Brimscombe Energy / BB-Demo – Discovery
Callcompleted
Brimscombe Energy · 2024-09-02 15:45
Discovery call with the Head of Customer Data and Insight. Pain is six disconnected views of a business customer under regulator deadlines. She wants baselines first, and says the sequence matters more than the date.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Discovery call with the Head of Customer Data and Insight. Pain is six disconnected views of a business customer under regulator deadlines. She wants baselines first, and says the sequence matters more than the date.
What happened: Siân Pritchard described key accounts, collections and complaints working from separate records, with complaint evidence taking two people most of a morning to assemble. Tom Ashdown outlined the brain and the Enterprise tier, with a £145k all-in figure pencilled on the deal.
Customer view: She wants measurable proof before backing it, and set three measures with no baselines yet. She does not sign, and information security have a veto in practice.
Commercial: Tom pencilled Friday 27 December 2024 for an order form. Siân called that tight and preferred an agreed sequence.
Watch: Snowflake position is unknown and untidy billing data could undermine the demo. The complaints case tool depends on one person.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Regulated customer single view
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Siân Pritchard to send a view of systems and find the Snowflake position and an information security contact.
- Tom Ashdown to send the written breakdown of the money and propose a demo on a slice of data.
- Tom Ashdown to bring Daniel Okafor into the demo and ask about a regulated reference customer.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Information security have a practical veto and the Snowflake position is unconfirmed.
- The 27 Dec 2024 order form date looks tight given security review and procurement.
- Untidy billing data could undermine confidence in the demo.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Enterprise tier covering key accounts, collections, complaints and insight users, with SSO and user provisioning.
- A baseline exercise and demo on the customer's own data could build the measured value case she wants.
Transcript
Tom Ashdown NoneHiya Siân, can you hear me alright? You're coming through a bit quiet on my side.
Siân Pritchard NoneHello Tom. Is that better? I've moved the headset mic, it was catching on my collar.- Tom Ashdown NoneMuch better, perfect. Afternoon. How's your week been, back into the swing after the summer?
- Siân Pritchard NoneBusy, honestly. It's only Monday and I've already had three of those. This morning the complaints team asked whether we could see, for one business customer, every call, every bill dispute and every contract change in one place, because the regulator's deadline on that case lands this week. The answer is yes, but it took two people most of the morning, across the CRM, the billing system and the call recordings. That's more or less why I said yes to this call.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, no, that's a really good place to start, and I'll come back to that complaint in a minute. Before I do, can I say how I'd like to use the time? I've got you for about forty minutes. I'd like to understand how the teams work today, where it hurts, and what good looks like for you. Then I'll tell you a bit about how we'd approach it, and we'll agree what happens next. Does that work?
- Siân Pritchard NoneThat works. I should say I've got a hard stop a bit before the hour, so if we can keep it moving.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo drama. Okay, so, the teams. You mentioned complaints, but who else touches a business customer?
- Siân Pritchard NoneThree groups really. Key accounts, who look after the larger corporate customers and own the relationship. Collections, who chase overdue bills and agree payment plans. And complaints, who have to answer inside the regulator's timescales. All three are talking to the same business customer, often in the same week, and none of them sees what the others have said. Key accounts might be agreeing a renewal with someone while collections are chasing that same person for a bill. That's not a good look.
- Tom Ashdown NoneHa, no. And is that a data problem or a people problem, would you say?
- Siân Pritchard NoneMostly data. The people are good. But what does the record say? That's what I always ask. And the record is in five or six places, depending on how you count. The CRM has the contacts and the account notes. The billing system has the bills and the payment history. Calls are in the recorder. Complaints sit in a case tool the team built up over the years, and then there's a lot in shared mailboxes and, I'm sorry to say, spreadsheets.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSpreadsheets, yeah, we all have them. Which ones matter most, d'you think?
- Siân Pritchard NoneThe one that tracks complaint deadlines, for a start. Someone updates it by hand each morning. If they're off sick it's a bit of a lottery. I never let a deadline slip, but I'd rather it wasn't down to one person's diligence.
- Tom Ashdown NoneMm. So that's the regulator's rules on how quickly you have to respond. Is there a specific part that bites, like proving what was said and when?
