Scaling RAG from Pilot to Production

Moving RAG from pilot to production is primarily an engineering and operating-model challenge, not a model-selection exercise. This insight explains why retrieval quality, evolving knowledge bases, latency, security, and limited observability cause otherwise successful prototypes to stall. It outlines the production capabilities required: reliable retrieval, continuous evaluation, governance and auditability, scalable architecture, monitoring, and cost control. Technology leaders should use these criteria to assess whether a RAG initiative can deliver dependable outcomes for real users at enterprise scale.