Harcastle Environmental / BB-Demo – Qbr
Callcompleted
Harcastle Environmental · 2025-11-26 14:00
Finance director Andrew Sugden asked what unused seats are worth. Nicola Brearley gave a three-part value case and promised numbers by January. Renewal terms were left to Lewis, with a January session booked ahead.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Finance director Andrew Sugden asked what unused seats are worth. Nicola Brearley gave a three-part value case and promised numbers by January. Renewal terms were left to Lewis, with a January session booked ahead.
What happened: Marcus Bell ran the QBR with Nicola, Andrew Sugden and Imran Hussain. Usage and questions asked are up, no tickets in thirty days, nothing overdue.
Customer view: Andrew pressed on what is paid for but not used, and asked for a number. Nicola answered with fewer credits, faster account preparation and visibility of repeat-complaint rounds, and said she can quantify it by January.
Commercial: The contracted figure is £40k a year, matching invoices, with the term ending 10 Apr 2026. Andrew asked whether it will be the same; Marcus deferred to Lewis and promised renewal notice about three months ahead.
Watch: Andrew is the person to convince, and he wants a value case before the plan goes in. Imran needs the connector count and wants to test who sees what before new users are added.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Value case before renewal
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- Marcus Bell to send the usage summary by team with the finance breakdown, and the connector count and close-name customer list to Imran by Friday.
- Marcus Bell to run a short training session once Nicola picks the regional account managers.
- Marcus Bell to send an invite for a January session with Lewis so Andrew sees the usage story before the renewal.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Andrew Sugden questioned what is paid for but unused, with seven or eight daily users against forty licensed.
- No figure yet backs the value case, which Nicola can only quantify by January.
- Andrew asked whether the price will stay the same and Marcus did not answer, leaving price expectations open.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Finance's questions on disputed invoices tied to missed collections give a concrete cash case Andrew can put a number on.
- Account managers in two regions still on spreadsheets can be brought on within the forty seats.
- Imran Hussain is considering another source and asked about connector headroom, which may touch the tier limits.
Transcript
Marcus Bell NoneHello, hello. Can everyone hear me alright?
Nicola Brearley NoneLoud and clear. Afternoon, Marcus.
Imran Hussain NoneAfternoon. Yes, you're fine, no echo this time.- Marcus Bell NoneGood, I moved rooms after last time. Andrew, are you with us?
Andrew Sugden NoneHere. Sorry, I was on mute. Afternoon all.- Marcus Bell NoneNo problem at all. Thanks for making the time, I know it's a busy week for everyone. I'll share my screen in a second and I just want to cover three things: how the brain has been used this quarter, anything you've hit that I should know about, and what's coming up with the contract. Happy to go wherever you want after that.
- Nicola Brearley NoneCan I start with the worst complaint of the week? Only because it's a good one for you, Marcus.
- Marcus Bell NoneGo on, please.
- Nicola Brearley NoneA business customer rang on Monday, very cross, missed collection, second one in a month. Except the account manager had already seen it. She'd opened the customer's page, saw the missed collection ticket, saw the earlier call and the last invoice, and she rang them before they rang us. Ten minutes, fixed, rebooked. Two years ago that would have sat overnight while somebody logged into three different systems.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's exactly what it was built for, so that's lovely to hear. Did she say how she'd found it, was it search or the customer page?
- Nicola Brearley NoneChat, I think. She just typed the customer's name and asked what's gone wrong with their collections. Which depot, which round, it gave her all of it.
- Imran Hussain NoneMm. That one is probably the routing connector and the helpdesk connector doing their job together. I'll come back to that when it's my turn, there's a bit I changed.
- Andrew Sugden NoneBefore we get into the detail, Marcus, what's the headline?
- Marcus Bell NoneFair. Headline is it's a healthy quarter. Usage is up, you've had no tickets with us in the last thirty days, and nothing overdue on the invoices. I've pulled the numbers and I'll walk through them, but that's the short version.
