What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026First QBR since the renewal. Usage steady, loads clean, no tickets. Graham Tovey agreed Brimscombe will act as a reference and publish a customer story, with Siân fronting it. The renewal was raised unprompted.
What happened: Daniel reported a steady quarter with no tickets and nightly loads landing on time. Siân described the complaints team opening the customer page before every call.
Customer view: Graham asked what the customer sees, and said the complaints example was the first thing he could picture a customer noticing. He agreed to a reference and a published story, with no claim about Ofgem reliance and no time saving unless measured.
Commercial: Tom confirmed Enterprise at £120k a year, matching the order form and invoices. The term runs to 9 Jan 2027 with renewal on 10 Jan 2027, and Graham will not sign without Siân's view.
Watch: Siân wants to use the licensed headroom of 180 users before buying more. The customer wants a defensible measure in place before the renewal conversation.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Tom Ashdown sends Siân Pritchard a first draft of the customer story.
- Daniel Okafor sends Siân a short list of points and an access-scoping note for Nikhil Rao by the end of next week.
- Siân tells BG-Demo what the complaints team already measure.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Graham will not sign a renewal without Siân's view, so the renewal depends on her evidence.
- Siân will not claim a time saving unless it is measured, so the value case needs a chosen measure.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A published customer story and reference from an Enterprise customer.
- Licensed headroom of 180 users leaves room to extend to further teams once the complaints example is written up.
Transcript
- Daniel OkaforHello, can everyone hear me alright? Thanks very much for making the time. Let me just check who's joined. I can see Siân, and Nikhil, and Tom's here with me. Graham, are you with us yet?
- Siân PritchardHello Daniel. Yes, we can hear you fine. Graham's just getting his camera working, he's been in the wrong room.
- Graham ToveyHere now. Apologies, the booking system had me down for somewhere else. Headline first, Daniel, if you would. What should I take away from today?
- Daniel OkaforOf course. The headline is a steady quarter. No tickets raised in the last month, nothing open with support, and the nightly loads have been landing on time. This is our first QBR since the renewal went through, so I'd like us to look at what the brain has done for you since then and what you want from the year ahead. Tom's on because there's one small commercial item at the end, and it's good news, nothing to worry about.
- Tom AshdownHello all. How's everyone's week been? Honestly, I'm just here to be nosy and to take notes. No drama, I promise.
- Graham ToveyBusy, Tom, but a good busy. Complaints volumes have settled down since the winter, which helps.
- Siân PritchardMine's been all questions, to be fair. Shall I start with what the teams asked the brain this week? It's probably the quickest way to show where we are.
- Daniel OkaforPlease do. That's the best bit of any review, I think.
- Siân PritchardRight. So the key-account team were asking which of their business customers had a contract coming up for renewal and also had an open complaint. Collections asked which accounts had a disputed bill and a recent call where someone said they'd pay. And the complaints team, which is the one I'm proudest of, asked for a full history on a customer before a regulator-deadline call, and they got it in one go: sites, contracts, calls, bills. Before, that was four systems and somebody's memory.
- Graham ToveyWhat does the customer see, though? That's what I keep coming back to. Not what our people see.
- Siân PritchardI was coming to that, Graham. Can I give you the example first? It's the one that changed how I think about it.
- Graham ToveyGo on.
- Siân PritchardThe complaints team now open the business customer's page in the brain before every single call. Every one. Nobody told them to, it just became the habit. They look at the sites, the contract, the last few calls, whatever's been billed and disputed, and then they pick up the phone. So the customer isn't asked to explain it all again from the start. One customer, one view. A couple of the team leaders have said it changes the tone of the call before anyone has said hello.
- Graham ToveyHm. That's the first thing you've said that I can picture a customer noticing. Good.
- Daniel OkaforThat's lovely to hear, Siân. How is the team finding it day to day? Is anyone still going round it, going back to the old systems?
- Siân PritchardA few of the longer-serving people, for the odd thing. But less each month. And I'd rather say that than pretend it's universal. Let's measure it before we claim it.
- Daniel OkaforI think that's the right instinct. Shall I put some usage up so we can see what the numbers say alongside that?
- Siân PritchardYes, please.
- Daniel OkaforOkay, sharing now. Can you see it? So this is the last quarter against the one before. Active users are steady. They're sitting in the mid-forties on average, which is almost exactly where they were before, a tiny dip if anything. Questions asked are healthy and, importantly, they're spread across several people rather than one or two. Dashboards are still being built, which shows you're investing in it rather than just consuming it.
- Nikhil RaoCan I ask what that active number is counting? Logins, or people who actually ran a query?
- Daniel OkaforGood question. It's people who did something in the brain, so asked a question, opened a page or used search. A login on its own wouldn't count.
- Nikhil RaoFine. Then it's honest. I checked the load history this morning anyway: nightly refresh complete before seven every business day this quarter, no failed loads, no connector erroring. One source had a schema change on our side in the quarter. I told you about it, the mapping was updated, done.
- Daniel OkaforYes, I remember. Just to close the loop on that, it's been clean since, as far as our monitoring shows. Thank you for flagging it early, it made it a ten-minute job rather than a week.
