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Beagle Software

Ask Oscar

Ask your CRM a question and see where the answer came from

Somebody on your team wrote it down: the customer who wanted the work done before Christmas, the site where the meter cupboard is locked, the client who said they were getting other prices. Ask Oscar finds those records when you describe them in your own words, even if the note used different ones.

He reads only what you could already open in Beagle, and each result is a link to the record itself. The searching happens on Beagle's own server with no AI company involved. If you want the results written up as an answer, that is a separate choice your admin makes, using your organisation's own AI account.

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Why records go missing

Why the thing you need is never where you look

  • Keyword search needs the exact word.

    You search "fuse board" and the note says "consumer unit", so it never turns up.

  • The answer is spread across record types.

    Part of it is in an email, part in a task, part in a note on the customer. No single list shows all three.

  • Generic AI tools want your client data.

    Pasting customer emails into a chatbot sends them to a company you have no agreement with, and nobody can say afterwards what went.

  • An answer you can't check is a guess.

    If a tool can't show you the record it got something from, you end up opening every record yourself anyway.

What Oscar does

Search by meaning, answer from your own records

  • Finds records by what they mean

    Describe what was said and Oscar matches it against sixteen kinds of record: customers, contacts, leads, quotations, sales orders, invoices, service cases, emails, notes, tasks, projects, project write-ups, uploaded PDF documents, products, suppliers and purchase orders.

    What Oscar searches

  • Shows only what you can open

    Results follow your role, the sections switched on for your account, and project membership. A record you couldn't open in the app is left out, and so is anything deleted or in the trash.

    How permissions apply

  • Numbers every source

    Each result is a numbered card with the record's name, a short extract of the matching text and its type. Click it and you're on the record.

    Reading the source cards

  • Local search, no AI account needed

    Out of the box the matching runs on Beagle's server using a small built-in language model. No key, no third party, nothing sent.

    How local search works

  • Written answers, if you choose

    Connect your organisation's own Anthropic or OpenAI key, then switch on sending. Oscar writes a short answer that cites the same numbered sources, and can work through questions that take more than one step — with every figure still calculated on Beagle's server. Beagle records which admin switched it on and when.

    Adding your own AI key

  • Exact figures for common totals

    Ask for top-selling products, biggest customers, pipeline value, money owed or tasks completed and you get calculated figures over every record, not a sample. Ask about one customer, product, rep or job — "how much has Acme spent this month?" — and you get that record's figures too, with no AI key needed.

    Questions answered with figures

  • Narrow it down

    Limit a question to People, Sales, Service, Work, Conversations, Products or Purchasing, or to the last month, three months or year.

    Filtering a question

  • Related records without asking

    Opening an email or a service case shows earlier records that read as being about the same thing. In the Cmd+K search, "Ask Oscar about…" carries your search across.

    Related records and Cmd+K

How it works

A morning in the office

The office manager at a small electrical contractor uses Ask Oscar between phone calls. Here is how one morning goes.

  1. A half-remembered request.

    A caller mentions they "spoke to someone about a car charger last spring". The office manager asks "Which customers asked about EV charger installs?" With no AI key connected, Oscar returns up to eight matching records, best first: a lead, an inbound email and a note on a customer record, each with the lines that matched.

  2. A narrower search.

    She switches on the Work chip and Last 3 months, then asks "Which jobs are waiting on a DNO connection?" Only tasks, projects and project documents dated in that window are searched, and the chips stay lit so it's clear what was searched.

  3. A written answer, once it's switched on.

    The firm's admin has added the firm's own Anthropic key and turned on sending. Now "What did we agree with the school about working in the half-term week?" comes back as two or three sentences with bracketed numbers such as [1] and [2], and a Sources list underneath where card 1 and card 2 are the email and the note those sentences came from.

  4. A follow-up without retyping.

    She asks "What about last year?" Oscar applies it to the school question, shows which question he assumed underneath, and lights the Last year chip.

  5. A figure, not a search.

    Before the month-end call with the accountant, an Agent asks "How much is outstanding on unpaid invoices?" That question is recognised and answered with calculated monthly figures from the reporting summaries, headed with the period they cover. No AI provider is involved in working them out.

