What was said
What this says
Current to 11 Oct 26Demo to Kelvinhaugh Pension Services on two of its own schemes. Fiona Drummond was convinced. Open points: the four-connector hard limit, a written data-handling note, and sign-off from her director and the finance director before the 26 Jan 2024 target.
What happened: Tom Ashdown and Tobias Renwick demoed pages and chat on the two schemes Fiona sent. Fiona saw a cited summary and an open employer query she did not know about.
Customer view: Fiona ended with "This was far more convincing than I expected." Ailsa Dunlop, who would own the Snowflake account, wants the data-handling position in writing for compliance.
Commercial: Starter was confirmed at four connectors (hard limit) and fifteen users (soft limit). The proposal amount of £24k is the total with implementation, not a yearly price.
Watch: Ailsa thinks four connectors will be tight, with a fourth to choose between call recordings and the admin platform. Fiona needs her director and then the finance director to sign off before the 26 Jan 2024 target.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Tobias Renwick to send Ailsa Dunlop a one-page data-handling note.
- Tom Ashdown to send Fiona Drummond the proposal with connectors, users and the amount confirmed.
- Fiona to take it to her director, working to the 26 Jan 2024 sign-off date.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Four connectors is a hard limit and Ailsa thinks it will be tight for CRM, mailbox, helpdesk and a fourth source.
- Ailsa wants the data handling in writing for compliance before she sees no security problem.
- Fiona needs her own director, then the finance director, to sign off first.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A fourth connector (call recordings or the admin platform) once managers show what they ask for.
- Finer access separation between schemes would move the customer towards a larger package.
Transcript
- Tom Ashdown NoneMorning all. Can everyone hear me? Fiona, Ailsa, Tobias, I think that's us.
- Fiona Drummond NoneMorning, Tom. Yes, I can hear you fine. Ailsa's just joining, I can see her coming in.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneHello, sorry, my camera's being slow. Can you hear me?
- Tom Ashdown NoneLoud and clear. Cold start to the week, isn't it? I've had the heating on since Saturday. Right, Fiona, how's your week begun? What have the managers been asking you?
- Fiona Drummond NoneFunnily enough, one of them asked me this morning why we couldn't just search for an employer and see everything. So I said, wait ten minutes, I'm seeing something about that.
- Tobias Renwick NoneGood, that's a fair thing to set us up with. Before we begin, can I ask what your security people will need to see? I'd rather we answered that in this call than discovered it later.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneThat would be me, mostly, at this stage. Member data, where it lives, who can read it. If we can show it doesn't leave our environment, that goes a long way.
- Tobias Renwick NoneTo be precise, then: the brain is built and runs inside a Snowflake account that belongs to you. Our software works on the data there. We don't take a copy to a separate system of ours. The trade-off is that you need that account in place, and someone on your side who owns it.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneRight. We do have one, and I've had a look. It's early days, there's not a lot in there. I'd be the owner, for now.
- Tobias Renwick NoneThat's helpful, and the honest answer is that it's fine for a first team. We'd connect your sources into it, and the brain builds from there.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAnd that's what we've done for this session, Fiona. Tobias has loaded the two schemes you sent, a larger defined-benefit one and a smaller one, so what you'll see is your own material. Tobias, over to you.
- Tobias Renwick NoneThank you. I'm sharing my screen now. Can you see a page with the name of the larger scheme at the top?
- Fiona Drummond NoneYes. Oh, that's the employer, and there's the trustee contact. Good grief, that's a tidier summary than I could write.
- Tobias Renwick NoneThis is what we call a page. It's assembled from your CRM records, the mailbox threads and the helpdesk tickets that mention the scheme. Each line carries its source, so if I click on this statement about the last trustee meeting, you can see the email it came from.
- Fiona Drummond NoneThat's the bit I care about. A manager can check it in a click. Who owns the client, and what have we said to them. That's exactly it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneShow them the chat, Tobias. That's the part that tends to land.
- Tobias Renwick NoneOf course. I'll type a question the way one of your managers might: what has this employer raised in the last quarter that is still unresolved? And we wait a moment.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneIt's a bit slow. Is that normal?