- Graham ToveyTell me early, not late. That's all I ask of suppliers. Nikhil, you'd tell me if something was creeping, wouldn't you?
- Nikhil RaoI'd tell Siân, and Siân would tell you. But yes. Nothing's creeping.
- Siân PritchardI would, Graham. Directly.
- Daniel OkaforWhile I've got this up, the other thing worth saying is licences. You're licensed for 180 users and the active number is well below that. I'm not raising it as a problem. It means there's headroom, and I think the useful conversation is which teams might benefit next, rather than whether you've over-bought.
- Graham ToveySay more. Over-bought is a phrase I'd want to understand.
- Daniel OkaforSorry, bad phrasing on my part. You're on Enterprise, it's sized for the whole company, and it was always going to take time to fill. What matters is that the teams using it are using it properly, and they are. I'd rather see depth than a big number that's mostly people who logged in once.
- Siân PritchardI'd agree with that. And I'd like to use the headroom we have before anyone talks about buying more. There are a couple of teams who've asked, but I want the complaints example written up properly first so I can say what it did.
- Graham ToveyWhich brings me to something, actually. Tom, you mentioned a commercial item.
- Tom AshdownI did, yes. Right, so, ever since the renewal went through I've been meaning to ask. You're on Enterprise at £120,500 a year, and the order form and what's been invoiced line up, so that's all tidy. Nothing to do on that front. The item is that a few people on our side keep asking me whether Brimscombe would be happy to act as a reference. And maybe do a proper customer story. I wanted to ask you directly rather than let it drift.
- Graham ToveyA published story, with our name on it.
- Tom AshdownYes. Your name, your words, your sign-off on every line. Nothing goes out you haven't seen.
- Graham ToveyHow does this hold up with Ofgem? I'm not putting out anything that implies we're relying on a tool to meet our complaint obligations. We meet them. The tool helps our people.
- Siân PritchardThat's exactly how I'd frame it, Graham. The story is about the complaints team having the full picture before they speak to a customer. It's not about the regulator, other than that the deadlines are why it matters. I'd want the wording to say that plainly.
- Graham ToveyThen yes. We'll act as a reference, and we'll publish a customer story. Siân fronts it, because she knows the detail and I don't need to. I'll read the final text and so will our communications people. Agreed?
- Tom AshdownAgreed, and thank you, that's brilliant. Leave that with me. I'll get a first draft over to Siân, nothing fancy, and we can pull it about from there. Daniel, you'll want to be on the drafting too, I'd think.
- Daniel OkaforHappy to. I've been close to the complaints team's set-up since go-live, so I can help keep it accurate. I'll come back to you by the end of next week with a short list of the things I think are worth including, Siân.
- Siân PritchardLovely. And before we write a word, can we agree what we're able to say? I can describe the habit, the open-the-page-before-every-call thing. But I don't want us putting a time saving in there unless we've measured it.
- Graham ToveyQuite right. No number we can't defend.
- Daniel OkaforThat suits me. If it would help, we could pick a measure together, something the complaints team already record, and look at it over the next quarter. Then the next review has a real answer rather than an impression.
- Siân PritchardYes. I'll talk to the team leaders and let you know what they already capture. It might be that the record already says what we need.
- Nikhil RaoIf it needs a new view or an export from the platform side, tell me the fields. Which role has access matters, so I'll want it scoped to the complaints data only, not the whole customer schema.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. Least privilege, and we'll write down who can see what so your auditors can follow it. I'll draft that and send it over for you to check, Nikhil.
- Nikhil RaoGood. Not on a Friday, though, if anything changes in production.
- Daniel OkaforNoted, nothing on a Friday.
- Tom AshdownHa, I'll write that on the wall.
- Graham ToveyBefore we finish, one thing on the contract, so I'm not surprised later. When does the current term end, and who tells me when the renewal conversation needs to start?
- Daniel OkaforGood to ask. The term runs to 9 Jan 2027, and the renewal date itself is 10 Jan 2027. I'm the one who'll raise it with you, and I'll do it well ahead of the formal notice period, not at the last minute. Just to close the loop: you'll hear it from me first, and Siân will be in the conversation from the start.
- Graham ToveyGood. I don't sign a renewal without Siân's view, so she should be in the room from day one.
- Siân PritchardAnd I'd want the customer story out and the measure in place well before then, so that conversation is about evidence.
- Tom AshdownWhich is exactly where I'd like it to be. If any figure comes up on price next time round, I'll confirm it in writing rather than quote from memory. You've seen me get that wrong before.
- Graham ToveyI have. Anything else, Daniel, or can I have ten minutes back?
- Daniel OkaforNothing else from me. So to recap: Brimscombe will be a reference and publish a customer story, with Siân fronting it and you reading the final text, Graham. Tom sends a first draft, I send Siân a short list of points and a note on the access scoping for Nikhil, and Siân tells us what the complaints team already measure. Have I missed anything?
- Siân PritchardNo, that's it. Diolch, everyone.
- Nikhil RaoNothing. Thanks.
- Graham ToveyThank you, Daniel. Thank you, Tom. Good session.
- Tom AshdownCheers all, speak soon.
- Daniel OkaforThank you again for your time, everyone. Best wishes.