- Andrew Sugden NoneUp by how much?
- Marcus Bell NoneAverage active users over the last thirty days is around seven or eight a day, and that's up about a fifth on the quarter before. Questions asked are up as well, a bit more than the users, which tells me the people who are using it are using it more.
- Andrew Sugden NoneSeven or eight. And we're licensed for how many?
- Marcus Bell NoneForty. So there's a lot of headroom, and I'm not going to dress that up. It's good that it's growing, but it's a small group of the forty doing most of the work.
- Andrew Sugden NoneRight. That's what I wanted to ask. What are we paying for that isn't being used?
- Nicola Brearley NoneAndrew, can I jump in? It's not that they aren't being used, it's that we rolled out in stages. Account managers first, the big accounts team, then the rest. We said that at the start.
- Andrew Sugden NoneI remember. I'd just like it said out loud before the plan goes in. What's the margin on that, Nicola? If we put forty people on it, what do we get back?
- Nicola Brearley NoneFair question, and I'd put it in three parts. One, complaints get handled before they escalate, so fewer credits and fewer lost contracts. Two, account managers aren't spending half a morning pulling a customer's history together before a renewal conversation. Three, my team can see which rounds keep generating the same complaint, and that's the margin one, because a round that keeps missing is a round that costs us.
- Andrew Sugden NoneCan you put a number on any of that?
- Nicola Brearley NoneNot today. I can by January if Marcus can give me the usage by team.
- Marcus Bell NoneYes, I can do that. Let me share the screen, sorry, I've been talking over the top of it. Can you see it? It's the usage page for the account.
- Imran Hussain NoneI can see it. Bit small. Could you go up one size?
- Marcus Bell NoneBetter? Okay. So this is the last quarter against the one before. The users line is the one going up. Questions asked is the bar underneath. And this bit here, records indexed, that's climbing steadily, which is what I like to see, it means the nightly refresh is bringing everything in and nothing is stuck.
- Imran Hussain NoneThat's what I'd expect. Can I say what I changed since last time, because it ties in?
- Marcus Bell NonePlease do.
- Imran Hussain NoneSo there were a few places where the same site showed up as two customer records. One from the routing side and one from finance, spelled slightly differently. I didn't delete anything, I can't restore a deletion, so what I did was flag the pairs and match them up in the brain so the account manager sees one customer. I tested that on a handful first, then switched it on for the lot.
- Nicola Brearley NoneWhich is why the account manager saw everything on the one page on Monday. That was your fix.
- Imran Hussain NonePartly. It helped. I wouldn't overstate it. There are still some I haven't matched, and I'd rather leave those alone than guess.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's the right call. Do you want me to look at how many are left, from our side? I can list the ones where the names are close.
- Imran Hussain NoneYes please. That would save me a day.
- Marcus Bell NoneDone, I'll put it on my list. Right, so, who's asking the questions? This is the bit I find most useful.
- Marcus Bell NoneSorry, just finding the filter. Yeah. So it's spread across the account managers, which is good. Nicola, your team is the heaviest, which won't surprise you, and then a few people in finance. No single person is asking most of them, so you're not leaning on one individual.
- Andrew Sugden NoneFinance? Who in finance?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'm not going to read out names in a call, but I can send you the breakdown by team.
- Andrew Sugden NoneFine. I'd like to know. If it's my team, I'd like to know what they're asking.
- Imran Hussain NoneI think that's invoices. Disputed invoices against a collection that didn't happen. That's the one connection finance wanted.
- Andrew Sugden NoneGood. Then that's cash. That I can put a number on.
- Nicola Brearley NoneWhich is what I'd like to do properly. Take the last quarter, how many disputed invoices were tied to a missed collection, how many we credited, how quickly. Let's see it from the customer's side.
- Andrew Sugden NoneDo that, then. And how many customers does that touch? Is it a handful of the big ones or is it across the book?
