Brimscombe Energy / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Brimscombe Energy · 29 Dec 2025 09:15
QBR on 29 Dec 2025: active users down just over a quarter against one hundred and eighty Enterprise licences. Siân Pritchard will not recommend renewing at the same size without an explanation. Renewal date is 10 Jan 2026.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026QBR on 29 Dec 2025: active users down just over a quarter against one hundred and eighty Enterprise licences. Siân Pritchard will not recommend renewing at the same size without an explanation. Renewal date is 10 Jan 2026.
What happened: Daniel Okafor showed a bit over thirty active users in the last thirty days against one hundred and eighty licences, down just over a quarter on the previous quarter. Nikhil Rao said nightly loads finished before seven and records indexed are still growing.
Customer view: Siân is asked in budget conversations what the brain is worth and wants three measurable numbers per team. Nikhil said autumn permission changes may have cut access, and he has not yet tested it.
Commercial: The order form runs to 9 Jan 2026 with renewal on 10 Jan 2026, Enterprise at £115k, matching what was invoiced and paid on time. Tom Ashdown quoted no new price and will confirm terms in writing.
Watch: One ticket in a month alongside falling usage may be silence rather than health, and the renewal date is close.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
falling usage, renewal value case
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
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 send the usage split by team and role and the ticket timestamps by the end of the week.
- Nikhil Rao to check which groups lost access in the autumn change and report back by the same deadline.
- Tom Ashdown to arrange a short renewal call and confirm the terms in writing before it.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Active users are down just over a quarter against one hundred and eighty Enterprise licences, so renewal at the same size is in doubt.
- The autumn permission tightening may have removed access without anyone noticing, and it is untested.
- The renewal date of 10 Jan 2026 is close and there is no value case in hand yet.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- If access is the cause, a quick fix could restore usage before the renewal conversation.
- A short refresher for key-account users built on the questions that get the most from the brain.
- A per-team value case using existing baselines, such as complaint deadlines, could support the renewal.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforGood morning, everyone. Thank you for making the time, especially this week. Can you all hear me all right? I think I can see Siân and Nikhil. Is Tom with us yet?
Tom AshdownI'm here, I'm here. Sorry, was fighting with the mute button. Morning all. How's everyone's week been? Properly quiet, I'd imagine, between the two bank holidays.
Siân PritchardMorning, Tom. Quiet in the office, yes, though the complaints queue doesn't know it's Christmas. Skeleton crew, but the phones haven't stopped.
Nikhil RaoMorning. Audio's fine.- Daniel OkaforLovely. Siân, you usually start us off with what the teams have been asking the brain, so would you mind? Then I'll take us through the usage picture, and we'll leave time at the end for the renewal.
- Siân PritchardOf course. This week, the complaints team asked it for every open complaint where the customer has more than one site and the contract end date falls in the next quarter. That one's genuinely useful, because the regulator's clock runs per complaint, and they used to build that list by hand. Key accounts asked for a one-page view of each business customer before their review calls. And collections asked which of the accounts in arrears had also rung us in the last month.
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly the one customer, one view idea you set out at the start. How is the team finding it, on the whole? Because I want to be honest with you, the numbers I'm about to show are not the ones I'd like to be showing.
- Siân PritchardGo on then. Evidence first. What does the record say?
- Daniel OkaforRight. Give me a second to share. Can you see the usage page?
- Tom AshdownYep, I've got it. Bit small. Can you zoom in?
- Daniel OkaforIs that better? So you're licensed for one hundred and eighty users on Enterprise. Over the last thirty days the average number of people actually active has been a bit over thirty. That's fewer than one in five of the licences. And compared with the previous quarter, active users are down by just over a quarter.
- Siân PritchardMm. That's a bigger drop than I'd have guessed. I'd have said a fifth, maybe.
- Daniel OkaforI know. And I don't want to over-read it, because this fortnight is going to flatter nobody. But the dip started before Christmas, so I don't think we can put all of it down to the holidays.
- Tom AshdownAnd that's not a one-off blip, is it? It's the trend you're seeing across the quarter, Daniel?
- Daniel OkaforIt's the trend across the quarter, yes. Each month a little lower than the one before. Questions asked are down with it, which is the number I care about most, because that's the clearest sign of people getting value.
- Siân PritchardRight. Well, let's measure it before we claim it. Can you split that by team? Because my instinct is that the complaints team is steady, they have to be, it's compliance, and the drop is somewhere else. Key accounts, maybe collections.
- Daniel OkaforI can, and I'll come back to you with that split by the end of this week. Just from what I can see here, the people who ask the most questions are still asking. It's the lighter users who've gone quiet. But I'd rather give you it properly than guess on a call.
- Siân PritchardFair. I don't want to wave it away either. If sixty or so people have stopped opening it, I need to know why before January, not after.
- Nikhil RaoCan I add something on the platform side?
- Daniel OkaforPlease, Nikhil.
- Nikhil RaoI checked the load history this morning, before the call. Every nightly load has finished before seven on working days for the whole quarter. No gaps. Records indexed are still growing. So the data isn't stale. If people have stopped using it, it isn't because the brain is behind.
- Siân PritchardThat's useful, thank you. So it's not a freshness problem. It's a habit problem, or a trust problem.
- Nikhil RaoOr neither. I'd want to see it by role before saying. Which role has access matters here. We moved some permissions around in the autumn.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a good thought, and I hadn't connected it. Could you tell me roughly what changed? Just to close the loop on whether someone could have lost access without meaning to.
