Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2026-06-15 10:30
Craig Oduya, Director of Digital and Data, set out a direction to one in-house platform with an exit route from every contract and committed to nothing. Tom Ashdown offered written notice terms and seat and term options.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Craig Oduya, Director of Digital and Data, set out a direction to one in-house platform with an exit route from every contract and committed to nothing. Tom Ashdown offered written notice terms and seat and term options.
What happened: Craig Oduya framed the call around a platform strategy of fewer suppliers and an exit route from every contract. He called it a direction, not a decision, and said he was not committing to anything.
Customer view: Helen Marsden said the brain gave her team credibility and same-day answers, but is not used by everybody. Craig summed it up as value to one team.
Commercial: Tom Ashdown said the Growth subscription is at £44,000 a year, that the renewal sits on the newer price book, and that he would send notice clauses and options on seats and term. The CRM date of 6 Jul 2026 was his placeholder.
Watch: Craig wants notice terms, the data position and no silent renewal in writing. The call does not show the outcome after 2 Sep 2026.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
In-house platform exit
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Tom Ashdown to send the order form notice and termination clauses and options on seats and term with confirmed figures.
- Amara Obi to send the arrears and repairs comparison section by section, the board pack mapping, the connector list, the user list and a handover note.
- Amara to book half an hour with Helen's team and an invite for after the platform review.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Craig Oduya's platform strategy treats every contract as something to exit, and he will not commit to the renewal.
- A small group of users carries the questions, so if they stop the brain looks unneeded.
- Craig does not want effort spent extending a tool under review, which limits adoption work.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Tom Ashdown can offer a renewal that follows the customer's phased plan, with options on seats and term.
- A value summary built around the board pack sections the brain feeds gives Craig a structured case.
Transcript
Amara Obi NoneMorning all. Can everyone hear me? I'm Amara, from the customer success team at BB-Demo, and I think we've got everybody.
Tom Ashdown NoneMorning, Amara. Tom here, I can hear you fine. How's everyone's week been? Anyone had a Monday that was kind to them? I was up at the crack, took the dog out, whole street under a cloud, so I'm already a bit behind. Anyway.
Helen Marsden NoneGood morning. Heads down in the board papers, as ever. I can hear you both. Craig's in the lobby, I can see him waiting.
Craig Oduya NoneMorning. Apologies, the call before ran over. I'm here now.- Amara Obi NoneNo problem at all. Let me introduce myself properly, since not all of you have had much time with me. I look after the account now. I took it over recently and I've read the history, but I wasn't part of it, so please correct me where I've got something wrong. What I'd like to do today is be useful rather than run a script. So to start: what does good look like for you this quarter?
- Craig Oduya NoneIf I may, I'll set out where we are first. We've reviewed our supplier relationships against the platform strategy. The direction is one data platform, built and run in-house on our existing Microsoft estate. Fewer suppliers, ownership of the platform, and an exit route from every contract. That's the frame for this conversation.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's helpful, Craig. Better I hear it plainly than guess at it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneYeah, and it's what I'd understood from the last check-in, so no surprises on my side. Can I ask, just so I'm clear: is that a decision, or a direction?
- Craig Oduya NoneA direction. Each contract will be assessed on what it gives us that we can't yet build ourselves. I'm not committing to anything on this call.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I add something? I don't want the board reporting to get lost in the strategy. Section four of the pack, arrears, and the repairs section are both produced from the brain, and I need them to reconcile to the housing management system. The in-house platform isn't producing those yet. The board will ask.
- Craig Oduya NoneNoted, Helen. That's a transition point, not an objection.
- Amara Obi NoneLet me bring some numbers in, if that's all right. Give me a moment to share. Right. Here's what the numbers say. You're on Growth, forty licensed users. Average daily active users over the last month is about three, and that's down by more than a third on the quarter before. I'd rather say that plainly than leave it in a chart.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat matches what I see. My team's attention is elsewhere, and a few people were told to hold off building anything new.
