Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2026-01-06 11:00
Helen Marsden told Esther Quaye that active use has roughly halved because a new director is moving data onto an in-house platform. Her team still relies on the brain for the board pack. She does not decide the renewal.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Helen Marsden told Esther Quaye that active use has roughly halved because a new director is moving data onto an in-house platform. Her team still relies on the brain for the board pack. She does not decide the renewal.
What happened: On 6 Jan 2026 Esther Quaye raised a fall in people asking the brain questions, roughly half the prior quarter, against forty licensed users on Growth. Helen Marsden explained the cause openly.
Customer view: A new director has a mandate to consolidate onto a platform Calderbrook owns, and wider users have been told to wait. Nobody has complained about the answers.
Commercial: Helen's team still depends on the brain for the arrears and repairs sections of the board pack. Renewal sits with the director, not Helen, and Esther wants a conversation with him.
Watch: Helen's open worry is whether the new platform can show the source under each figure. No tickets are open, invoices are up to date and connectors are loading, so the risk is a strategic move, not service failure.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
In-house consolidation threatens renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
user
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Esther Quaye to send Helen a usage summary marking which board-pack sections lean on the brain, early the following week.
- Esther to send a short note Helen can forward to the director, who is the person to ask for a conversation.
- Helen to ask the director whether he would like a conversation and tell Esther.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Active use has roughly halved and wider users have been told to wait for the in-house platform.
- The renewal decision sits with the new director, whom BB-Demo has not yet met.
- Calderbrook is moving reporting across as the in-house work comes online.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- The board-pack sections on arrears and repairs depend on the brain and reconcile to the housing system.
- A factual usage summary could give Helen Marsden a case to put to the director.
Transcript
Esther Quaye NoneHello, Helen, can you hear me all right? I think I'm coming through a bit quiet on my side.
Helen Marsden NoneLoud and clear. Morning, Esther. Sorry, I've got the board pack open on the other screen, so if I look away it's not you.- Esther Quaye NoneNot at all. Happy new year, by the way. I hope you got a proper break.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you, yes, a few days. Not as many as I'd have liked. The January papers don't write themselves, do they.
- Esther Quaye NoneThey really don't. Right, so, just so we're aligned on where things stand: I've looked at the helpdesk before the call and there are no open tickets from you at all. Nothing raised in the last month, nothing waiting on us. Which is good, but I wanted to say it out loud, because it's also a little quiet.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. I did notice that. We haven't had anything to raise, to be fair. Everything that's running is running.
- Esther Quaye NoneThat's what I assumed. And invoices are all up to date on our side, so nothing outstanding there either. I've logged that.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. I'd hate for finance to be chasing anybody.
- Esther Quaye NoneSo the thing I wanted to spend most of today on, and I'll be straight with you, Helen, is usage. When I look at the activity over the last quarter, the number of people actually asking the brain questions has come down quite a lot. It's roughly half what it was the quarter before.
- Helen Marsden NoneMm. Yes. I can't say that surprises me.
- Esther Quaye NoneYou have forty licensed users on the Growth plan, and on an average day it's about five who are active. I don't want to make that sound dramatic, I just want to understand it. Is that something you've seen from your side?
- Helen Marsden NoneIt is. Can I be honest about why? I'd rather you hear it from me than work it out from a chart.
- Esther Quaye NonePlease. That would help a lot.
- Helen Marsden NoneOur new director joined in November. He came from a bigger housing group, and he has a clear mandate to bring our data onto one platform that we own and run ourselves, on top of the Microsoft estate we already have. So there's a programme now, and it's moving fairly quickly.
- Esther Quaye NoneRight. I did wonder if something like that was happening. I'd heard there'd been a change at that level.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'll say it plainly. That plan isn't mine. I built the BI team's work around the brain, and the board pack depends on it, and I think it's served us well. But the direction from the director is to consolidate, and the teams are being asked to start moving their reporting across as the in-house work comes online.