- Siân Pritchard NoneBoth. We have to show when we received the complaint, what we did, and that the answer was based on the whole picture: billing, contract, past contact. If someone asks me for the evidence, I need it in minutes, not a day. One customer, one view, that's what I keep saying to the board. Right now it's one customer, six views.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSix views, I'm going to steal that. Okay. And sites, you've got a lot of them, haven't you? Sixty thousand or so?
- Siân Pritchard NoneAbout that, yes, across small businesses and larger corporate customers. A corporate customer might have dozens of sites on different contracts with different end dates. Matching a bill to the right site and the right contract is where most of the time goes.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, and that's the thing the brain is good at. Let me just explain it briefly, because the phrase gets used a bit loosely. We build one layer over your systems, so CRM, calls, emails, tickets, finance, whichever ones matter, and it runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the data stays within your walls. Then your people ask it questions in plain English and it answers from the connected records, with the source shown. So the question your complaints person asked this morning just becomes a question. Does that make sense?
- Siân Pritchard NoneIt does. The 'stays within our walls' bit matters a lot. Our information security people will want to see that in writing, and probably our data protection lead too. And on Snowflake, I'm not the right person to say what our position is. That's a question for our data platform team. I'll find out.
- Tom Ashdown NoneGreat, that's a perfect thing to find out, because it shapes the timeline. Leave that with me and I'll send you a short note on what we'd need from them. Enterprise comes with a security review that we support, so it's not something you'd be doing on your own.
- Siân Pritchard NoneGood. Because that's what stalls projects here, not enthusiasm. Let me ask you something. Have you worked with a regulated supplier before? Energy specifically?
- Tom Ashdown NoneHonestly, I'd rather not overclaim. We've got regulated customers, and Daniel Okafor, who'd look after you on the customer side once you're with us, can speak to that far better than I can. I'd sooner get him on a call than say something I can't back up.
- Siân Pritchard NoneFair enough, I appreciate that. Let's measure it before we claim it, that's my rule. Which brings me to what I need to show. If I take this to our leadership, they'll ask what it's worth, and I can't just say it'll be better.
- Tom Ashdown NoneYeah. So what would you measure? If we were sitting here in a year and you said that worked, what's the number?
- Siân Pritchard NoneThree things, I think. How long it takes to pull a full picture of a business customer for a complaint. How many complaints reach the regulator's deadline with no margin left. And how often collections contact someone that key accounts are in the middle of a conversation with. I don't have the baselines today. That's the first piece of work, honestly, before any tool.
- Tom Ashdown NoneLove that. Could we do the baselines together as part of discovery? Not a big exercise, just a sample of cases, so you've got a before picture.
- Siân Pritchard NoneYes, I'd want that. I'd have someone from complaints and someone from key accounts sit in. Not too many, they've got day jobs.
- Tom Ashdown NoneBrilliant. So when we get to the demo, we do it on your own data, not a canned example. We'd take a slice, a handful of business customers you choose, connect a couple of the sources, and let you and the teams ask real questions. Which sources would you start with, if it were up to you?
- Siân Pritchard NoneBilling and the CRM, no question, because that's where the contract and the money live. Then the call recordings, since that's where the promises get made. The complaints case tool after that. Mailboxes last, they're the hardest politically.
- Tom Ashdown NonePolitically, I get you. And the case tool, is that something somebody built in house or a product?
- Siân Pritchard NoneBuilt in house, years ago, by someone who's since moved on. It does the job. There's one person who really understands it, which, you know, isn't ideal.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo, and we'd just look at how best to get at it. That's not unusual, we'd work through it with whoever knows it best. Don't worry on that one.
- Siân Pritchard NoneGood. I'll be honest about the other thing: the billing data is not tidy. Sites that were merged, accounts with two names, that kind of thing. I'd hate for the demo to show up the mess and everyone to lose faith.
- Tom Ashdown NoneFair worry, and I'd rather it did show up, honestly, because that's better to find early than in month three. The brain won't fix the underlying records by itself, but it makes the gaps visible, and that's often the first win. No drama.
- Siân Pritchard NoneRight. Then I'd frame it to the team as: this is a test of what we have, not a test of them.
- Tom Ashdown NoneExactly that. Can I ask about users? Who do you picture actually asking questions?
