Brackwell Freight Ltd / BB-Demo – Check In
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Brackwell Freight Ltd: documents · 2026-08-26 16:15
Gareth Whitlam, Finance Director, says leadership asked him to cut software spend and this contract is on the list. Active users are far below the licensed number. He wants a real example of value before 1 Dec 2026.
What was said
What this says
Current to 10 Oct 26Gareth Whitlam, Finance Director, says leadership asked him to cut software spend and this contract is on the list. Active users are far below the licensed number. He wants a real example of value before 1 Dec 2026.
What happened: Marcus Bell took Gareth Whitlam through usage on the 26 Aug 2026 check-in. Active users average about three and a half against 40 licensed, down by nearly half on the previous quarter, with no tickets in the last thirty days.
Customer view: Gareth says leadership asked him to cut software spend and this contract is on the list. He is not minded to pay the same for less use and wants one real example from Brackwell's own contracts.
Commercial: The order form is 40 users on Growth at £44,000 a year, running to 30 Nov 2026, with renewal on 1 Dec 2026. Gareth was pointed to Tom Ashdown for any change to licences.
Watch: Usage is concentrated in very few people, a key-person risk. Marcus could not name a contract the product had flagged, and had not yet checked the connectors or the nightly refresh.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Low usage, spend cut
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
negative
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell sends usage by person and by month, in writing with dates, the day after the call.
- Marcus Bell checks every connector and the nightly refresh with an engineer and reports the result.
- Tom Ashdown contacts Gareth Whitlam directly that week about licences and the renewal.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Leadership has asked for software spend cuts and the Growth subscription is on the list, so the 1 Dec 2026 renewal may shrink or lapse.
- Active use is very small and concentrated in a few people, so losing one of them would leave almost no use.
- Zero tickets alongside falling usage may mean people have stopped asking rather than that all is well.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- One real example from Brackwell's own retail contracts, such as the account and delivery-exception view, could form a value case.
- Short, account-by-account sessions for the depot account managers, in their own time, could rebuild adoption.
Transcript
Gareth Whitlam NoneHello. Am I early?
Marcus Bell NoneHi Gareth, no, bang on. Afternoon. Let me just get my headphones sorted, the sound keeps dropping on mine. Is that better?- Gareth Whitlam NoneBetter. Afternoon.
- Marcus Bell NoneGood. Thanks for coming back to me. I'll share my screen in a moment, and what I wanted to cover is usage since we last spoke, what that means for the renewal conversation, and what we do next. Happy to go wherever you want.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneLet me say what I've read, so you know where I am. I read the usage report you sent after the last call. I read it twice. Usage is down again. And there are no tickets this month, which I assume is not good news.
- Marcus Bell NoneYou've read it right, I'm afraid. Let me put it on the screen so we're looking at the same thing. Can you see it?
- Gareth Whitlam NoneYes.
- Marcus Bell NoneSo, forty licensed users on your plan. Active users over the last thirty days average out at about three and a half. That's down by nearly half on the previous quarter.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneNearly half. Of a number that was already small.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah. I'm not going to soften it. It was low and it's got lower.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneWhy is it lower? Do you know, or are you going to tell me you're looking into it?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll be straight with you, I don't know the whole reason. What I can see is that fewer people are logging in. What I can't see from here is why they've stopped, whether it's because they've changed how they work, or they don't trust what it tells them, or they simply forgot it was there.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's not much of an answer for forty-four thousand a year.
- Marcus Bell NoneIt isn't, no. It's the honest one though.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHm. And the tickets. None. What am I meant to take from that?
- Marcus Bell NoneNo tickets in the last thirty days, none at all. Last time there were two. I don't read that as everything being fine. When the usage is falling, quiet can just mean people have stopped bothering to ask.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's my reading too. Nobody raises a ticket about something they've stopped using.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. So one thing I'd like to check on our side is that the data itself is still landing every morning, the nightly refresh, and all the connectors you've got are still loading. If something's gone stale, people notice quickly and quietly give up. I want to rule that out rather than assume.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo you haven't checked.
- Marcus Bell NoneI've looked at the headline numbers. I want to go through it properly with one of our engineers, connector by connector. I'm not going to tell you it's fine on a guess.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneFine. And the session you suggested last time. With the depot account managers. What happened to it?