- Nicola Brearley NoneAcross the book. We've got something like thirty thousand business customers and the complaints sit in the long tail, not just the big accounts. The big accounts shout, the small ones just leave.
- Andrew Sugden NoneMm. Okay. That's the sentence I wanted for the plan.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll write that up with the usage so you've got it in one page rather than from memory. Nicola, anything else from your side on what's working or what's annoying you?
- Nicola Brearley NoneAnnoying? Honestly, not much. I keep waiting for something to break and it hasn't. What I want is more people on it. What's the fix and who owns it, I've got account managers in two regions who still work from spreadsheets and email and I want them on this before the new year.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's within the forty, so no change to the contract. It's more about training. I can do a short session for them if you give me a date and who. Happy to jump on a call with the regional managers first if that helps.
- Nicola Brearley NoneYes. I'll sort the people. Don't let me forget.
- Imran Hussain NoneOne thing on that. If we add people I'd like to check nobody gets a view of customer records they shouldn't. Some of the finance data is sensitive. I'll test who sees what before we switch them on.
- Marcus Bell NoneSensible. Tell me what you find and I'll check it's how we think it works, rather than assume.
- Imran Hussain NoneAnd while I'm here. How many connectors have we got left? I know we said there'd be room.
- Marcus Bell NoneI don't want to guess a number on a call, so give me until the end of the week and I'll send you the exact count with what's live today. Growth does give you some room, and I don't think you're close to the limit, but let me check before I say it.
- Imran Hussain NoneThat's fine. There's one more source I'm thinking about, I just don't want to start it and hit a wall.
- Nicola Brearley NoneIs that the thing I mentioned? The one for the customer contact notes?
- Imran Hussain NonePossibly. Let me look at what's in it first. I don't want to switch anything on that I haven't tested.
- Andrew Sugden NoneIs that going to cost us anything?
- Imran Hussain NoneNot for the connector as far as I know. It'll be my time, and a bit of Nicola's team.
- Andrew Sugden NoneThen put it in the plan, and tell me if it changes.
- Marcus Bell NoneOkay. That takes me to the last bit, which is the contract. So you signed in April this year, and the term ends on 10 Apr 2026, with the renewal date on 11 Apr 2026. The contracted figure is £39,600 a year, and that matches what's been invoiced, so there's nothing to untangle there.
- Andrew Sugden NoneThat's the number in my plan already. Will it be the same?
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll leave that to Lewis, he owns the commercial side, and I don't want to say anything about price that he'd have to correct. What I'll do is send the renewal notice well ahead of time, roughly three months before, so there's no surprise and your budget round has time to take it in.
- Andrew Sugden NoneGood. I'd rather know in the new year than in March.
- Nicola Brearley NoneAnd I'd like you and Lewis to come back with the usage story at that point, Marcus. Not just the figures. What we actually did with it.
- Marcus Bell NoneYes, that's the plan. I'll bring the examples like Monday's, with your say so, and the numbers by team. Shall we book thirty minutes in January so Andrew sees it before it goes anywhere near a form?
- Andrew Sugden NoneYes. Put it in my diary.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll send an invite today. Right, let me read back what I've got so I don't drop any of it.
- Marcus Bell NoneOne, I send Andrew and Nicola a one-page usage summary by team, with the finance breakdown. Two, I send Imran the connector count by Friday and a list of the close-name customer records. Three, Nicola picks the regional account managers and I run a short training session for them. Four, Imran tests who sees what before anyone new is added. Five, invite for January, with Lewis, ahead of the renewal. Did I miss anything?
- Nicola Brearley NoneNo, that's it. Maybe the disputed invoice numbers, but that's mine and Andrew's.
- Andrew Sugden NoneMine, I'll get finance to pull it. Send me the template and I'll do it.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll include it with the summary. Thanks, all. This was a good one.
- Imran Hussain NoneThanks. Speak soon.
- Nicola Brearley NoneCheers, Marcus. Thanks, everyone.
- Andrew Sugden NoneThank you. Goodbye.
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