- Amara Obi NoneThanks for saying so. Two tickets in the period, neither high priority, so nothing that would have touched the response commitments. Every connector is still loading, and records indexed are still growing, so the brain is current. It's being asked less. Invoices are paid, nothing outstanding.
- Craig Oduya NoneWhat are the service commitments on Growth, and have they been met?
- Amara Obi NoneGrowth has a one business hour first response on high priority tickets, and the nightly refresh is complete by seven in the morning on business days. There's been nothing high priority this month, so there's nothing to measure against. I'd rather not tell you everything is perfect from a chart, so I'll send you the response times from the ticket timestamps.
- Craig Oduya NoneWho is asking the questions?
- Amara Obi NoneMostly Helen's team. A small number of people. Which is why I'd flag it: if those few stop, the brain goes quiet, and from the outside that looks like a brain that isn't needed.
- Craig Oduya NoneWhich is my point. A small group, a platform subscription, and a plan to build the capability in-house. What's our exit position?
- Tom Ashdown NoneI'll take that, Craig. The contract runs to 1 Sep 2026, and the renewal date is 2 Sep 2026. I'll send you the order form clauses on notice and termination in writing, so you're reading the actual wording rather than my memory of it.
- Craig Oduya NoneAnd the practical exit?
- Tom Ashdown NoneThat's the bit people worry about. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account. The data, the tables, your definitions, they're yours and they stay put. What stops is the pages, the chat and the connectors.
- Craig Oduya NoneThat's cleaner than I expected. So the exit is clean, and the cost of staying is the subscription.
- Tom Ashdown NoneI'd put it a bit differently, but I take the point. You're on Growth at forty-four thousand a year at the moment. I'll confirm the exact figures on the paperwork, and the renewal sits on our newer price book, so it won't be the same number. Leave that with me and I'll put it in writing, so nobody's working from my memory.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'll keep budget out of this call. I'd ask for the terms, and I'll review them against the platform strategy.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo drama. That's fair.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I ask something for my own sake? When your platform is ready to take the calls and tickets, Craig, will it join them to the arrears figure the way the brain does? Because I'd want to see the source of that figure before I trust it.
- Craig Oduya NoneWe're building that capability in-house. It will do what the board needs. I'm not going to claim it's there today.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's honest, thank you. Shall I show you what the brain does with a question, so you've both got it in front of you? Helen, give me one you'd actually ask.
- Helen Marsden NoneArrears by neighbourhood, with the source for the total.
- Amara Obi NoneOkay. Typing that in. Give it a moment.
- Amara Obi NoneRight. So it's given the ranked list by neighbourhood, and underneath is the source: the rent ledger, loaded overnight, with the last load time. And the total at the bottom is the one that sits in section four.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd that total is the one I'm trying to reconcile. Thank you. Seeing the source on the page is what I wanted.
- Craig Oduya NoneUseful. It's the same thing we'd need to replicate. I'll say that for the record.
- Amara Obi NoneI have the note on the reconciliation. The comparison across the last two month ends is in progress, and I'll make sure you have it section by section. I won't promise a fix date, because I don't know the cause yet, but I'll get you the figures.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. Section by section, please, arrears and repairs first.
- Amara Obi NoneHelen, can I ask what you'd say the brain has actually done for you? Not the pitch. Your words.
- Helen Marsden NoneHonestly? It gave my team credibility. Before, the tenant calls, repairs tickets, complaints and arrears all lived in different places and I'd spend the week before the board stitching them together. Now I can answer a question the same day. That's the value. What I can't do is pretend it's used by everybody.
- Craig Oduya NoneValue to one team.
- Helen Marsden NoneTo the team that carries the board's questions, yes. I'd say that matters.
- Tom Ashdown NoneIt does. And it's the bit we should measure, rather than seats. Amara, can the value summary be built around the board pack sections, not user counts?
