Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2025-07-21 09:00
Helen Marsden opened on an arrears figure that did not reconcile, then said an in-house platform is being discussed by IT and finance. She wants the price held at the Growth figure and a board-pack value case before the 1 Sep 2025 renewal.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Helen Marsden opened on an arrears figure that did not reconcile, then said an in-house platform is being discussed by IT and finance. She wants the price held at the Growth figure and a board-pack value case before the 1 Sep 2025 renewal.
What happened: Helen first raised a small mismatch between the brain's arrears figure and the housing system report, and was clear it was not a complaint. Natalie Eze promised the lineage for that figure within a day or so.
Customer view: Helen said the in-house question is not her plan but she has to answer it. It is driven mainly by a colleague in IT, with finance interested in licence cost.
Commercial: Growth at £44,000 a year, with about ten of forty users active. Tom Ashdown expects no price move, and Helen said any increase would be hard to explain to finance.
Watch: Natalie will draft a one-page board-pack dependency summary for the quarterly review. Paperwork with two payment options is aimed for 11 Aug 2025, though Helen cannot promise an answer by then.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
In-house platform question
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Natalie Eze sends Helen the arrears lineage for one cut-off today or tomorrow.
- Natalie drafts the one-page summary with source detail for the early August quarterly review.
- Tom Ashdown sends the renewal paperwork with both payment options, aiming for 11 Aug 2025.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- An internal review led by IT and finance is weighing an in-house platform against the subscription ahead of the 1 Sep 2025 renewal.
- Only about ten of forty licensed users are active, which makes the licence cost easy to question.
- Any price increase would be hard for Helen to defend to finance.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A board-pack dependency summary can show which sections rely on the brain and what a rebuild would take.
- Repairs and complaints staff could use more of the forty licences if they get a reason to.
Transcript
Tom Ashdown NoneMorning, Helen. Can you hear us all right? I've got the little bars bouncing on my side, so I think we're live.
Helen Marsden NoneGood morning, Tom. Yes, I can hear you fine. Is Natalie with you?
Natalie Eze NoneI'm here, morning Helen. Sorry, I was still stirring my coffee, I've only just sat down.- Tom Ashdown NoneNo drama. How's your week been, Helen? Still grey over in Leeds?
- Helen Marsden NoneGrey and busy, yes. If it's all right, I'd like to start with the thing that's on my mind, because it affects what I say later. The rent arrears figure in the board pack, in the arrears section, doesn't reconcile with what the housing management system gives me for the same week. It's out by a small amount, but the board will ask, and I'd rather not be the person who has to say I don't know.
- Natalie Eze NoneOkay. Which side looks wrong to you, the brain's number or the housing system's?
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's exactly what I can't tell. The brain says one thing, the system report says another. Can you show me the source?
- Natalie Eze NoneYes, we can. My first instinct is timing. The nightly refresh is complete by 07:00 on business days, so if the extract from the housing system was taken before that, or late on a Friday, the two can sit a day apart. But I don't want to guess in front of you.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd rather you didn't guess. I'd rather see the two side by side with the same cut-off.
- Natalie Eze NoneFair. Can I take that away, pull both for the same cut-off, and send you the lineage for that one figure? You'll have it today or tomorrow.
- Tom Ashdown NoneLeave that with Natalie and me, Helen. It's not strictly what we're here for, but it's worth getting right, especially with the renewal on the table.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. And just so it's clear, I'm not raising it as a complaint. You'll notice I haven't put a ticket in. I just want it clean.
- Natalie Eze NoneWe did notice, actually. Nothing in the queue for weeks. Which is lovely, though I never completely trust a quiet inbox.
- Helen Marsden NoneQuiet because it's been working, mostly. Mostly.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, so, the renewal. Your contract runs to 1 Sep 2025, so there's a bit of time but not loads, and I'd like us to do this properly and get something in the diary rather than leave it to the last week of August. I'm aiming to have the paperwork with you for Monday 11 Aug 2025, if that works for you. No pressure, it's just a date to point at.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's fine as a date to point at. I should be honest with you both about where I am, though. I can't promise an answer by then.
- Natalie Eze NoneGo on, that's useful to know. Do you want me to recap where the account sits first, so we're all looking at the same thing?
- Helen Marsden NonePlease. I'll have the figures in front of me then.
- Natalie Eze NoneSo you're on Growth. Forty licensed users, the dashboards builder, the quarterly reviews, and the connectors for your tenant calls, repairs tickets, complaints and arrears. It's forty-four thousand a year, invoiced in advance, and invoices have all been paid on time, so thank you for that. Day to day, about ten people are active in the brain on average. That's been steady for a while, up a touch on the previous quarter.
- Helen Marsden NoneTen out of forty. Yes. I know that's the number you're going to raise.
- Natalie Eze NoneI'm not raising it as a criticism. It's headroom, really. Your team is using it properly. I just think there are people in repairs and complaints who could get more out of it than they do.
