Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – QBR
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Merriott Lyle Distribution · 13 Feb 2026 13:30
QBR on 13 Feb 2026 with Deepa Chauhan and Tariq Saleem. Usage and questions asked are rising, one ticket is resolved, and nothing is overdue. Deepa needs renewal terms in writing before the term ends on 27 Feb 2026.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026QBR on 13 Feb 2026 with Deepa Chauhan and Tariq Saleem. Usage and questions asked are rising, one ticket is resolved, and nothing is overdue. Deepa needs renewal terms in writing before the term ends on 27 Feb 2026.
What happened: Quarterly review covering tickets, usage, connectors and the contract. Active users are in the mid-sixties of two hundred licensed, up a little on the previous quarter.
Customer view: Key-account managers like it and have dropped their dispute spreadsheets. Deepa is uncomfortable with the headline user number in front of the regional directors and wants a sourced value page.
Commercial: Term ends 27 Feb 2026 and the contracted figure is £116k. Deepa asked about a price change; Daniel did not answer and said Lewis Kerr owns the terms.
Watch: The renewal date is close and terms had not yet reached the customer. Branch managers remain the headroom, and a possible returns data feed needs a connector answer.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
QBR and renewal reassurance
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daniel Okafor to chase Lewis Kerr and confirm renewal terms timing to Deepa early the following week.
- Daniel to send the branch manager session outline and sourced value page in one email.
- Daniel to check with engineering whether returns data counts as a new connector, using Tariq Saleem's write-up.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Renewal terms had not reached the customer with the term ending on 27 Feb 2026, and Deepa asked about a price change without an answer.
- Branch managers still ring head office rather than use the brain, so the active-user figure looks weak against two hundred licences.
- Duplicate trade accounts across branches remain a mapping issue that could undermine trust in the numbers.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Run a practical branch manager training session on live features and their own accounts.
- Provide a one-page sourced value story for the account data review.
- Returns data from the branch system may be added, within the Enterprise connector limit.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforAfternoon, Deepa. Can you hear me all right? I've got you coming through quite clearly on my side.
Deepa ChauhanAfternoon, Daniel. Yes, loud and clear. I'm in the meeting room at head office, so if there's an echo, tell me.- Daniel OkaforNo echo at all. Thank you both for making the time on a Friday afternoon, I know that's not everyone's favourite slot. Tariq, are you with us yet, or are we waiting?
Tariq SaleemI'm here. Sorry, just closing the load log. Afternoon, both.- Daniel OkaforAfternoon, Tariq. Lovely, so that's the three of us. How is the week treating you? Still cold up there?
- Deepa ChauhanFreezing. The yards were frosted over on Wednesday and the branch managers were not happy about it, because nobody wants to load pipe in that. But it's been a decent week otherwise. Can I say the one thing I need from today before we start?
- Daniel OkaforPlease do.
- Deepa ChauhanI need to walk away knowing what the renewal looks like, so I can take it to the account-data review with credit control and the regional directors. They keep asking me whether the brain is staying, and I don't want to say 'I think so'.
- Daniel OkaforThat's fair, and we'll get to it properly. Let me suggest an order. I'll start with usage, then tickets, then what's coming up, and we can spend the back half on the renewal. Does that work?
- Deepa ChauhanWorks for me.
- Tariq SaleemCan I do the open tickets first? Only because it's quick and then I can stop thinking about it.
- Daniel OkaforOf course, go ahead.
- Tariq SaleemSo there's one ticket in the last month. Normal priority, nothing urgent. It was a mapping question, how a trade account in the branch system lines up with the CRM record when the branch has used a slightly different account name. I'll check the load log again, but I believe the answer came back inside the response time and it's resolved on our side.
- Daniel OkaforYes, I've got that one in front of me. Just to close the loop, it was answered the same working day and you confirmed the fix the next morning. Is that how you remember it?
- Tariq SaleemThat matches. And nothing else open. No connector has failed to load in that period, which I wouldn't say was always true last year.
- Deepa ChauhanWhich connector was the one that kept dropping last year? I'm trying to remember whether that was the branch system or the credit control side.
