What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Check-in on 12 May 2026 with Gemma Thorne. She says the brain now gives matching answers across teams. Usage is rising, the service desk is slow to adopt, and any money decision goes above her.
What happened: Amara Obi introduced herself as customer success manager and met Gemma Thorne one to one. They covered usage, adoption on the service desk and remarketing, and the contract.
Customer view: Gemma says the account manager and the service desk got matching answers for a client review, which is the outcome she bought for. She calls it worth it but needs to take any money decision to her boss.
Commercial: Growth, forty users, term to 1 Dec 2026, renewal date 2 Dec 2026. Amara plans a conversation well before the formal notice.
Watch: Active users are just under nine, with a couple of heavier users. The unnamed boss has not been on a call yet.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Amara Obi to send the usage chart and a note on the question split by user.
- Amara Obi to draft service desk starter questions and run a session once Gemma picks a time.
- Gemma Thorne to send new starter and team leader names, and to choose a time for the session.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Gemma cannot decide on money alone and her boss was not on the call.
- Most of the service desk still uses the old screens, and a couple of heavier users account for much of the questioning.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Service desk starter questions and a team leader session could bring many unused Growth seats into use.
- A client review dashboard on the dashboards builder could extend the brain to remarketing.
Transcript
- Amara ObiHi Gemma, can you hear me alright?
- Gemma ThorneLoud and clear, morning. Sorry, give me a second, I've got the review pack open in another window and it keeps grabbing the screen.
- Amara ObiNo rush at all. Morning. Let me introduce myself properly, because I don't think we've had a proper sit-down on one of these yet. I'm Amara, I'm the customer success manager for Carnmoor, so I look after how the brain is actually landing with your teams. Sophie is still your account owner on the commercial side, but check-ins, the quarterly reviews and the renewal conversation later in the year all come through me.
- Gemma ThorneRight, yes, Sophie mentioned you. Good. Lovely to put a voice to the name.
- Amara ObiLikewise. So, what does good look like for you this quarter? I'd rather start from that than from my charts.
- Gemma ThorneHonestly? What I'm doing right now is the thing I wanted it for. I'm preparing a review for one of our corporate clients, a big one, lots of vans, a couple of different fleets under the same contract. And before, one of my account managers would have spent most of two days pulling the fleet picture together, then the service desk would have a different version of the story, and we'd walk in with two sets of numbers.
- Amara ObiMm. And this time?
- Gemma ThorneThis time the account manager asked the brain, the service desk asked the brain, and the answers matched. That's the bit I care about. We start the review from agreed numbers and we argue about what to do, not about whose spreadsheet is right.
- Amara ObiThat's exactly the outcome I'd hope for. Can I show you what the numbers say on our side? I've got a chart, I'll share it. Can you see that?
- Gemma ThorneYes. Bit small. There, that's better.
- Amara ObiSo here's what the numbers say. Over the last thirty days you've averaged just under nine active users. Compared with the previous quarter that's up by almost half. So it's not a blip, it's a steady climb since the account managers got going.
- Gemma ThorneNine. Hm. That sounds low against forty seats, to be honest.
- Amara ObiI'd read it the other way round. You're licensed for forty users on Growth, so there's a lot of headroom, and the direction is what matters at this stage. The people who are in are using it properly. Questions asked are climbing alongside the users, so it isn't people logging in and wandering off. But yes, I'd like to see more seats in use. Who else should have access?
- Gemma ThorneWell, that's the thing. Account managers are mostly in. The service desk, not really. I've got two or three of the senior agents who've had a go, but most of the desk still go to the old screens out of habit.
- Amara ObiOkay. And what stops them? Is it habit, or is it that they don't know what to ask?
- Gemma ThorneA bit of both. They're brilliant on the phone, they know the drivers, but they get nervous about a blank box. They want to be told what a good question looks like. Which client, which fleet, what did the driver actually say last time.
- Amara ObiThat's very fixable. I can put together a one-page set of starter questions for the service desk, written in their language. Things like, show me every query from this fleet in the last month, or what did this client see on their last invoice. Would that help?
- Gemma ThorneThat would help a lot. Let's get the service desk in on this properly. If I can get the team leaders in a room for half an hour, would you do a short session with them?
- Amara ObiHappily. Half an hour is plenty for a first one. I'd keep it practical, their own clients on screen, no slides.
- Gemma ThornePerfect. They hate slides.
- Amara ObiWho doesn't. Right, so that's the service desk. What about remarketing? When you bought Growth I think the idea was that they'd see the same fleet picture, so a vehicle coming back off contract isn't a surprise to anyone.
- Gemma ThorneYeah, that's slower. They're a small team and they're very good at what they do with what they have. I think they need to see a win from somebody they trust. If the account managers can show them a return date next to the client's open queries, that'll land better than me telling them.