- Esther Quaye NoneThank you for telling me that directly. I appreciate it. And I'm certainly not going to say anything about your in-house team, I'm sure they're doing good work.
- Helen Marsden NoneThey are. It's just early, and it's a lot to stand up.
- Esther Quaye NoneSure. Can I ask, then, which bits of the brain are people still using? Is it the board-pack views, or is it more the chat and search?
- Helen Marsden NoneMostly my team, and mostly the board pack. Section four, the arrears and tenant picture, and the repairs section. Those are the ones the board will ask about, so those are the ones I can't let slip. The wider users, the housing officers and the people in complaints, they've drifted, honestly. Some of them were told to wait for the new platform.
- Esther Quaye NoneI see. So it's not that they've found it unhelpful, it's that they've been pointed elsewhere.
- Helen Marsden NoneI think that's fair. Nobody's complained about the answers. Not to me, anyway.
- Esther Quaye NoneThat's useful to know. Okay. So, on the data side, the nightly refresh has been completing on time, and the connectors to your housing management system and the helpdesk are still loading. I can see records being indexed, so the board-pack numbers should still be fresh each morning.
- Helen Marsden NoneThey are. I checked the arrears figure against the housing system again last week, before the January pack, and it reconciled. I always do. The board will ask.
- Esther Quaye NoneGood. Honestly that's the thing I most want to keep protected. If I'm right, the brain's core job for you is exactly that, a board picture you can defend with the source underneath it.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. And that's my worry about moving it, to be blunt. Can you show me the source in the new thing? I don't know yet. Nobody's shown me.
- Esther Quaye NoneThat's a fair question, and not one I can answer for a platform I haven't seen. What I can do is make sure that whatever you decide, you've got a clean picture of what you have with us. Would it help if I put together a short usage summary, who's asking what, by team, and which board-pack sections lean on the brain?
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would help, yes. Especially the part about which sections depend on it. I'd want to be able to put that in front of the director without it looking like I'm lobbying.
- Esther Quaye NoneUnderstood. I'll keep it factual. I'll include the questions asked month on month, and the connectors, and I'll flag clearly where it's stable and where it's fallen.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. I'll be honest, I don't think I get to decide the renewal. That's his area now.
- Esther Quaye NoneI understand. And I'm not asking you to carry that. The contract runs to the start of September, as you know, so there's time. But it would be good, I think, if I could speak to him at some point. Not to sell anything. Just so he has the same picture you do.
- Helen Marsden NoneI can raise it. I'd rather ask him than go over his head with a meeting he hasn't agreed to.
- Esther Quaye NoneOf course. That's entirely your call. If it's easier, I can send you a couple of lines you can forward, so you're not having to explain it from scratch.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes, please do. That makes it easier.
- Esther Quaye NoneRight. Is there anything on the practical side I can tidy up in the meantime? Users who should be removed, or anything you'd like us to pause?
- Helen Marsden NoneNot yet. Leave it as it is. If anything changes I'll tell you straight away, you have my word on that.
- Esther Quaye NoneThank you, that means a lot. Okay, let me read back what I've got, just so we're aligned. One, I'll send you the usage summary, with the board-pack sections marked. Two, I'll send a short note you can forward to your director. Three, you'll ask whether he'd like a conversation, and let me know. Four, nothing changes on the licences or connectors for now. Is that right?
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's right. Yes.
- Esther Quaye NoneI've logged all of that. I'll aim to get the summary to you early next week, and I'll tell you if it slips. I won't promise more than that.
- Helen Marsden NoneEarly next week is fine. The next board pack isn't for a while.
- Esther Quaye NoneLovely. Thanks, Helen, and thank you for being so open with me. I know that wasn't an easy one to say.
- Helen Marsden NoneIt's better said. Thank you for not making it awkward. Kind regards, speak soon.
- Esther Quaye NoneSpeak soon. Many thanks, Helen. Bye for now.
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