PaperTrail Adds Scout AI Search to Its Document Platform

In Short

PaperTrail says Scout AI Search is now part of its document platform. The company says users can type questions in everyday language and get relevant documents back without remembering file names, folders, or index fields.

What Happened: How Scout AI Search Works Inside PaperTrail

PaperTrail, a Johannesburg-built enterprise content management platform from Egis Software, says it has made Scout AI the core of its Document Management Software.

Scout is PaperTrail’s in-house AI engine. PaperTrail says the first function is search, where a user types a question in plain language and Scout returns matching documents.

PaperTrail says Scout Search looks at both a document’s metadata and its content. It gives an example of asking for unpaid invoices above a set amount from last quarter, and getting matching records stored in PaperTrail.

PaperTrail also says Scout Search shares no documents with an AI model. The search happens inside the PaperTrail environment, which means the archive does not leave where it is kept.

PaperTrail says Scout sits on top of features it has offered for years. These include bulk and online capture, image enhancement, full page and zonal optical character recognition, form and barcode recognition, automated or manual page separation, and making scanned PDFs fully text searchable.

Why It Matters: Control Over Documents and Optional AI Reading

PaperTrail says Scout can do more than search. It can read, check, extract, and route documents within existing workflows.

PaperTrail says a document goes to an AI model only when a business switches it on for a particular process. The business also picks the model. PaperTrail lists options on its site that include Claude, Gemini, Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, and a local LLM hosted on the business’s own servers.

PaperTrail says people still sign off the steps that matter. It also describes Scout uses across its products, including PeopleHub CV ranking, contract risk analysis, CreditorsHub three way matching, and LeaseHub application checks.