Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group: documents · 2026-06-25 13:45
Craig Oduya said Calderbrook is consolidating onto an in-house platform, is reviewing the brain against it and would not commit to renewal. Usage is down to three or four regular users. Tom Ashdown owes written options.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Craig Oduya said Calderbrook is consolidating onto an in-house platform, is reviewing the brain against it and would not commit to renewal. Usage is down to three or four regular users. Tom Ashdown owes written options.
What happened: Craig set out an in-house platform strategy on the 25 Jun 2026 call and said every supplier, the brain included, is under review. He declined to commit to a renewal and asked what the exit position would be.
Customer view: Craig said this is a question of strategy, not a criticism of the product. Helen Marsden said her team's value is in the questions, and that section four of the board pack depends on the brain.
Commercial: Tom confirmed Growth with forty licensed users and a contract to 1 Sep 2026. Hollie Grieve put regular users at three or four, a fall of roughly a third, because two analysts moved onto the build.
Watch: phase one of the in-house build leaves out calls, tickets and complaints, so a gap opens for Helen. The housing management system is also changing and the date is not final, so a connector could stop loading.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
In-house platform consolidation
Importance
churn
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 Craig written options, in plural, that keep a clean exit, before the next conversation.
- Hollie Grieve to meet Helen Marsden with the most-asked questions and who asks them.
- Craig and Helen to send the platform timeline and the housing system change date to BB-Demo.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Craig is reviewing the brain against an in-house platform and will not commit to renewal.
- Regular use is three or four people on a forty-user Growth subscription, with two analysts moved to the build.
- A change to the housing management system could stop a connector loading, and the date is not yet known.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A smaller or shorter arrangement could bridge the gap on complaints and repairs until the customer's phase two.
- Mapping which board pack questions depend on the brain gives a value case for section four.
Transcript
Tom Ashdown NoneAfternoon, afternoon. Can you hear me alright? I've got a bit of an echo on my side, so shout if it's awful.
Helen Marsden NoneAfternoon, Tom. Yes, we can hear you fine. Craig's just getting a coffee, he'll be a minute.
Hollie Grieve NoneHi Helen, hi Tom. It's Hollie, from Customer Success. I've picked up the day to day on the account, so I'll mostly be listening today and then taking the follow-ups.- Tom Ashdown NoneBrilliant. And how's your week been, Helen? Quiet or mad?
- Helen Marsden NoneBoard pack week, so mad. Papers go out soon and I've still got a couple of sections I'm not happy with.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAh, that time of year. No drama, we'll try not to eat your whole afternoon.
Craig Oduya NoneSorry, sorry, I'm here. Craig Oduya. Thanks for waiting.- Tom Ashdown NoneYou're fine, Craig. Tom, I'm the account exec, we've swapped a few emails. Hollie's with us as well. Do you want to kick off, or shall I give you the lay of the land on the renewal?
- Craig Oduya NoneIf I may, let me set out where we are first. Calderbrook is consolidating its data on one platform, in-house, built on our existing Microsoft 365 estate. That is the direction. Every supplier is being reviewed against the platform strategy. That includes the brain.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. Fair enough. I appreciate you saying it straight, that helps.
- Craig Oduya NoneFewer suppliers, more ownership. We're building that capability in-house. So the question for this call is what a renewal would even look like, and what's our exit position?
- Tom Ashdown NoneGood question, and honestly an easy one. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account. So the data, the tables, all of it sits with you, not with us. If you stopped tomorrow you wouldn't be asking us to hand anything back. It's already yours.
- Craig Oduya NoneAnd the modelling. The way it's been structured.
- Hollie Grieve NoneThat's in your Snowflake too. The tables and views are there for your team to read. What you'd lose is the layer that lets people ask questions in plain English, and the connectors we look after.
- Helen Marsden NoneWhich is the part my team actually uses. I should say that. The tables are useful, but the questions are the value.
- Craig Oduya NoneNoted. Helen, I'd like to come back to that. Tom, go on.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSo, just so we're all looking at the same piece of paper. You're on Growth, forty licensed users, and the contract runs to 1 Sep 2026. It's £44k a year, and I'll confirm that against the signed order form rather than quote it from memory. I've pencilled 6 Jul 2026 in our system as when we'd expect to land the renewal conversation, but that's our internal marker, not a deadline for you.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'm not in a position to commit to a renewal today. I want to be clear about that so nobody leaves with the wrong impression.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo, completely understood. I'd rather you were straight with us. Leave that with me, we'll make it easy to look at, whichever way you go.
- Hollie Grieve NoneCan I add the usage side, Helen, if that's okay? I want to be honest about what we're seeing, because I think it matters to the conversation.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease do. I'd rather the numbers were on the table.
- Hollie Grieve NoneSo of the forty licences, the number of people active in a typical month is down on last quarter. It's around three or four regular users now, and that's a fall of roughly a third. Questions asked have dropped with it. Nothing's broken that I can see. One ticket in the last month, nothing urgent, and your invoices are all up to date.
