Harrowden Foods / BB-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Harrowden Foods: documents · 2026-01-13 10:15
First onboarding plan call with Gemma Holt on the Growth tier. She wants complaints and orders side by side, names the CRM, helpdesk and orders as first sources, and flags inconsistent retailer names as her main worry.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26First onboarding plan call with Gemma Holt on the Growth tier. She wants complaints and orders side by side, names the CRM, helpdesk and orders as first sources, and flags inconsistent retailer names as her main worry.
What happened: Hamza Akhtar and Gemma Holt agreed the first three sources (CRM, helpdesk, orders), who owns each, and a first user group of account managers. Gemma asked for a customer service session.
Customer view: Gemma is keen and says the account managers already like the demo. Her main worry is the orders data, where one supermarket appears under four different names.
Commercial: Hamza confirmed the Growth contract figure matches the order form and the invoices. Customer service looks like the heaviest future user group, with plenty of headroom in the 40 licences.
Watch: The IT owners for Snowflake and orders are not named and were not on the call. Gemma's director has a login but she doubts he has used it.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Onboarding plan, sources, owners
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Hamza Akhtar sends the IT access checklist, the retailer mapping template and a customer service session agenda.
- Gemma Holt names the owners for orders and the helpdesk by Thursday.
- Gemma Holt brings five or six test questions to the next call.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Retailer names in the orders system are inconsistent, which could undermine trust in the first answers.
- The IT owners for Snowflake and orders are unnamed and not on the call, so access could slip.
- Gemma's director has a login but she doubts he has used it, so sponsor engagement is unproven.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Customer service could become one of the heaviest user groups once the helpdesk is loading.
- Only a handful of the 40 Growth licences are in use, so there is room to widen adoption.
- The call recorder and accounting system are queued as later connectors.
Transcript
Hamza Akhtar NoneMorning, Gemma. Can you hear me all right?
Gemma Holt NoneMorning! Yeah, loud and clear. Sorry, give me two seconds, I'm just shutting the door. It's chaos out there today.- Hamza Akhtar NoneNo problem at all. Is that the retailer review prep, or just Tuesday?
- Gemma Holt NoneBit of both, honestly. One of the supermarkets has asked for a full picture of service-level complaints against orders for the last few months, and right now that means three spreadsheets and a lot of swearing. Which is exactly why we bought this, so I'm keen.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneGood, that's a nice place to start from, because it tells me what the first few connectors need to do. So, quick intro from me. I'm Hamza, I'm the implementation consultant, and for the next few weeks I'm the person who gets your data into the brain and gets your people using it. Amara Obi will be your CSM once we're through the main build, and Lewis Kerr stays your account owner on the commercial side.
- Gemma Holt NoneYeah, I've spoken to Lewis loads. Amara I've only had the one email from. Fine, that's good to know.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneShe'll be on the later calls, don't worry. So today is the plan call. What I'd like to leave with is: who owns what on your side, which sources we connect first, and what I need from your IT people so the brain can be built inside your Snowflake account. Does that sound right to you?
- Gemma Holt NoneSounds right. Can I add one thing at the end? Customer service. I want to talk about getting them on.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneAbsolutely, I'll park it and we'll come back. Let's start with Snowflake, because everything hangs off it. Who looks after that at Harrowden?
- Gemma Holt NoneThat's a colleague in IT. He set the account up for the finance reporting last year. He's not on this call because, um, I wasn't sure how technical you'd go.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's fine. Mostly I need him for about an hour, once. The brain runs inside your Snowflake account, so we need a database and a role that we can build into, plus a warehouse we can use. Nothing leaves your account. He'll know what all that means, I'll send him a short checklist.
- Gemma Holt NonePerfect. Send it to me and I'll forward it with a nudge. He responds quicker if it comes from me and it's short.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneShort it is. Right, sources. In the order form you've got the Growth tier, so there's a ceiling on connectors, and I'd rather we choose deliberately than connect everything on day one and regret it. What are the things you actually ask questions about?