- Helen Marsden NoneI agree, and I've tried. But I'll be straight with you, because I'd rather you heard it from me. There's a conversation going on internally about whether this should move onto an in-house platform. That's not my plan, to be clear. I built the case for the brain, and I think it's done what we bought it for. But the question is being asked, and I'm being asked to answer it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. Appreciate you saying so, Helen, honestly. It's better on the table. Who's driving that, if you don't mind me asking? A colleague in IT, or is it coming from higher up?
- Helen Marsden NoneIt's mainly a colleague in IT, with some interest from our finance team about the licence cost. I wouldn't go over anyone's head about it. I'm just telling you what the picture is.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's helpful. What do you think they'd need to see to feel the question had been answered properly? Not to win it, just to answer it.
- Helen Marsden NoneMm. Honestly, a clear account of what the board pack depends on. Which sections are built from the brain, which of those I couldn't rebuild quickly without it, and what it would take to rebuild them. If that comes out as a sensible, honest document, I can put it in front of them.
- Natalie Eze NoneI can do that. I'd want to show you the actual board-pack sections and the sources behind each one, so you can check them, not just take my word. Would a one-page summary work, with the detail underneath?
- Helen Marsden NoneA page on top and the source detail underneath, yes. That's exactly the shape I'd want.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAnd just so nobody's got a surprise coming, on the money. You're on the Growth price you signed at, forty-four thousand a year. I'll confirm the exact figure in the order form rather than quote it from memory, but I don't expect it to move at this renewal.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. That's what I'd assumed, but I wanted to hear it. I'd have to explain any increase to our finance team, and with the other conversation going on, it would not help.
- Natalie Eze NoneUnderstood. One thing worth saying is that the figures I'd bring to that review would be your own usage and your own board pack, not a generic slide.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Because the board will ask whether we're getting value, and I'd like to answer in their language, not a supplier's.
- Tom Ashdown NoneFair enough. Can I ask something a bit practical? On how you pay. It's annual in advance as standard, but quarterly's available if you ask. Would that be easier for your finance team?
- Helen Marsden NoneI don't know. I'd need to ask them. They like predictable, but they also like smaller. Can you put both options in writing and I'll ask?
- Tom Ashdown NoneLeave that with me. I'll send it with the renewal paperwork, thirty-day terms as before, and you can see which one they prefer.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. Now, there's something else I wanted to ask while we've got you both. Is there anything that's changing on your side over the next year that I ought to know about? Connectors, the dashboards, anything like that. I'd rather hear it from you now than find out in a release note.
- Natalie Eze NoneNothing that touches your setup in a way you'd have to act on, as far as I know. The connectors you've got are stable and your records have been indexing as normal. If anything changes in your own systems, say the housing management system gets an upgrade, that's the thing to tell us about early, because that's when connectors tend to break.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'll flag it. There's nothing planned that I know of, but I'm not always told.
- Natalie Eze NoneThen it might be worth asking your colleague in IT to copy us on any change notices. Even a one-line email. It would save us both a lot of faff.
- Helen Marsden NoneI can ask. Given the other conversation, I'm not sure how receptive they'll be, but I can ask.
- Tom Ashdown NoneHa, fair. We'll keep it light. Honestly, Helen, whichever way it goes, we'd rather you made the decision with good information than a hard sell from us.
- Helen Marsden NoneI appreciate that, and I'll say the same. If the answer turns out to be that the in-house route is sensible, I'd rather know that properly than defend something out of loyalty. But I don't think it will. I think the board pack depends on this more than people realise.
- Natalie Eze NoneThat's what I'd like to evidence, then. Can I suggest we use the quarterly review at the start of August for exactly that? I'll have the lineage for the arrears figure done by then, and the one-pager drafted for you to react to.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes, that would be sensible. Can you make sure the arrears reconciliation comes first? I'd like to close that off before we talk about anything else.
- Natalie Eze NoneDone. It goes first on the agenda. And you'll have the side-by-side much sooner than that, as I said.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, let me read it back so we've all got the same list. Natalie sends you the lineage for the arrears figure, today or tomorrow. Natalie drafts the one-page summary with the source detail underneath, for the quarterly review. I send you the renewal paperwork with the two payment options, aiming for Monday 11 Aug 2025. And you take it to your finance team and have the quiet word with IT. Have I missed anything?
- Helen Marsden NoneNo, that's it. Can I add one? If either of you hears anything from your side that would help me answer the in-house question, I'd like to know. Not a sales pitch. Just facts.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAbsolutely. No drama, we'll keep it factual.
- Natalie Eze NoneAgreed. And Helen, thank you for being so open about it. It makes it much easier for us to be useful.
- Helen Marsden NoneWell. You'd have found out eventually. I'd rather you heard it from me.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCheers, Helen. Is there anything else you wanted to get through, or shall we let you get back to your week?
- Helen Marsden NoneOnly that I'm sorry to have started on the arrears figure before we'd said hello properly. It's been bothering me.
- Natalie Eze NoneDon't be sorry, that's exactly what we're for. I'll get it to you.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSpeak soon then. Cheers, both.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you both. Bye for now.
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