- Marcus Bell NoneHonestly, it hasn't got the traction I hoped. We talked about it, and I think the numbers say it hasn't turned into much yet. I don't want to pretend otherwise.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI asked around. The managers are out on the road. They don't have an afternoon to sit and be shown a screen.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's useful to know. So maybe the format's wrong, not the idea. What if it's not a meeting? What if it's something short, in their own time, built around one account each? One retail customer they're worried about, and we show what it pulls together.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneShow me what that looks like. In practice. Not in principle.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. So, let me pick an account from your list. Give me a second. This is the sort of view the managers would see, the account, the delivery-exception tickets, and the call history, all in one place. The idea is they'd spot a retail contract that's going sour before it lands as a complaint.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's the pitch from when it was sold. I've seen the slides. Has it ever actually caught one?
- Marcus Bell NoneI can't say that from here, Gareth. I don't have a record of a specific contract it flagged for you, and I'd rather not make one up. What I'd want to do is go back through the last few months with your people and see whether there's one it would have caught.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat would be worth more than another chart.
- Marcus Bell NoneAgreed. A real example, from your own contracts. That's the value case, as I see it.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneRight. Let me ask you directly. If I tell you I want to drop the licences to what we use, what happens?
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's a commercial question, and it's Tom Ashdown's, so I won't give you a made-up answer. What I can tell you is what's on paper. The order form is forty users on Growth, forty-four thousand a year, and it runs to 30 Nov 2026. Changes to that would be part of the renewal conversation.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneSo I need to speak to Tom.
- Marcus Bell NoneI think you should, yes. And I'd like him to have the real usage in front of him when you do, not a summary from me.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHas he seen it?
- Marcus Bell NoneHe's seen the earlier numbers, and I passed on what you told me last time about the price. I'll send him this month's as well, today.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneGood. I'll be plain, Marcus, so there's no ambiguity. Our leadership team asked me to cut software spend. This is on the list. Unless somebody shows me a reason, it stays on the list.
- Marcus Bell NoneI understand. And I'd rather you tell me that now than find out in November.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneNovember. The renewal is the first of December, correct?
- Marcus Bell NoneYes, 1 Dec 2026. And there's a notice period before that, a few months ahead, which is why I'm raising it now. I'd rather you heard from us properly on a call than got a letter.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneIs that a threat?
- Marcus Bell NoneHa, no, not at all. It's the opposite. It's me making sure you've got the time to decide properly.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneHm. Fair enough. Then what do I need to see, from you, before I decide?
- Marcus Bell NoneThree things, as I'd put it. One, the usage by person and by month, in writing, with dates, so you can see exactly who's using it and who stopped. Two, a proper check from our engineers that the data side is healthy, so we're not arguing about a product that was broken. And three, one real example from your own accounts of what it would have told you.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneAnd if the third one isn't there?
- Marcus Bell NoneThen we'll say so. And then it's a conversation between you and Tom about whether Growth, at forty users, is the right shape for you.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI'm not minded to pay the same for less use. I think you know that.
- Marcus Bell NoneI do. I'm not going to argue it with you, that's Tom's side. But I'd be asking the same question in your seat.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneDon't flatter me. Who is still using it? Show me. The three and a half.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay, one second. I'll bring up the list. So, that's the last thirty days by user. You can see it's very concentrated, a very small group at the top and then close to nobody.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneDo any of those names mean anything to you? Do you know who they are?
- Marcus Bell NoneOnly from the names and the email addresses. I'd rather you told me who they are than I guess their jobs. If there's one or two there who are doing most of it, that's something we should understand, because it means the whole thing leans on very few people.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's what I'd call a problem. If one of them leaves, you've got nothing.
- Marcus Bell NoneExactly that, yeah.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneI'll find out. I'll ask the team leads this week who's on that list and who isn't and why. I want the answer in my own words, not yours.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's the right way round. Honestly, what they tell you will be worth more than anything I put on a screen.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneMm. So where are we. What happens next, and who does it?
- Marcus Bell NoneSo, from me. I'll send the usage by person and by month, in writing, with dates, tomorrow. I'll sit down with an engineer and check every connector and the nightly refresh, and I'll tell you what we find, good or bad. And I'll ask Tom to get in touch with you directly this week. From you, you ask the team leads why people have stopped, and tell me who the real users are.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneAgreed. And I want one example from our own contracts. Not a slide.
- Marcus Bell NoneUnderstood. I'll try to find one, and if there isn't one, I'll say so.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneThat's all I'm asking.
- Marcus Bell NoneRight. Anything else from you before I let you go?
- Gareth Whitlam NoneNo. Speak to Tom first, and then we'll see.
- Marcus Bell NoneWill do. Thanks Gareth, speak soon.
- Gareth Whitlam NoneGoodbye.
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