- Gemma Holt NoneOkay. So first is our CRM, because that's where the account managers keep the retailer accounts, contacts, the promotions, all of it. Second is the helpdesk, because that's where customer service log the complaints and the service-level stuff. Third is orders, which comes out of our order system, and honestly that's the one I'm most nervous about.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneWhy nervous?
- Gemma Holt NoneBecause the retailer names aren't consistent. One supermarket is in there four different ways. Someone typed the depot name, someone else typed the head office, you know.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneYeah, that's really common, and it's usually the thing that makes or breaks the first month. We can handle it with a mapping table, basically a list that says these four spellings are one retailer. You'd own that list, because you know which ones are which. We'd load it and the brain would use it everywhere.
- Gemma Holt NoneI can do that. How big a job is it? Be honest.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneAn afternoon, I'd say, if you start from an export and just tidy it. I'll give you a template so you're not inventing the layout.
- Gemma Holt NoneBrilliant. Put that on my list.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneOkay. Let me share my screen, I've got a draft plan, and you can tell me where I've got it wrong. Can you see it?
- Gemma Holt NoneYep, I can see a table with some columns. A bit small.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneLet me make that bigger. Better?
- Gemma Holt NoneMuch better, thanks.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneSo I've got the CRM first, the helpdesk second, orders third, and then two I've pencilled in as maybe: the call recorder, so the notes from retailer calls are searchable, and the accounting system, for invoices and credits against the retailers. I wouldn't do those until the first three are loading cleanly.
- Gemma Holt NoneThe call recorder, yes, definitely, but second wave. Accounting, I'd have to ask finance. They're protective.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneFair enough, they usually are. Then let's call that a later decision and not block on it. For each of the first three I need a named owner on your side. Someone who can say yes to access and who knows what the fields mean. For the CRM, who's that?
- Gemma Holt NoneMe, to start with. I'm the admin in practice even though it isn't in my job title. I can give you whatever you need.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneGreat. Helpdesk?
- Gemma Holt NoneThat's customer service, so it would be their team lead. I'll introduce you. She's brilliant, she'll be wary at first, because it's their system and nobody wants somebody poking around, but once she sees what it does she'll want it.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneUnderstood. And I'll be clear with her that we read from the helpdesk, we don't change anything in it. Orders?
- Gemma Holt NoneThat one sits with a colleague in IT again, a different person from the Snowflake one, I think. Or the same. I'll find out and come back to you. Is that all right?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's all right, I'll mark it as an open question against you. Don't worry, it's one of those things that's quicker to ask than to guess.
- Gemma Holt NoneHa, yes. Next.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneNext is people. You've got forty licences on the Growth plan. Who do you want in the first group?
- Gemma Holt NoneOkay, so at the moment it's really just a handful of us. Me, a couple of the account managers I've been showing it to, and my director has a login but I doubt he's used it. Eventually the account managers for each supermarket, that's the main group, and I want customer service.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneRight, so there's plenty of headroom in the forty. Let's not rush to fill it. A small group who actually ask questions every day is worth more than everyone with a login and nobody using it.
- Gemma Holt NoneYeah, that's fair. I was going to say the account managers love it already, from what I've shown them. They saw the demo and they were asking when it would have their accounts in.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's a good sign. So what I'd suggest is the account managers go first, because the CRM is the cleanest source, and customer service follow once the helpdesk is in. That also gives their team lead a bit of time to get comfortable.
- Gemma Holt NoneOkay. I'd like them sooner, but I take the point. Can we get customer service on early if the helpdesk goes quickly?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneIf the connector's loading cleanly, yes, I don't see why not. I'd just want one test question answered properly before we open the door.
- Gemma Holt NoneWhat's a test question?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneSomething you already know the answer to. Like, how many complaints did this retailer raise last month, and was any of it about late deliveries? You check it against what you already believe. If it matches, you trust it. If it doesn't, we find out why before anyone else sees it.
- Gemma Holt NoneOh, I like that. Yes. I'll write a few. I've got loads, to be fair, I've been asking myself these questions for years.
