Use Case
Fair Work Ombudsman
High-volume public service search across a fragmented knowledge environment
The environment
Millions of enquiries, fragmented knowledge, and no reliable way to find the right answer quickly.
The Australian Fair Work Ombudsman supports enquiries from employers, employees, and the broader community as part of Australia’s workplace relations system.
Its call centre handles approximately 5 million enquiries each year. In that environment, staff need fast access to accurate, current information across a large body of internal knowledge and case-related material.
But that knowledge was distributed across many repositories and systems, making timely, confident retrieval difficult.
This use case centered on giving staff and the public a more unified way to find the right information across a large and fragmented knowledge environment.
The challenge
An outdated case environment made it difficult to find current information in time-sensitive interactions.
The existing case management environment at the call centre was archaic, which made it difficult for staff to locate up-to-date information quickly.
Long case handling times were driving up operating costs. At the same time, long wait times were creating dissatisfaction for both customers and staff.
The problem was not simply access to information. It was the lack of a reliable, central way to retrieve the right knowledge in the right context.
Operational impact
Slow enquiry handling
Staff had difficulty finding current information quickly enough to support live enquiries efficiently.
Experience impact
Long wait times and frustration
Customers experienced delays, while staff were working in a system that made service delivery harder than it needed to be.
The approach
A centralized search layer across knowledge, cases, and customer information.
Search365 delivered a centralized search platform to improve access across the knowledge repositories used in case handling.
The implementation created a single point of search for staff, while also improving the public self-service experience so customers could find information more easily themselves.
Full-text search across key records
Search was extended across enquiries, cases, accounts, and customer-related information.
SharePoint knowledge access
The solution connected into the SharePoint knowledge system as part of a unified retrieval experience.
Contextual knowledge in real time
Relevant knowledge could be surfaced directly from the CRM for call centre staff handling cases.
Precise relevance in the right context
Parametric search and relevance tuning helped locate and deliver the correct content in the correct context.
Related knowledge optimization
Search results and related guidance were improved using previously provided advice and analytics.
Improved self-service
Customers were given a better path to search for and find information, reducing dependency on the call centre.
Outcomes
Faster enquiry handling, better customer pathways, and stronger operational efficiency.
The stated outcome was a reduction in enquiry processing time of up to 50%, improving the cost-per-call ratio and reducing the time spent on the phone for each enquiry.
The implementation also improved productivity across the call centre and website, helped strengthen staff job satisfaction, improved the self-service experience, and contributed to lower call volumes and shorter wait times.
Up to 50% reduction in enquiry processing time
Reduced time spent handling each enquiry and improved the overall cost-per-call ratio.
Better productivity across channels
Improved business unit productivity across both the call centre and the website through better customer pathways.
Improved staff experience
Easier access to reliable information contributed to stronger internal job satisfaction scoring.
Improved customer experience
Better self-service, lower call volumes, and reduced wait times supported improved customer satisfaction.
Why it matters now
This is the same kind of retrieval problem many large organisations still need to solve.
This case reflects a familiar enterprise challenge: knowledge spread across many repositories, staff under pressure to answer quickly, and no consistent way to retrieve the right information in context.
This is not a historical pattern. It is the same search and retrieval foundation that underpins Search Sensei today—supporting organisations that need strong enterprise search now, with the ability to evolve into conversational and agentic capability over time.
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