Merriott Lyle Distribution / BB-Demo – Renewal
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Merriott Lyle Distribution: documents · 2026-01-26 12:15
On the 26 Jan 2026 renewal call, CFO Malcolm Ridgway said he is not against renewing but will not sign the £128k renewal without a breakdown, usage by person and a board sentence. Active users are about fifty of 200.
What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26On the 26 Jan 2026 renewal call, CFO Malcolm Ridgway said he is not against renewing but will not sign the £128k renewal without a breakdown, usage by person and a board sentence. Active users are about fifty of 200.
What happened: Lewis Kerr confirmed the Enterprise term runs to 27 Feb 2026, with the renewal deal open and an expected close of Tuesday 17 February 2026. The order form and invoices both show £116k a year, against £128k on the renewal deal in the CRM.
Customer view: Malcolm questioned value, not payment. Amara Obi reported about fifty daily active users against 200 licensed, down by roughly a fifth on the quarter, and could not yet say who the drop was.
Commercial: Lewis declined to explain the £128k from memory and committed to a line-by-line breakdown the same day. Deepa Chauhan and Bernadette Lowry back the product for credit control and disputes, but Bernadette could not give a debtor days figure.
Watch: Malcolm wants the base for any percentage and no unexplained change. Lewis also raised that a smaller footprint may be the honest answer if usage does not support the tier.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Enterprise renewal value case
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- Lewis Kerr to send the line-by-line breakdown with VAT shown separately on 26 Jan 2026.
- Amara Obi to send the usage cut and value summary by the end of that week, ahead of the account-data review.
- Lewis Kerr to hold the decision date of Tuesday 17 February 2026 and be told early if it moves.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Active users are about fifty of 200 licensed and down by roughly a fifth, which gives the CFO a case to question the Enterprise tier.
- The renewal deal at £127,500 sits above the £116,500 order form figure and the CFO will not sign without the schedule behind it.
- Debtor days impact cannot be shown, so the board value sentence rests on usage and credit control testimony.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A usage cut by role and branch group may show that the active fifty are the right users and support the renewal.
- A two-page value summary built from the customer's own usage can give the CFO the board sentence he asked for.
Transcript
Lewis Kerr NoneAfternoon, all. Can everyone hear me alright?
Deepa Chauhan NoneYes, loud and clear. Afternoon, Lewis.
Amara Obi NoneHi both. Malcolm, Bernadette, I can see you've both joined. There's a bit of an echo, is that me or is that one of you?
Bernadette Lowry NoneMine, sorry. I've got the laptop speakers on. Give me a second. Better?- Amara Obi NoneMuch better, thanks.
Malcolm Ridgway NoneAfternoon. Before we begin, what has changed since the last one?- Lewis Kerr NoneFair question, Malcolm, and I'd rather answer it straight. Not a great deal on the contract. What I'd like to do today is confirm what you want to renew and by when. The current term runs to 27 Feb 2026, the renewal date on the order form is 28 Feb 2026, and the renewal deal is open on our side with an expected close of Tuesday 17 February 2026. So we have about three weeks.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneThree weeks. Right. And what am I being asked to approve?
- Lewis Kerr NoneLet me put a number on it. You're on Enterprise, and what you pay today is £116,500 a year. That's the order form, and it matches what has been invoiced, so no surprises there. The renewal deal as it sits in our system at the moment is £127,500.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneAnd the cost of that difference is?
- Lewis Kerr NoneI don't want to quote the make-up of that from memory, Malcolm. I'll send you the breakdown today, line by line, with the VAT position shown separately.
- Malcolm Ridgway NonePut it in writing. And I want the base for any percentage you show me. I'm not signing a number without the schedule behind it.
- Lewis Kerr NoneUnderstood. The schedule will come with it, and it'll be co-termed to the renewal date so there's no overlap.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneCan I add one thing, Lewis? Malcolm, I'd like to be clear that I'm not going around you on the money. What I need from today is simple: that the branch managers and credit control keep seeing the same account. That's what we bought it for.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneUnderstood. Though I don't take meetings about features, so keep it to what it has done for us.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's where I can help. Quick introduction for Bernadette, since we've not spoken much on a call like this. I'm Amara, I look after the customer success side, so adoption, the reviews, and making sure you're getting something for the money. I joined last year, so I'll be honest about what I know first-hand and what I've read in the history.
- Bernadette Lowry NoneGood. Honest is useful. Which account are we talking about when you say adoption? I run credit control for the whole branch network.
- Amara Obi NoneFair. I mean the whole estate, so here's what the numbers say. You have 200 licensed users. Over the last month the average number of people active on a given day is about fifty. And that's down by roughly a fifth on the quarter before.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneFifty out of two hundred. Down a fifth. What am I paying for?
