Elastic says AI search & context now decide customer loyalty

While the era of 'big data' has come and gone, the challenges it presented of volume, variety and velocity never really left us. And in the new era where AI applications are becoming ubiquitous, the ability to find the right data at the right time so organisations can plan and react in an increasingly demanding world can be the difference between survival and catastrophe.  

While many organisations may know where their main databases are located and have a good handle on what data they have, the reality is that not everything is neatly stored and organised. Jeremy Pell, the Country Manager for the ANZ region at Elastic, says the company's evolution from a search company to one that supports many different functions including AI and cybersecurity means it is ideally equipped to deal with messy data.

"We give organisations the ability to search across their data no matter where it sits and no matter what kind of data it is. Whether it's on-prem, in the cloud, structured or unstructured, we enable brands to navigate and draw insights out of all those data repositories in real time so they can move from data to insights faster."

The impact of AI cannot be understated says Jeremy. He noted that during the 2026 Super Bowl LX, OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Anthropic, and Meta all ran ads, costing USD$8M for 30 seconds to feature their AI capabilities. Although machine learning and AI aren't new the shift from these tools being only usable by experts to mass consumer adoption is in full swing.

This is why search is so important explains Jeremy.

"AI is really the icing on the cake. But the icing is no good unless you have the cake and the data foundations for the AI strategy is that cake. Search must be there as part of the AI strategy. Your AI strategy is only as good as your weakest data point. With the wrong data, trust is eroded. You need your trusted data feeding your models."

A new KPMG study shows that AI has jumped from the number four concern for Australian executives to their highest priority challenge in just twelve months. This shift is backed up by Elastic's research. More than two-thirds of Australian shoppers admit to shouting or cursing at their screens when website search fails them and 72% of shoppers have abandoned a favourite brand recently due to poor search.

This may drive businesses towards considering AI solutions. But Jeremy says that's analogous to walking around with a hammer and thinking all your issues are nails.  

"You need to start by identifying the problems with the business process. And that means using AI to look through the loads of data across the organisation. It's about avoiding AI hype and moving to AI help," says Jeremy.

Generative AI has reshaped our expectations of search. Instead of a list of links, consumers expect a single answer. If search doesn't give them the answer they want almost instantly, they grow impatient and leave. Traditional search-based flows from search engines are shrinking with traffic now arriving from chat interfaces.

The good news is that visitors who do arrive via chatbots and generative AI have already filtered through multiple gates making them highly qualified prospects. This shifts the focus to delivering an exceptional on‑site search and digital experience, often through prominent home‑page search bars, to capture and retain those ready‑to‑buy customers.

This type of experience has clear applications in online retail, but it extends to many verticals. In finance, enabling a superior search experience enables customers to find the best loan or investment products to suit their needs. It's a similar story for insurance and many other customer-facing verticals.

"The research into this shows customers are willing to pay more if they can find what they want faster – they value convenience," Jeremy adds.

Marketers have long talked about the 'customer journey'. This is an area where Elastic has worked closely with many large retailers. At their recent Elasticon event, the company demonstrated how they built a retail website for a camping and outdoor goods retailer. As well as recommending some specific products, the site was able to use the context provided by the customers to build a more complete journey. By using AI agents, the site was able to use context about the sort of camping trip the customer was planning and make specific recommendations about the type of tent, clothing and other accessories that would be useful.

"Context is critical," explains Jeremy. "Context engineering is what we're working towards and that's what we're building our platform to deliver. Context is everything in regard to the agentic space, but also intelligent search and being able to anticipate the next two or three questions and providing data to be able to find a consolidated answer."

AI that delvers real help and not hype depends on access to the best possible data at the right moment. Elastic has been working for almost two decades to help organisations find their data, wherever it is. As we move towards an agentic AI world where context will be increasingly important, access to data will be the key to achieving success.