Ardcarne Life Assurance / BB-Demo – Negotiation
Callcompleted
Ardcarne Life Assurance: documents · 2026-07-27 11:00
Negotiation call on the draft order form. Exit plan and transition period wording are the open items, the £155,000 position was stated as final, and signing is targeted for 4 Sep 2026. The July outage was raised.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Negotiation call on the draft order form. Exit plan and transition period wording are the open items, the £155,000 position was stated as final, and signing is targeted for 4 Sep 2026. The July outage was raised.
What happened: Aoife Kinsella set the order: exit plan first, no price discussion until it is settled. Owen Tallis stated the commercial position and Matteo Ricci took actions on clause references and a defined transition period.
Customer view: Niamh Costello asked that no new steps be added and said Matteo has met her standard of telling her early. Aoife said she will not agree terms on a call and will not skip a policy step.
Commercial: Owen said the £155,000 is the total including the one-off implementation fee, not an annual figure, with no further discount. The document is still a draft until executed.
Watch: Matteo named the transition period legal review as pressure on the 4 Sep 2026 date. The July outage needs a one-page dated summary for the board.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Exit plan and final terms
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- Matteo Ricci to send Aoife Kinsella the exact clause reference and wording for connector removal and data return by the end of the day of the call.
- Matteo Ricci to send a defined transition period, with service levels stated as continuing, by Friday once Legal has agreed it.
- Matteo Ricci to send Ronan Tierney and Niamh Costello a one-page dated summary of the July outage.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The exit plan and transition period wording are unsettled, and a long legal review would put the 4 Sep 2026 signing under pressure.
- The July outage is a board-level concern that needs a clear dated summary.
- Procurement will not agree the commercial position until the exit plan is settled and Legal has reviewed the whole document.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- The scope, tier and connectors are agreed and Ronan Tierney confirmed he signs, so the Enterprise deal is close to signature.
- The brain running inside the customer's Snowflake account simplifies data return and strengthens the exit story.
Transcript
Matteo Ricci NoneGood morning, everyone. Buongiorno, Niamh. Can everybody hear me?
Niamh Costello NoneGood morning, Matteo. Yes, loud and clear.
Aoife Kinsella NoneGood morning. I can hear you. Before we start, can we confirm which draft is under discussion? I have the version Legal returned last week.- Matteo Ricci NoneOf course. It is the draft order form with your outsourcing schedule attached, the one with your tracked changes. I should say it is still a draft, so nothing on this call is final until it is executed.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneGood. That matches mine.
Ronan Tierney NoneMorning all. Sorry, I am a minute late. What decision is needed from me today?- Matteo Ricci NoneWelcome, Ronan, and thank you for joining. Let me restate the timeline so that it is clear. The target is for you to sign on Friday 4 September 2026. Between now and then there are two things left. The exit plan wording, which Aoife and I need to settle, and the commercial position, which Owen is here to confirm. If both of those are agreed, the decision for you is simply to proceed. I do not expect you to negotiate the detail.
- Ronan Tierney NoneGood. Is Declan content?
- Niamh Costello NoneI can take that, Ronan. Declan is comfortable with the security position, subject to the evidence he has asked for being filed. He has been firm that he will not close a finding without it, and I am glad he is. I need Declan comfortable, and at the moment he is.
- Ronan Tierney NoneAnd the July outage? What is the board risk there?
- Matteo Ricci NoneI would rather you heard it from me, so let me be plain. There was an outage in July that affected the service, and we told Declan about it directly and early. He asked for dated commitments afterwards, and we have given them in writing and delivered against them. I will send you and Niamh a short summary after this call so you have it in one place for the board.
- Niamh Costello NoneThat would help. Not a long paper. What does good look like for the board? A page that says what happened, what changed, and what is now committed.
- Matteo Ricci NoneUnderstood. One page, with dates.
- Ronan Tierney NoneFine. Aoife, over to you. I will listen.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneThank you, Ronan. From an outsourcing perspective, I have a short list. The first is the exit plan, which I will not move past until it is settled, and I will not discuss price before then. The exit plan needs to cover the trigger events, the transition period, termination assistance, and the return and deletion of data.
- Matteo Ricci NoneThat is the right order. Let me tell you where we are on each. On return of data, the position is simpler than for most suppliers, because the brain is built and run inside your own Snowflake account. The data stays in your account. What we remove at exit is our configuration and our connectors, and we can describe that step by step.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneThat is helpful, but I need it in the schedule, not in a conversation. Clause by clause. Which clause deals with removal of the connectors, and who does the removal?
- Matteo Ricci NoneLet me confirm that in writing, so I do not point you to the wrong clause from memory. My understanding is that the removal is in the termination assistance section, and that it is BB-Demo's responsibility with your administrators supervising. I will send you the exact reference and the wording this afternoon.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneThank you. The second point is the transition period. Our outsourcing policy expects a defined period in which the service continues on the same terms while we move. A draft that says reasonable is not enough.