- Amara Obi NoneRight, and I'm not going to dress that up. A drop is a drop and I'd rather you heard it from me than found it in a chart. What I can't tell you yet is who the drop is. It could be a handful of people from the first wave who haven't come back, or it could be a whole region.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneI'd guess it's the first. When we opened it up, a lot of branch managers got access on day one and had a look. Some of them only dip in when an account is in dispute. They're not meant to be daily users.
- Bernadette Lowry NoneMine are in it most days. My team, I mean. Collectors, the dispute desk. They'd tell you if it went away.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneBernadette, that's a view. I'd like a number. What does it do to debtor days?
- Bernadette Lowry NoneI can't give you a debtor days figure and say it's down to this. I'd be making it up. What I can tell you is that disputes get picked up quicker when the calls and the invoice are on one screen. That's about the extent of it.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneMm. That's honest, at least.
- Lewis Kerr NoneIf I can come in there. I'm not going to push you to a tier or a size the usage doesn't support. If what the numbers say is that fewer people need to be in it, then we should talk about that rather than paper over it. But I'd want to see who is using it before I say anything.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneThat's an unusual thing for a salesman to say.
- Lewis Kerr NoneRenewals that surprise me are the ones that go wrong, Malcolm. I'd rather it was boring.
- Amara Obi NoneSo what I'd suggest is this. Before anyone decides anything, I pull usage by role and by branch group, not just the total. Who asks the questions, who logs in, who has not been in for weeks. Then you can see whether the fifty is the right fifty.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneYes. Which account, which branch, which person. That's the cut I need for the monthly account-data review anyway.
- Amara Obi NoneThen let's use that meeting. When is the next one?
- Deepa Chauhan NoneWithin the next fortnight or so. I'll get credit control and the regional directors in the room. Bernadette, you're coming.
- Bernadette Lowry NoneAm I? Fine. Provided someone shows me where the number comes from. I'll believe it when it reconciles.
- Amara Obi NoneThat's reasonable. I'll bring the source for each figure. Records indexed, questions asked, users, so you can check them against your own statements.
- Bernadette Lowry NoneMy team still check the ledger before they trust anything in there. Nothing's wrong that I can point at, I'd say that clearly. I just don't want that habit to go.
- Amara Obi NonePlease keep it. The ledger is the source of truth, the brain is how you get to the right account faster. If they ever disagree, I want to hear about it the same day.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneHow many tickets have we raised with you lately?
- Amara Obi NoneOne in the last month, and nothing high priority. No overdue invoices on your side either, so on the money you've been tidy. I'd say that's a quiet account rather than an unhappy one, but quiet and fewer users together is exactly why I want to look properly.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneQuiet is fine. Quiet that's cost me £116,500 a year needs a return I can show the board.
- Amara Obi NoneAgreed. So that's the second thing I'll send. A short value summary in plain words, built from your own usage, not a brochure. What has been asked, by which teams, and how often disputes and account questions went through it.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneLength?
- Amara Obi NoneTwo sides. One for you, with the schedule behind it.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneGood. Two sides I'll read.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneCan I raise the connectors, Lewis? Not features, Malcolm, I promise. Just so the renewal covers what we already rely on. The CRM, the ledger feed, the call recorder and the helpdesk. I don't want us to find that one of them isn't covered.
- Lewis Kerr NoneIt'll be set out in the schedule exactly as the order form has it today. If that changes at all I'll flag it in the covering note and not in the small print.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneGood. And the support terms. Nothing moves?
- Lewis Kerr NoneNothing moves unless you ask for it to. The service levels you have are the ones in the executed order form, and I'll quote from that document, not from memory.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneRight. Then here's where I am. I'm not against renewing. I'm against signing something I can't explain. So I need the breakdown, I need the usage by person, and I need a sentence I can say to the board.
- Lewis Kerr NoneThen we're aligned. Can I check the sequence? I send the breakdown today. Amara sends the usage cut and the value summary before the account-data review, so Deepa has it in the room.
- Amara Obi NoneBy the end of this week for both. Then let's get the next review in the diary, and if there's a number that surprises you, ring me before the meeting, not after it.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneI'll send the invite for the review and copy everyone here. Malcolm, would you want to see the pack beforehand or just the summary?
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneSummary and the schedule. If something looks wrong I'll say.
- Bernadette Lowry NoneAnd please put the reconciliation points on the first page. Not buried.
- Amara Obi NoneFirst page. Done.
- Lewis Kerr NoneThen the plan is a decision before Tuesday 17 February 2026, which leaves room if anything needs a second pass. If we have to move that date, I'd rather you told me early.
- Malcolm Ridgway NoneI will. Thank you, all. Useful, for once.
- Deepa Chauhan NoneThanks, everyone. Speak soon.
- Amara Obi NoneThanks all, bye for now.
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