- Nikhil RaoWe tightened a couple of groups. Least privilege. Some people who'd had broad read access were moved to narrower ones. It was meant to be a tidy-up. I haven't tested whether any of them lost the brain as a side effect. I'll check and tell you. I won't guess.
- Siân PritchardNikhil, I'm not criticising. The access review had to happen, the auditors asked for it. But if it knocked people out, that would explain a fair bit.
- Nikhil RaoUnderstood. It's a schema change on our side, not yours, so I'll own it. Give me until the end of the week.
- Tom AshdownNo drama either way, to be fair. If it's access, that's a quick fix. Better we find it now than in the middle of renewal.
- Daniel OkaforAgreed. Let me show you the other pieces, then. Tickets. You raised one in the last thirty days, and it was marked high priority.
- Nikhil RaoThat was mine. A source stopped loading after we changed something upstream. Not a BG-Demo fault. I raised it as high because a morning refresh was at risk.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. I looked at the timestamps, and the first response came well inside the thirty minutes you have on Enterprise. I'll send you the exact times so you have them for your records, and so nobody has to take my word for it.
- Nikhil RaoFine. Response was quick. No complaint.
- Siân PritchardSo one ticket in a month, which for a company our size is very quiet. Normally I'd say that's a good sign. Here I'm not sure it is.
- Daniel OkaforI think you're right to be cautious. A low ticket count alongside falling usage can be silence rather than health. I'd much rather you were raising how-to questions with us than quietly working around it.
- Siân PritchardMm. That's what worries me. Let me be direct. I get asked, in budget conversations, what the brain is worth. I've spoken about it at events. I've said it's changed how three teams work. If the active numbers keep sliding, I can't stand behind that with a straight face.
- Tom AshdownAnd that's fair, Siân. That's why I wanted to be on this one and not just send the paperwork. Daniel's got the usage, but I'd like to hear what you actually need to take upstairs.
- Siân PritchardA value case I can measure. Not adjectives. How many complaint answers went out inside the deadline, how long the key-account prep takes now against before, how many accounts collections reached sooner. Three numbers, per team, that I can put in front of the person who signs off our spend.
- Daniel OkaforI can help with the usage side. For the time-saved side, you'd have to tell me which baselines your teams trust, because I don't want to invent a before and after that your people wouldn't recognise.
- Siân PritchardQuite right. Complaints I can do, we track the deadlines already. Key accounts are harder. Prep time was never logged.
- Tom AshdownSo we say that. Where there's a baseline, we use it. Where there isn't, we don't pretend. Isn't that more convincing anyway?
- Siân PritchardIt's the only version I'd sign my name to.
- Daniel OkaforThen let me put the renewal on the table, so nothing surprises anyone. Tom, I'll hand over.
- Tom AshdownCheers, Daniel. So, the order form runs to 9 Jan 2026 and the renewal date is 10 Jan 2026. I know, it's close, and it's holiday week, so I'm not going to pretend that's ideal. You're on Enterprise at one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds a year, £115,000, and that matches what's been invoiced. You've paid on time, nothing overdue at all.
- Siân PritchardYes. Finance have never had a reason to chase you, and I'd like to keep it that way.
- Tom AshdownGood. Now, I'll say this plainly. I'm not going to quote you any new price from memory. Anything about the renewal terms I'll confirm in writing before we talk about it again. What I want today is to agree what we're solving for, so the paperwork isn't the bit that goes wrong.
- Siân PritchardThen what I'm solving for is this. I can't recommend renewing at the same size if I can't explain why usage fell. I'm not saying I want to leave. I'm saying I need the explanation first.
- Nikhil RaoAnd I'd say, from the platform, nothing here makes me want to leave. The loads are clean. The ticket was handled. If access caused the drop, that's ours to fix.
- Tom AshdownThat helps, Nikhil, thanks. So the order of play is, first we find out whether it's access or habit. Then we put numbers to what the teams get. Then we talk about the renewal with facts in the room. Is that a sensible sequence?
- Siân PritchardIt is. But the date is the date. I can't have it land on a Friday afternoon with nothing in front of me.
- Daniel OkaforNo, and I wouldn't want that either. Let me set out who does what, and you stop me if any of it isn't right. I'll send the usage split by team and by role, and the ticket timestamps, before the end of the week.
- Nikhil RaoI'll check which groups lost access in the autumn change and report back. Same deadline. I won't touch production on a Friday, so if a fix is needed it goes in on Monday.
- Siân PritchardAnd I'll ask the team leads what they've stopped doing in the brain and why, in their own words, not mine. Then I'll write up the complaints figures, because those I can stand behind.
- Tom AshdownLeave the renewal paperwork with me. I'll get something in the diary for a short call once everyone's back, so we're not leaving it to the last minute, and I'll confirm the terms in writing before that call.
- Daniel OkaforJust before we finish, Siân, may I ask one more? When your teams are back at their desks, would it help if I ran a short refresher for the key-account people? Nothing grand. Half an hour on the questions that get the most from the brain.
- Siân PritchardYes. I think that's a good idea. Possibly it's simply that people got used to the first few questions and never moved on. Let's see what the split says first, then decide who needs it.
- Daniel OkaforOf course. I'll come back to you by the end of the week with everything, and I'll flag it if anything looks worse than we've said today.
- Tom AshdownBrilliant. Thanks all, genuinely. I know nobody wanted a call this week. Enjoy what's left of the break, if you get any.
- Siân PritchardDiolch, all. Speak soon.
- Nikhil RaoThanks. Bye.
- Daniel OkaforBest wishes, everyone. Take care.
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