- Amara ObiThat makes sense. Can I suggest something that might help? On Growth you have the dashboards builder. You could build one client review dashboard, fleet by fleet, with the queries, the invoices and the vehicles coming off contract side by side. Then the review pack is a view, not a rebuild.
- Gemma ThorneIs that hard? I don't want to hand my account managers another thing to learn.
- Amara ObiIt's not hard, and I'll sit with whoever builds the first one. The first is the slow one. After that you copy it and change the client. Some of our other customers keep one template and just swap the name at the top.
- Gemma ThorneOkay, I like that. Though I'd be careful, I never want to promise a client a report I haven't seen myself. So I'd want to look at the first one end to end before anyone sends it out.
- Amara ObiCompletely fair, and that's the right instinct. We'll build it in your view first, you check it against what the client actually saw, and only then does it go anywhere.
- Gemma ThorneGood. What did the client actually see, that's always my test. If the invoice says one thing and the brain says another, I need to know which one the client has in their hand.
- Amara ObiYes. And if you ever find a mismatch like that, tell me straight away, because it's usually either a source that hasn't refreshed or a field we've mapped differently from how your team reads it. Neither is hard to put right, but I'd rather know early.
- Gemma ThorneUnderstood. Nothing like that at the moment, touch wood. It's been very quiet, actually.
- Amara ObiIt has. No tickets with us in the last thirty days, none of them urgent, and nothing outstanding on the invoice side either. So from where I'm sitting the platform is just doing its job. Quiet is good, but I do want to make sure quiet doesn't mean nobody's using the more difficult parts.
- Gemma ThorneNo, I think it's just that it works. Speaking of which, since you're here, can I ask about the contract? I should know where we stand. Someone in our finance team asked me last week and I waved my hands.
- Amara ObiOf course. So you're on Growth, forty users, and the annual subscription is forty-one thousand eight hundred pounds. That's what's on the order form and it's what's been invoiced, so those match. The term runs to 1 Dec 2026, and the renewal date is 2 Dec 2026.
- Gemma ThorneRight, so that's still some way off. Lots of time.
- Amara ObiIt is, but it comes round faster than people think. I send a formal renewal notice about ninety days before the end, and I'd like us to have had a proper conversation long before that, once we've got another quarter of numbers. That way, when we sit down, it's about what the brain has done for Carnmoor, not about a letter.
- Gemma ThorneThat works for me. I'll be honest, from where I sit it's been worth it. The account managers aren't rebuilding the picture every time. But any decision on money isn't mine alone, I'd need to take it to my boss, so the more I can show him, the better.
- Amara ObiThen let's make that easy for you. After this call I'll send you the usage chart as it stands and a short note of what's changed over the quarter. You can use as much or as little of it as you like.
- Gemma ThorneYes please. And if there's a way of seeing who's asking the questions, that'd be useful. I don't want it all sitting with two people.
- Amara ObiGood thought. At the moment it's reasonably spread across the account managers, though you do have a couple of heavier users, and I'd prefer that to broaden. That's another reason to bring the service desk in. I'll put the split in the note.
- Gemma ThorneGreat. Oh, and one more thing before I forget. We've had a couple of new starters on the account management side. Do I just tell you their names or is there a form?
- Amara ObiJust send me the names and work emails and I'll sort the access. You've got plenty of seats, so there's no cost in it. Same for the service desk team leaders.
- Gemma ThorneBrilliant. Easy.
- Amara ObiSo, to pull it together. I'll send the usage chart and the note today. I'll draft the starter questions for the service desk, and I'll find a slot for the session with the team leaders once you've picked a time. You'll send me the new names and the team leaders. And we'll build the first client review dashboard together, in your view, before it goes anywhere near a client.
- Gemma ThorneThat's it. I'll have a look at diaries this afternoon and come back to you by tomorrow.
- Amara ObiLovely. And let's get the next QBR in the diary while we're at it, so it doesn't drift. I'll send a couple of options.
- Gemma ThorneYes, do. Send a couple and I'll pick one.
- Amara ObiWill do. Anything else you wanted to raise? Anything about the brain you'd change, anything that's irritating you? It's a good time to say.
- Gemma ThorneNot really. Maybe the search results on older queries are a bit long-winded, but that's me being picky. I'll collect examples and send them across rather than trying to describe it from memory.
- Amara ObiPlease do, examples are the most useful thing. Then I can take them to the team properly.
- Gemma ThorneWill do. Right, I've got to dash, I've got the account managers waiting to go through that review pack. Thanks, Amara, this was really useful.
- Amara ObiThanks, Gemma. Good luck with the client review, I'd love to hear how it goes. Speak soon.
- Gemma ThorneWill tell you. Bye for now.