- Matteo Ricci NoneAgreed, reasonable is not a number. I have a proposal from our side and I want to be careful, because I do not commit anything our legal team has not agreed. May I come back with a defined period, in writing, by the end of this week?
- Aoife Kinsella NoneYes. By Friday, then. And I will need it to say what happens to the service levels during that period.
Owen Tallis NoneCan I come in there, Aoife? That one is easy. During a transition period the service levels in the order form continue to apply. Enterprise availability, the response times, the freshness commitment. Nothing steps down because you have given notice. I would want that written in as well, so nobody argues about it later.- Aoife Kinsella NoneGood. Then please make it explicit in the schedule. Subject to Legal, of course.
- Owen Tallis NoneSubject to our legal team too. Who signs on your side, once that is agreed?
- Ronan Tierney NoneI do.
- Owen Tallis NoneGood. That is the answer I wanted. What's the next dated step, then? I would like to leave this call with one.
- Niamh Costello NoneMay I add something, Owen, before we get to dates? The exit plan has already taken longer than any of us hoped. I understand why. Aoife was right to press it. But I do not want us to over-engineer the remainder. We have agreed the scope, the tier, and the connectors, and the brokers are waiting for a single view of each firm. Let us tidy the paper and move.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneI take the point, Niamh, but I will not skip a policy step to hit a date. The steps are what they are. I would say the pace is now good.
- Niamh Costello NoneI am not asking you to skip any step. I am asking us not to add new ones.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneThat I can agree. If nothing new arises, the remaining steps are the exit plan wording, the transition period, and Legal's final pass.
- Matteo Ricci NoneWhich is exactly my list as well. Good.
- Owen Tallis NoneRight. Let me turn to the commercials briefly, because Ronan has not yet seen them from me. Aoife, I know you want exit settled first. Are you content for me to confirm the position, without negotiating it?
- Aoife Kinsella NoneConfirm, yes. Agree, no. I do not agree terms on a call.
- Owen Tallis NoneUnderstood, and that is how I would run it too. So, the position. The deal amount is £155,000. That is the total value of the deal and it includes the one-off implementation fee, so it is not an annual subscription figure, and I would not want anyone on your side to read it as one. The subscription and the implementation are split in the order form.
- Ronan Tierney NoneSo, £155,000, all in.
- Owen Tallis NoneAll in for the first term, implementation included. Yes.
- Niamh Costello NoneAnd there is no further movement on that? I ask because Ronan will want to know whether there is a conversation still to be had.
- Owen Tallis NoneThere is no further conversation, Niamh. We have already taken the commercial position as far as it goes, and I would rather not discount twice. What I can offer instead is certainty. The terms in the order form hold as written for the first term, and the order form decides what is contracted, not any draft or any figure in a system.
- Ronan Tierney NoneThat is clear. I do not need to go further. Aoife, are you content that the commercial position is separate from your exit plan?
- Aoife Kinsella NoneI am content that it has been stated. I will not consider it agreed until the exit plan is settled and Legal has been through the whole document.
- Ronan Tierney NoneUnderstood. That is the right order. Matteo, is there any risk to the fourth of September?
- Matteo Ricci NoneThere is one that I would like to name, rather than let it surprise you. If the legal review of the transition period takes longer than a week or so, the signing date is under pressure. I do not think it will, but I would rather say it now. I will not tell you the date is safe if it is not.
- Ronan Tierney NoneThank you. That is what I want. Tell me early.
- Niamh Costello NoneThat is the standard I hold vendors to, and so far you have met it, Matteo.
- Matteo Ricci NoneGrazie, Niamh. I appreciate that. Shall I read back the actions?
- Aoife Kinsella NonePlease.
- Matteo Ricci NoneMatteo, by the end of today, sends Aoife the exact clause reference and wording for connector removal and data return. Matteo, by Friday, sends a defined transition period, with the service levels stated as continuing, once our legal team has agreed it. Owen's commercial position is as stated, with the order form to decide the terms. Aoife takes the revised schedule to your Legal, and Niamh and I will keep Declan's evidence file up to date. And I send Ronan and Niamh the one-page summary of the July outage, with dates.
- Aoife Kinsella NoneThat matches my notes. Please send everything under the same draft reference so I can track it.
- Matteo Ricci NoneWill do. Anything else from anyone?
- Ronan Tierney NoneNo. Let's proceed on that basis. Thank you all.
- Niamh Costello NoneThanks everyone. Best, Niamh.
- Owen Tallis NoneThanks, all. Speak soon.
- Matteo Ricci NoneGrazie mille. Best regards, everyone.
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