- Craig Oduya NoneThree or four people on forty licences.
- Hollie Grieve NoneYes. I'm not going to dress it up. It's low for a Growth customer.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I explain that, because it isn't apathy. Two of my analysts have been moved onto the in-house build. They've got a finite number of hours and the work Craig's asked for has to come first. So the brain gets used when I need a number for the board and it's the quickest route.
- Craig Oduya NoneTo be clear, that reallocation is mine. The platform strategy needed people who understand the housing data.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. And I'm working to it. I'm not going to pretend I would have sequenced it this way. But I do understand why.
- Tom Ashdown NoneThat's a straight answer, thanks, Helen. Can I ask what the in-house platform will cover first? Because I want to make sure we're not talking at cross purposes about what the brain's actually doing for you.
- Craig Oduya NonePhase one is the housing management data and finance. Reporting layer on top. Calls, tickets and complaints come later. We have a roadmap, but I won't take you through it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSure. So tenant calls, repairs tickets, complaints, that's the bit the brain does today and it's not in phase one.
- Craig Oduya NoneCorrect. Which is why I'm asking about a gap and not about a switch-off date.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd that gap is exactly my concern. The complaints figure in section four of the board pack comes from the brain. If that goes, I've got nothing that joins complaints to repairs by property. Right now these don't reconcile with the housing management system by hand, and the brain is how I square them.
- Craig Oduya NoneIt would be in phase two. We'd reviewed that dependency.
- Helen Marsden NoneThen the board will ask what happens between now and phase two. Can you show me the source for that plan? Honestly, Craig, I'm not being difficult, I just need to know what I tell the audit committee.
- Craig Oduya NoneFair. I'll share the timeline with you separately. I'd rather not do it in this forum.
- Hollie Grieve NoneIf it helps, we can look at what a shorter arrangement might look like, or a smaller footprint, so you've got a bridge. I don't want to promise terms I don't own. That's a conversation for Tom.
- Tom Ashdown NoneYeah, and I'd want to be careful there. What I can say is there's room to talk. Growth with forty users is probably more than you need for three or four regular people, and I'd rather fit it to how you really work than have you pay for shelfware. But I'm not going to throw a number out on a call, I'll come back with something written.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'd want any proposal to preserve the exit route. Clean, no penalty, no dependency on your tooling to read our data.
- Tom Ashdown NoneUnderstood. Nothing about the data would need our tooling, as I said, it's in your account. I'll keep the paperwork plain on that.
- Craig Oduya NoneGood. And I'll say for the record that this is not a criticism of the product. The product does what it was bought to do. It's a question of strategy.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I ask one more practical thing? If we did keep it going through the autumn, who maintains the connectors? Because the housing management system is changing underneath us as part of the build, and I don't want the feed to quietly stop.
- Hollie Grieve NoneWe do. If a source changes, the connector can stop loading, and we'd want to know before it happens so we can adjust. So if there's a change date, tell me and I'll put it in the diary on our side. That's exactly the sort of thing I'd like to hear early.
- Helen Marsden NoneI'll find out the date and send it to you. I don't have it yet.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'll confirm it with the team. It's not final.
- Tom Ashdown NoneLovely. So, can I just say back what I think we've got, and you tell me if I've got it wrong?
- Tom Ashdown NoneOne. Craig isn't committing to a renewal today, and the in-house platform is the direction. Two. The exit is clean because it's all in your Snowflake, and any paperwork we send keeps it that way. Three. Usage is down because people have moved onto the build, not because anything's wrong with the brain. Four. There's a gap on complaints and repairs until phase two, and that's the thing Helen needs bridged for the board.
- Craig Oduya NoneThat's accurate. I'd add that I'd want to see options, plural, before I take a view.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd I'd want the options to say what happens to section four of the pack. That's what I'll be asked about.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, fair. Let's get something in the diary. Hollie, can you and Helen sit down with the usage and work out which questions the board pack really depends on? Then I'll build the options around that rather than around licences.
- Hollie Grieve NoneYes, happy to. Helen, I'll send you a few slots next week, and I'll bring the list of the questions your team asks most, so we're looking at the real thing.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would be useful. Please include who's asking them. I want to see how much of it is me.
- Hollie Grieve NoneWill do. I'll be straight about that too.
- Craig Oduya NoneI'll send the timeline to Helen, and you can copy Tom. Nothing beyond that from me at this stage.
- Tom Ashdown NoneThat's perfect, Craig, thank you. And thanks for being so direct, it makes my life easier. I'll get options to you, in writing, before we speak again.
- Craig Oduya NoneGood. Thank you both.
- Helen Marsden NoneThanks everyone. Back to the board pack for me.
- Tom Ashdown NoneGood luck with it. Cheers all, speak soon.
- Hollie Grieve NoneBye both, speak soon.
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