- Amara Obi NoneThat's what I'd planned. A page for each section the brain feeds, what questions went to it, and where the source sits.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCan I offer something, Craig, and you tell me if it's daft? If your plan's phased, a renewal that follows the phasing might suit you better than a straight twelve months. I'd rather get you the right fit than have you paying for something you're not using. I'd need to check what's possible before I promise anything.
- Craig Oduya NonePossible. I'd want to see what that looks like, including what happens to user numbers.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. I'll set out a couple of options on seats and on term, with the figures confirmed, and you can pick them apart.
- Amara Obi NoneOn seats, forty licensed and a handful active. Who else should have access, or who should come off? I'd rather you had an accurate list than a long one.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'll mark it up. Craig, I'll copy you.
- Craig Oduya NonePlease.
- Amara Obi NoneOne more idea, Craig, and you can say no. Helen's team could use a short working session on the brain, so they're getting the board pack answers faster. Half an hour is enough. It's about making what you've already got earn its place while you decide.
- Craig Oduya NoneI wouldn't want effort spent extending something under review. If Helen finds it useful for her reporting, that's her call.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd find it useful. The questions I ask are the same every month and I know there are quicker ways to ask them.
- Amara Obi NoneThen let's book half an hour with your team, Helen. I'll bring the board pack sections so it's your material, not a demo.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you.
- Amara Obi NoneI'll send the list of who's logged in over the last quarter straight after the call. And one more thing: a handover note. Where your definitions sit, which tables the brain created in your Snowflake, which connectors, who owns what. It's something I'd want you to have whatever you decide.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAnd that's not a leaving present, Craig, before you read it that way. It's just tidy. I'm not great on paperwork, mind, so Amara will keep me honest.
- Amara Obi NoneI will.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'd want three things in writing. The notice terms. The data position. And nothing that renews without a conversation first.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. Notice terms I'll take straight from the order form. Data position, Amara's note. On the third one, I can't tell you from memory how the renewal clause reads, so I'll check before I say anything, and I'll tell you what it says, whatever it says.
- Craig Oduya NoneOn the connectors. If we move, which of them carry something we can't reach another way?
- Amara Obi NoneI'd rather not answer from memory. I'll list each connector, what it loads, and whether your in-house platform could reach the same source, so you can see for yourself. That's better than my opinion.
- Craig Oduya NoneDo that.
- Helen Marsden NonePractical question. When will I have the comparison? The next board pack is the one that matters, and I'd rather not explain the arrears to the board with a maybe.
- Amara Obi NoneEnd of next week. I've asked the data team to line up the last two month ends, and I'll send each section as it's ready, not all at the end.
- Craig Oduya NoneHelen, a point for you. Whatever we decide, I want your team's definitions documented. It's the part I can't afford to lose.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'd welcome that. It's been a worry of mine.
- Amara Obi NoneThen that's two things we already agree on. Before we finish, what would you like the next conversation to be? A check-in, or the proper renewal conversation with figures?
- Craig Oduya NoneAfter our platform review, which is a few weeks away. I won't give you a date I can't hold. Send an invite for after the paperwork lands, and I'll accept or move it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneI'll get the paperwork out in the next couple of weeks, then. The CRM has the renewal pencilled for 6 Jul 2026, but that's my placeholder, nobody should feel rushed on my account.
- Craig Oduya NoneUnderstood.
- Amara Obi NoneLet me read it back so nobody leaves with a different version. Tom sends the order form clauses on notice, and a couple of options on seats and term, with the figures confirmed. I send the arrears and repairs comparison section by section, the board pack mapping, the connector list, the user list and the handover note. Craig comes back to us after the platform review. Helen marks up the user list. Did I miss anything?
- Helen Marsden NoneThe tenant calls section, please. The board pack mapping should include it.
- Amara Obi NoneAdded. Tenant calls section too. And let's get the next one in the diary rather than leave it to chance.
- Tom Ashdown NoneThat's me. Cheers all. Craig, a pleasure to meet you properly. Helen, speak soon.
- Craig Oduya NoneThank you. Goodbye.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you both. Goodbye.
- Amara Obi NoneThanks everyone. Have a good week. Bye.
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