Where your data goes

Two modes, and you choose

Local search (the default). Records are turned into a searchable index on the server Beagle runs on, and your question is matched against it there. The language model that does this is small and runs on that server; no AI company is called and no key is needed. What you get back is a list of records, not prose.

Written answers (opt-in). Two steps are both required. An admin saves your organisation's own Anthropic or OpenAI key, which is stored encrypted and never shown again. Then an admin turns on Sending records for enrichment. Only after both does a question send anything: the question plus the text of the matched records (up to twelve pieces of evidence) goes to that provider, under your account and their terms. Search still happens first, on the server, so the provider only ever sees records the person asking could already open.

Some things never go into the index, so they can never be sent: email addresses, prices and costs, stock levels, and any field Beagle stores encrypted. Phone numbers on customers, contacts and suppliers are indexed, so they can be part of what's sent once written answers are on.

Turning sending off takes effect from the next question. Each call to a provider is logged with its size and how many records went with it, but never the text of the question, the records or the answer.

What it doesn't do

The honest edges

  • It finds the closest matches, not every match. Oscar ranks the records nearest to your question and shows the top few. A record can be missed, so "nothing found" means nothing was close enough, not that nothing exists. For complete lists, use the filters on each page.
  • Search can't add things up. Only five kinds of total are calculated: top products, top customers, pipeline value, money owed and tasks completed. Those figures run to the end of yesterday, and they follow the same rules as Reports, so they're for Admins and Agents with Reports switched on.
  • No amounts in the index. Quotes, orders and invoices are indexed by number, status and notes, not by line items or totals.
  • Not everything is indexed. Uploaded project documents are read if they're PDFs (up to 25 MB); other file types are found by name and description only. Email attachments and the timeline notes on a lead are not searched yet.
  • It doesn't write anything locally. Without your own AI key you get matching records to read, not a written reply.
  • It never acts on its own. Oscar reads and answers. With your own AI key, and only if an admin turns it on, it can suggest an internal note or a task — which nothing saves until you press Confirm. It can't send an email or change anything else.
  • New records take a moment. A record you've just saved becomes searchable within a minute or two.

Pricing

One plan, every feature

£29 per user per month, or £290 per user per year (two months free)

Ask Oscar is part of the one plan. Written answers use your own AI provider account, which that provider bills you for separately.

All prices exclude VAT.

See pricing in full

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an AI subscription to use Ask Oscar?
No. Searching works with no AI provider at all: the matching runs on Beagle's server and returns a ranked list of records with a link to each. You only need your own Anthropic or OpenAI key if you want those results written up as a short answer.
Does my data leave the UK or go to an AI company?
Not unless your organisation turns on written answers. Local search runs on Beagle's own server, and Beagle's primary data store is hosted in the UK. If an admin adds your own Anthropic or OpenAI key and switches on sending, each question and the matching records go to that provider under your account and their terms, so where they process it is set by your agreement with them. Beagle never sends your records to an AI provider of its own.
Can staff see records they shouldn't through Oscar?
No. Every result is checked against the same permissions as the rest of Beagle: your role, the sections switched on for your account and, for restricted projects, whether you're on the project. Deleted and trashed records are dropped too. This happens before anything is shown or sent.
How do I know where an answer came from?
Each result is a numbered card showing the record's name, a short extract and its type, and it links straight to the record. When written answers are on, sentences carry matching numbers like [1] or [2], so you can open the record behind each one.
Can Oscar tell me how much a customer has spent?
Yes, with or without an AI key. Ask "How much has Acme spent this month?" and Oscar works out what Acme was invoiced, paid and credited this calendar month, what they owe now and when they were last invoiced, from every invoice on your server. The same works for a product, a rep's deals, quotes and orders, and open tasks or cases. You only get figures for records you could open yourself.
What happens if Oscar can't find anything?
He says so: "Oscar could not find anything close enough in your records." He doesn't fill the gap with a guess. Try describing what was said rather than who said it, or remove a filter.
Can we switch written answers off again?
Yes. An admin can turn off sending at any time under Settings → AI summaries, and it applies from the next question. Oscar carries on as a local search, and you can also remove the key entirely.

Related

Find the note before the customer rings back

Try Ask Oscar on your own records for 14 days with no card, or book a demo and we'll show you both modes on sample data.

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