- Tariq SaleemThe branch system. It was a schema change on our end, we didn't tell anyone, and the load just quietly skipped. That's on us, not on you, Daniel. I put a note in the change process afterwards.
- Daniel OkaforAppreciated, Tariq. And it's a good example of why I like watching records indexed, because that's the first place it shows. Let me share my screen and take you through the usage picture. Can you see it?
- Deepa ChauhanYes, I can see it.
- Daniel OkaforRight. So starting with people. You have two hundred licensed users on the Enterprise plan, and over the last thirty days the average number of active users has been in the mid-sixties. That's up a little on the previous quarter, a single-digit rise, so it's moving in the right direction without any dramatic jump.
- Deepa ChauhanMid-sixties out of two hundred. Honestly, Daniel, that's not a number I'm going to be proud of in front of the regional directors.
- Daniel OkaforI understand why it looks that way. Can I offer another way to read it? Two hundred is the licence, and it was sized for where you want to be, with branch, key-account and credit control all in. Active users in a thirty-day average also include people who only come in around month end or when there's a dispute. So the number underplays the people who rely on it occasionally.
- Deepa ChauhanMm. That's true of credit control. They're in heavily in the last week of the month and barely at all in the second week.
- Tariq SaleemCan we see it by team? Which account, which branch, sorry, I mean which group is driving the sixty-odd?
- Daniel OkaforGood question. Give me a second, I'll bring up the split. Right. The key-account managers are the biggest group by a distance, then credit control, and then a thinner spread across the branches. The branches are where the headroom is, which probably won't surprise you.
- Deepa ChauhanIt doesn't surprise me. Most of the branch managers still ring head office to ask about an account instead of looking. I've been trying to change that for months.
- Daniel OkaforHow is the team finding it, the ones who do use it? What do they say?
- Deepa ChauhanThe ones who use it like it a lot. The key-account managers say they stopped keeping their own spreadsheets of disputes, which was the whole point. One of them told me she can see the orders, the calls and the open invoice on one screen before she rings a customer. Before, she'd be on the phone and not know the account was in dispute.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly the use I hoped for. And it shows in questions asked, which I think is the best single measure of value. Let me show you that.
- Daniel OkaforSo questions asked into the brain are up on last quarter, and also up on the same period last year, when you were only just live. What I'd point to is who is asking. It's not one or two people any more. It's spread across a good number of the key-account team and credit control, and that's a healthier shape than a couple of power users.
- Tariq SaleemIs there any one person asking a big share? Because Deepa and I are probably the heaviest, and I'd rather that wasn't the case.
- Daniel OkaforYou're both in the top group, yes, but you're not a dominant share, and that's the point. If either of you left tomorrow the usage wouldn't fall off a cliff. I'd still like the number of people who ask more than a handful of questions to grow, and that's where I'd put the effort.
- Deepa ChauhanRight. So that's the branch managers again.
- Daniel OkaforMostly, yes. We could do a short training session for branch managers, something practical, built around their own accounts. I did one for another customer and it moved things within a month. I wouldn't want to promise a result for you, but it's worth trying.
- Deepa ChauhanI'd welcome that, but I have to be careful. I'm not going to promise the regions anything the brain can't do yet. Let's keep the session to what's live today.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely agree. Only what's live, only their own accounts. I'll draft an outline and send it to you, and you can tell me whether it's pitched right.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks.
- Daniel OkaforOkay, records indexed and connectors. Tariq, this is your area, so do stop me. Everything is loading nightly and the record count has been climbing steadily, no flat spells in the last quarter. The nightly refresh has been completing ahead of seven in the morning on business days.
- Tariq SaleemThat matches what I see in the load log. Can I ask about one thing? We're talking about adding the returns data from the branch system. Would that count as a new connector, or does it come under the existing one?
- Daniel OkaforI don't want to guess, Tariq, because it depends on how it's exposed on your side. If it's the same source with another table, it's usually the existing connector. If it's a separate feed, it counts as another. I'll come back to you on that after I've checked with the engineering team. Can you send me what you know about how it's exposed?