- Siân Pritchard NoneKey account managers, the collections team, the complaints handlers, and my own team in insight. Possibly the people who handle contract renewals. I'd have to count properly before I give you a number, and I'd not want to give you a wrong one.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSensible. We price Enterprise with a user and connector allowance, so we'll want a rough count later, but it doesn't need to be today. Who's going to be the biggest sceptic, would you say?
- Siân Pritchard NoneCollections, I'd guess. They've seen tools come and go, and they're measured on cash. If it saves them a phone call to someone who's mid-dispute they'll love it, but they'll want to see that first. And on the complaints side, I'd want the lead to be comfortable that every answer can be traced back to its source.
- Tom Ashdown NoneWhich it can, every answer points back to the record it came from. We can show you that in the demo, specifically for complaints. Right, I'll jot that down: complaints traceability, collections sceptical, key accounts view. Sorry, I'm scribbling.
- Siân Pritchard NoneTake your time.
- Siân Pritchard NoneCan I ask about single sign-on? Our IT team will insist on it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneEnterprise includes single sign-on and user provisioning, so that's covered. I'd get your IT person into the security conversation early, same as the data platform question.
- Siân Pritchard NoneI'll introduce you to someone. Now, the awkward bit. Roughly what are we looking at financially? I know it's early, but I need a range before I go to anyone senior.
- Tom Ashdown NoneFair, and I'm not going to quote you from memory, because I'd rather get it right. What I've got pencilled on the deal at the moment is £145,000, and that's all in, implementation included, so it's not a yearly figure. I'll confirm the breakdown in writing so you can see the split between the one-off and the subscription.
- Siân Pritchard NoneRight. Thank you, that's clear. I'll say now, I don't go around the person who signs off our money, so I'll want that in writing before I mention a figure to anyone.
- Tom Ashdown NoneWouldn't expect anything else. What's the shape of the decision, then? Who else is involved besides you and finance?
- Siân Pritchard NoneThe operations director would want a say, and information security have a veto in practice. Procurement will come in at the end for the paperwork. I'm the one who'll carry it, but I don't sign it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneOkay, and have you got a date in mind? We've pencilled Friday 27 December 2024 as when we'd like to have an order form signed, though that's us being optimistic, not a commitment.
- Siân Pritchard NoneBetween us, that feels tight. Security review and procurement, and it's Christmas. It's not impossible, but I'd rather we agreed a sequence than a date. If the baselines and the demo happen in the autumn, then it's plausible.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight, that's honest and useful. Let's work back from the security review, since that's the long pole. I'll put a plan together and we'll see whether that date holds, and if not we'll say so.
- Siân Pritchard NoneGood. And I'd like to talk to another customer who's in a regulated business, if you have one. Not a slide, a person.
- Tom Ashdown NoneI'll ask. No promises on who, because it's their call, but let me see who'd be willing. Leave that with me.
- Siân Pritchard NoneDiolch. One more thing. I do speak at a few customer events, and I'd not stand up and say it saved us money unless I could show it. So I want the measurement right from the start.
- Tom Ashdown NoneWhich is why the baselines matter. Okay, let me play it back so we've both got it. One: you'll send me a view of the systems, billing and the CRM first, calls next. Two: you'll find out the Snowflake position and get me a name in information security. Three: we do a small baseline of complaint cases with someone from complaints and someone from key accounts. Four: I come back with the written breakdown of the money and a proposed demo on a slice of your data. Have I missed anything?
- Siân Pritchard NoneI think that's it. The demo, can that be next week or the one after? I'd like my teams to have it in the calendar before everyone's diaries fill up.
- Tom Ashdown NoneLet's get something in the diary. I'll send options for the following week once I've seen your sources. And I'll bring Daniel Okafor in for part of it, so you've met him before it gets serious.
- Siân Pritchard NoneLovely. I'd like that.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAnything we haven't covered that you'd want me thinking about?
- Siân Pritchard NoneOnly that deadlines are non-negotiable. Whatever we do can't put a complaint answer at risk. If a go-live clashed with a busy period, I'd want to move the go-live, not the answer.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCompletely, noted, and we'll plan around that. Right, I'll let you go, I know you've got your hard stop. Thanks for the time, Siân, this was really helpful.
- Siân Pritchard NoneThank you, Tom. Speak soon.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCheers, speak soon. Bye.
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