- Hamza Akhtar NonePerfect, bring five or six to the next call and we'll run them together. Pick ones with an answer you're sure about.
- Gemma Holt NoneFive or six. Done.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneLet me scroll down, there's a section here on access. What I need from you is, for the CRM, a read-only user for the connector. Not your login, a separate one, so if you ever leave the company nothing breaks.
- Gemma Holt NoneHa, I'm not going anywhere. But yes, I take the point, someone from IT said the same thing about another system. I'll ask them to create a service user.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneExactly. Same for the helpdesk and orders. I'll put it all on one sheet so your IT colleague sees the whole thing in one go, not in dribs and drabs.
- Gemma Holt NoneDribs and drabs is how it normally goes with us.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThen one sheet is a gift. Now, one thing I do want to ask. The brief says you've got two sites. Do they use the same systems, or is anything different at one of them?
- Gemma Holt NoneMostly the same. The bakery site has its own way of recording some of the production notes, I think, but commercial and customer service are the same across both. The orders system is the same, I'm fairly sure.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneGood, then we don't have to split anything. If the production notes matter later, we can look at that as its own piece. For now, orders and complaints and the retailer accounts is the core.
- Gemma Holt NoneAgreed. Keep it tight.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneHow are you for time? I've got a couple more things, then we can talk about customer service properly.
- Gemma Holt NoneI'm fine, I've got the slot. Go on.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneSo, timing. The first connector, the CRM, I'd expect loading within the first week or so once I have access, and then it's a case of checking it and tidying it. After that it depends how quickly the other access comes through. The main thing that slows these down isn't the work, it's waiting for somebody's permission.
- Gemma Holt NoneThat's true of everything here. Okay. So the thing I can do is chase.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's the most useful thing you can do, honestly. And tell me early if something's stuck, rather than at the end. It's never a problem if I know.
- Gemma Holt NoneI never hide a problem, you'll find that out. If something's stuck, you'll hear about it that day.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneBrilliant, that makes my job easier. Okay, customer service. Tell me what you're picturing.
- Gemma Holt NoneSo, right now, when a retailer rings up angry about a late delivery, customer service log it, then the account manager finds out three days later in a meeting, and by then the retailer has told everyone. What I'd love is for the account manager to ask the brain, what's going on with this retailer this week, and see the complaints and the orders side by side.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's exactly what it's built for, and it's why the helpdesk and orders are in the first three. Customer service would use it the other way round, asking about the retailer's order history when a complaint comes in.
- Gemma Holt NoneYes! That. They spend ages hunting for the order before they can even answer.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThen I'd say they're going to be some of your heaviest users once they're on. Let's make sure we plan their session properly and not just give them logins.
- Gemma Holt NoneOkay. Can you do a session just for them? Their questions are different from the account managers'.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneYes, I'd want to. I'll sketch an agenda and send it to you first, and you can tell me whether it's pitched right.
- Gemma Holt NoneLovely. Right, I think that's all I had. Oh, one more. Is the contract thing sorted? Lewis mentioned something about the paperwork being all done.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneAs far as I'm aware, yes. Growth plan, forty users, £50k a year, and that's the same figure as on the order form and what's been invoiced, so nothing's out of line. If you've got a commercial question, Lewis is the person, not me.
- Gemma Holt NoneNo, nothing, I just wanted to be sure we were square. I'd never hear the end of it from my director otherwise.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneUnderstood. Let me recap so we're both working from the same list. From me: the access checklist for your IT colleague, the mapping table template for the retailer names, and an agenda for the customer service session. From you: the checklist forwarded, the names of the owners for orders and the helpdesk, the retailer mapping done when you get a chance, and five or six test questions.
- Gemma Holt NoneThat's it. I'll have the owners by Thursday.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThursday's great. Shall we say the same time next week for the next call?
- Gemma Holt NoneSame time, yeah. I'll put it in. Thanks, Hamza, this was useful.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThanks, Gemma. Speak next week.
- Gemma Holt NoneCheers, bye!
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