries
  • Unified interface eliminates context switching between multiple enterprise applications
  • Custom AI agents enable no-code workflow automation tailored to specific organizational needs
  • Enterprise-grade security maintains strict access controls while enabling broad information access
  • Rapid implementation can deliver value within weeks or months, depending on the organization's data complexity and integration requirements
  • Extensive integration ecosystem connects with most common business applications

Glean Cons

  • Premium enterprise pricing may be prohibitive for smaller organizations or those with limited budgets
  • AI-generated responses can occasionally include inaccuracies if underlying data is poorly structured or incomplete
  • Complex enterprise environments may require significant initial configuration to optimize search relevance
  • Heavy dependence on data quality means organizations need good information governance practices
  • Integration with highly customized or legacy systems may require additional development effort
  • Lacks native integration within messaging platforms where employees already communicate
  • Requires users to switch contexts from their primary workflow environment to access information
  • Limited service desk functionality for direct request handling within collaboration tools
  • May not provide sufficient workflow automation for complex cross-departmental processes

When Glean Isn't Enough: Meet Siit

While Glean excels at knowledge discovery and centralization, organizations often need a complementary solution that addresses the last-mile problem: turning information into action within existing workflows. This is where Siit becomes essential, operating as a service management layer directly within communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Siit redefines how teams utilize organizational knowledge by:

  • Meeting employees where they work - Instead of requiring context switching, Siit brings knowledge and workflow capabilities directly into messaging platforms where employees already spend their time
  • Converting knowledge to action - Beyond surfacing information, Siit enables immediate action through automated workflows that connect search results to approvals, ticket creation, and system updates
  • Providing conversational service desk - Employees can request assistance through natural conversations in their messaging platforms, with AI-powered triage and routing to the right teams
  • Facilitating cross-departmental processes - Complex workflows spanning multiple teams are orchestrated seamlessly, maintaining context and documentation throughout the process
  • Offering low-code automation - Business users can create sophisticated workflows without development resources, connecting information discovery to practical outcomes

Glean Alternatives

Several platforms offer enterprise search and knowledge management capabilities, though with varying approaches to AI integration and workflow automation:

  • Microsoft Viva integrates deeply with Office 365 environments, providing knowledge discovery and employee experience tools without requiring additional authentication infrastructure.
  • Guru focuses on verified knowledge management with collaborative content creation, offering structured information sharing with built-in quality controls.
  • Notion combines documentation, project management, and knowledge sharing in a unified workspace, enabling teams to create and maintain organizational knowledge bases.
  • Confluence specializes in team documentation and knowledge sharing with strong integration to Atlassian's project management ecosystem.

Algolia provides developer-focused search APIs for building custom search experiences with high performance and extensive customization options.

FAQs

What types of data sources can Glean search across?

Glean connects to over 100 enterprise applications including cloud storage (Google Drive, SharePoint), communication platforms (Slack, Microsoft Teams), project management tools (Jira, Asana), customer systems (Salesforce, Zendesk), and custom databases through APIs. The platform maintains strict permission controls, ensuring users only access information they're authorized to see across all connected sources.

How does Glean's AI differ from general-purpose chatbots?

Glean uses Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) technology that first retrieves specific information from your organization's connected systems, then uses AI to synthesize accurate, contextual answers. This approach prevents hallucinations and ensures responses are grounded in actual company data rather than generic training information, making it far more reliable for enterprise use.

Can Glean integrate with existing IT service management tools?

Yes, Glean integrates with popular ITSM platforms like Jira Service Management, ServiceNow, and Zendesk. Organizations can layer Glean's search capabilities on top of existing ticketing systems, enhancing knowledge discovery without requiring migration from current service management workflows or disrupting established support processes.

What security measures does Glean implement for enterprise data?

Glean maintains enterprise-grade security through role-based access controls, data encryption in transit and at rest, comprehensive audit trails, and compliance with industry standards including SOC 2 Type 2. The platform enforces existing system permissions in real-time, ensuring users never see information they shouldn't access regardless of which connected system contains the data

How quickly can organizations see value from Glean implementation?

Many organizations report seeing immediate productivity improvements within the first week of deployment, with setup typically completing in under two hours for basic configurations. However, maximum value requires time for the AI to learn organizational patterns and for teams to build custom workflows, with most enterprises seeing full benefits within 30-60 days of implementation.

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