Lornefield Pensions Administration / B-Brain – Discovery
Callcompleted
Lornefield Pensions Administration: documents · 2022-12-30 12:45
Discovery call with Nell Ashcombe on 30 Dec 2022. Imogen Hartley wants one view of a scheme instead of three or four systems. Douglas Baird, the COO, wants data location and regulatory comfort in writing. Start-small Starter tier suggested.
What was said
What this says
Current to 10 Oct 26Discovery call with Nell Ashcombe on 30 Dec 2022. Imogen Hartley wants one view of a scheme instead of three or four systems. Douglas Baird, the COO, wants data location and regulatory comfort in writing. Start-small Starter tier suggested.
What happened: Nell asked what each person wanted from the call. Imogen described trustee meeting prep across the CRM, call recorder, helpdesk and finance, which takes half a morning. Douglas raised regulation, consistency and where the data lives.
Customer view: Douglas called the Snowflake answer reassuring but wants it written down. Imogen fears the tool is used for three weeks and then dropped, and asked for a day-to-day owner and a small start.
Commercial: Nell pointed to the smallest tier, one team and a handful of sources, and said the price would come in the proposal. Douglas asked whether it was a full-year commitment and said he would not hurry.
Watch: adoption after go-live is the stated worry. Douglas only said the demo would be considered in the new year.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Single view, regulated buyer
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
neutral
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
B-Brain
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Nell Ashcombe to send a short note of what she heard.
- Nell to offer a demo on Lornefield's own data.
- Nell to follow with a proposal showing what the price covers.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Imogen fears the tool will be used for a few weeks and then abandoned.
- Douglas needs data location and regulatory comfort in writing before he can proceed.
- Douglas said he would not hurry and would only consider the demo in the new year.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A Starter tier start for the scheme relationship managers across CRM, calls, helpdesk and accounting.
- Lornefield could be a design partner working week to week with Daniel Okafor.
Transcript
Nell Ashcombe NoneHello both. Can you hear me okay? Imogen, I think you're on mute. There we go.
Imogen Hartley NoneSorry, yes. Hello Nell. Hello Douglas. Gosh, it's very quiet here this week, I think I'm the only one left in our part of the building.
Douglas Baird NoneGood afternoon. I'm in the same position, I'm afraid. Thank you for finding the time in the middle of the holiday week, Nell, it's very much appreciated.- Nell Ashcombe NoneThanks for coming. It's a good week for it, nobody's emailing. So, I'll ask the question I always ask. What would each of you like to leave this call with?
- Douglas Baird NoneIf I may go first. In fairness, I'd like to understand whether this is a sensible thing for an administrator of our kind to be doing. We're regulated, we answer to trustees, and I'd welcome a plain account of what you'd actually be touching in our systems.
- Imogen Hartley NoneAnd mine's a bit more practical. The real question is whether we can get a single view across what we know about a scheme. At the moment a relationship manager has to go to three or four places to prepare for a trustee meeting.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneRight. That's a good place to start, because it's the thing we do. Imogen, can you walk me through what that prep looks like? Pretend I'm a new relationship manager on a Monday.
- Imogen Hartley NoneRight. So you've got a meeting with trustees on a Thursday. You'd look in the CRM for the scheme record and the notes. Then you'd go to the call recorder, because there'll have been calls with the trustee chair or the scheme secretary that aren't in the notes. Then the helpdesk, for any member queries that have escalated. And then, finally, you'd ask finance whether the fee invoices are up to date, because the trustees always ask.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneAnd how long does that take?
- Imogen Hartley NoneRealistically, half a morning. Sometimes more. And you'd still not be sure you'd caught everything.
- Douglas Baird NoneIf I may add something. The concern for me is less the time and more the consistency. Two managers can prepare for two schemes and come away with a different standard of preparation. The trustees notice that, and in fairness, so does the regulator, in the sense that we must be able to show how a decision was informed.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneThat's helpful. Say what happened, say how you know. That's roughly how we think about it as well. So the brain would sit over those systems, the CRM, the calls, the helpdesk and the accounting system, and you'd ask it a question and it would tell you where the answer came from.
- Douglas Baird NoneAnd where does the data live while that's happening? That is the question I'd be asked first by our information security colleagues.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneGood, because it's the right question. It runs inside your own Snowflake account. We don't take a copy away to our side. You own it, you can see everything it's holding, and if you switched us off tomorrow it would all still be yours.
- Douglas Baird NoneThat is reassuring. I'd still want it written down, but I take the point.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneOf course. It'll be in the paperwork. Imogen, you've seen this sort of thing before. What worries you?
- Imogen Hartley NoneHonestly? That it works beautifully for three weeks and then nobody uses it. I've seen that happen with a reporting tool. So I'd want to know who owns it day to day, and I'd want us to start small.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneThen I'd say start with one team and a handful of sources. That's what our smallest tier is for. You'd have a few connectors, a limited number of users, and you'd see within weeks whether the relationship managers are asking it questions or not.
- Douglas Baird NoneAnd would that be a commitment for a full year?
- Nell Ashcombe NoneIt's an annual subscription, yes, with a one-off implementation at the start. We've pencilled a total for the deal on our side, and I'll come back to it properly in the proposal rather than throwing a number at you now. I'd rather you saw it written down with what it covers.
- Douglas Baird NoneThat's perfectly reasonable. I wouldn't wish to hurry, in any case.
- Imogen Hartley NoneCan I ask about the implementation? Who from your side would be involved? I'd want someone who'd actually sit with us.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneDaniel Okafor. He runs our design partners, and I'd want you to be one. He's calm, he remembers everything, and he'd be the person you'd speak to week to week. I'd still be involved, I'm not going anywhere.
- Imogen Hartley NoneGood. I'd like that. We'd get to shape it, not just receive it.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneExactly. So next steps. I'll send a short note of what I heard today, so you can correct me. Then a demo on your own data, if you're comfortable with that, so you're not looking at a made-up example. Then the proposal.
- Douglas Baird NoneThank you, Nell. I think that's a sensible sequence. I'd welcome the note, and we'll consider the demo in the new year.
- Imogen Hartley NoneYes. Let's make it count. Thanks, Nell.
- Nell Ashcombe NoneThanks both. Enjoy what's left of the week. Best, Nell.
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