- Tariq SaleemI'll write it up. It's a mapping question more than anything, so I'll include which fields tie to which account.
- Daniel OkaforPerfect. And you're well inside the connectors on Enterprise, so there's no pressure on that front either way.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I ask about the account matching? Which account, which branch, is still my first question whenever somebody quotes me a number. Tariq, how clean is it now?
- Tariq SaleemMuch cleaner than a year ago. There's a residue of accounts where a branch has set up a customer separately from head office, so the same builder appears twice. That's a mapping question, not a data error as such, and I've not been changing any of those without telling you.
- Deepa ChauhanGood. I don't want it to turn into a blame conversation with the branches. They set accounts up the way they always did. Let's get credit control in the room for that one and agree a rule once.
- Tariq SaleemAgreed. I'll put together a list of the duplicates so we're arguing about real examples rather than in general.
- Deepa ChauhanShow me where that number comes from, as ever. A list with the source on it.
- Tariq SaleemSource and load date on every row. Fine.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a good piece of work for the next few weeks. Now, if I can move to the contract, because I think that's what's on your mind, Deepa. May I put the facts up?
- Deepa ChauhanPlease.
- Daniel OkaforSo you became a customer on 28 Feb 2025, on Enterprise. The order form is for one hundred and sixteen thousand five hundred pounds a year, £116,500, and what we've invoiced matches that exactly. Nothing overdue on your side, which I'm grateful for, and nothing in dispute on ours. The current term runs to 27 Feb 2026, and the renewal date we have is 28 Feb 2026.
- Deepa ChauhanSo that's two weeks from now, give or take. It's later than I'd like for me to be asking.
- Daniel OkaforIt's close, yes, and I won't pretend otherwise. I think that's partly why you wanted it today. Can I be clear about what I own and what I don't? I look after how the team is getting on and the renewal conversation. Lewis Kerr is your account owner and he looks after the commercial terms and the paperwork.
- Deepa ChauhanUnderstood. I'm not going to negotiate money around the people who sign it off in any case. What I can do is take back a clear view of value and what happens next. Is there a change in price coming?
- Daniel OkaforI won't guess at that, because it's Lewis's to confirm and I'd rather you heard the right thing than a rough thing from me. What I can tell you is that I'll ask him to get the renewal terms to you in writing, and I'll come back to you by early next week with when you can expect them.
- Deepa ChauhanEarly next week is fine. I just don't want it landing on the Friday before the date.
- Daniel OkaforNo, understood. That's why I'd rather chase it now.
- Tariq SaleemFrom my side, is there anything technical that depends on the renewal? I'd want to know if the connectors or the single sign-on would be touched.
- Daniel OkaforNothing changes technically because of a renewal. Everything keeps running as it is, the nightly loads, the sign-on, your admin set-up. It's a commercial event, not a technical one.
- Tariq SaleemGood. Then I've nothing to worry about on that front.
- Deepa ChauhanLet me say it back so I've got it right. The usage is moving the right way, there's one ticket and it's dealt with, nothing is overdue, the term ends on 27 Feb 2026, and the paperwork will come from Lewis, with you chasing it for early next week.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly right. And I'd add the value story, which I'll put on one page for your review so you aren't carrying it from memory. Things like fewer spreadsheets of disputes, key-account managers seeing the whole account, and the loads being reliable.
- Deepa ChauhanYes, please. With the source of each point, because the regional directors will ask.
- Daniel OkaforSources on every line. I'll send that with the branch manager session outline, so it's one email rather than two.
- Deepa ChauhanLovely. Anything else on your side, Daniel? I'm conscious we've covered a lot.
- Daniel OkaforJust a thank you, really. Both of you have made this one of the easier accounts to look after, and I mean that. Any questions before we go?
- Tariq SaleemOnly the returns data question, which I've already parked with you.
- Daniel OkaforWhich is on my list. Thanks, both. Have a good weekend, and keep warm.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks, Daniel. Speak soon. You too.
- Tariq SaleemCheers, both.
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