- Tobias Renwick NoneIt's thinking across several sources, so a few seconds is expected. There, it has come back with three open items and the records behind each one.
- Fiona Drummond NoneHang on, the second one, I didn't know about that. That's a query from the employer about a contribution schedule. Somebody on the administration side must have taken it.
- Tobias Renwick NoneYes, it's in the mailbox, from the shared address, and the case is logged in the helpdesk. The relationship manager wouldn't necessarily have seen it, which is the point of putting them together.
- Fiona Drummond NoneThat's what I mean by knowing the whole picture before the meeting. Honestly, that alone would have saved us an awkward conversation last year. Sorry, I shouldn't say that, no names. Carry on.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo drama. Tobias, can you try a smaller question, something a new starter would ask?
- Tobias Renwick NoneCertainly. Fiona, give me one.
- Fiona Drummond NoneUm. Who is the main contact at the smaller scheme and when did we last speak to them?
- Tobias Renwick NoneTyping it. And it gives a name, a role, and the last contact, which was a call, with a short note. If you want the full note, one click again.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneCan I ask about who sees what? Fiona raised it before. If one manager shouldn't see a particular scheme, can we stop that?
- Tobias Renwick NoneYes. Access follows the permissions you set. Within the Starter package there's one team, so the simplest set-up is one group of users. If you need finer separation than that, the trade-off is that it moves you towards a larger package, and I'd rather say so now than let you find out later.
- Fiona Drummond NoneUnderstood. For the first team, one group is fine. All my managers should see all of the schemes they look after, and the others can wait.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneHow fresh is the information? If somebody emails at four in the afternoon, is it there at five?
- Tobias Renwick NoneNo, and I'd rather be exact. The refresh is nightly, and it completes by seven in the morning on business days. So anything from today is there tomorrow, not in an hour.
- Fiona Drummond NoneThat's fine for relationship work. We prepare the day before, usually.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneAnd the connectors, how many would we get? I'd want to know what I'm choosing between.
- Tom Ashdown NoneOn Starter it's four, and that's a hard limit, so it's worth choosing carefully. Fifteen users, as a soft limit. I'll put both in the proposal so there's no ambiguity.
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneFour will be tight. CRM, mailbox, helpdesk, that's three. The fourth would be the call recordings, or the admin platform, and I'd have to think about which.
- Tobias Renwick NoneThe honest answer is, start with the three you've named. Judge the fourth when you've seen what the managers ask for. A connector you don't need on day one costs you nothing by waiting.
- Fiona Drummond NoneI agree. Let's start with the partners, sorry, the managers who'll use it, and see which questions come up.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. On the money, Fiona, you'll remember I said I'd confirm. The deal amount in the proposal is twenty-three thousand five hundred and fifty pounds. That's the total, implementation included, not a yearly price. I'll set out the split properly in writing.
- Fiona Drummond NoneThanks. That matches what you told me before, so no surprises. I'll need to take it to our finance director, and I'd like the sign-off from my own director first, before it goes anywhere.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAbsolutely, sign-off first. The date I'm working to is 26 January 2024, if that still works for you.
- Fiona Drummond NoneIt does. Provided nothing in the security side throws up a problem. Ailsa?
- Ailsa Dunlop NoneI don't see one yet, but I'd like it in writing. How the data is handled, where it sits, who can touch it. Something I can hand to our compliance people.
- Tobias Renwick NoneI'll write that up and send it to you directly, Ailsa, a short document, one page if I can manage it. It will describe what the brain does inside your account and what it doesn't. I won't put any roadmap promises in it.
- Ailsa Dunlop NonePerfect, thanks. That's what I need.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSo, to pull it together. Tobias sends the data-handling note to Ailsa. I send the proposal to Fiona, with the connectors and users written down and the amount confirmed. Fiona talks to her director, and Ailsa tells us about the connectors she wants first. Have I missed anything?
- Fiona Drummond NoneI think that's it. I'd like another look at the page for the smaller scheme afterwards, if Tobias can leave it available.
- Tobias Renwick NoneI'll leave both schemes in place until the end of next week, so you can look as often as you like.
- Fiona Drummond NoneLovely. Thanks, everyone. This was far more convincing than I expected.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCheers all, speak soon.