Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 16 Sep 2024 14:00
Onboarding call on 16 Sep 2024. Commercial Director Craig Ashwell said forty licences are used by two people and questioned the cost. Finance connector is waiting on credentials and one invoice is overdue.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Onboarding call on 16 Sep 2024. Commercial Director Craig Ashwell said forty licences are used by two people and questioned the cost. Finance connector is waiting on credentials and one invoice is overdue.
What happened: Callie Brennan walked Craig Ashwell and Sunil Kapoor through connector status, the client list mismatch, adoption and next actions. Project and commercial systems are connected; the finance connector is waiting on written credentials.
Customer view: Craig said the client view is the reason he bought the brain, then said they are paying for two people to poke about. He also worries nobody will use it after a month of enthusiasm.
Commercial: Growth has forty licences and the call shows barely more than one person logged in. Callie raised one overdue invoice; Craig said finance will see it today and that they will pay if it is their mistake.
Watch: One admin and one enthusiast is the pattern Callie flagged. Craig agreed to tell the team to use it at the Thursday meeting.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Low adoption, value doubt
Importance
complaint
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sunil Kapoor to chase the finance connector access and send it to Callie Brennan in writing.
- Craig Ashwell to send names for the first session by Wednesday and raise use of the brain at the Thursday meeting.
- Callie Brennan to speak to Marcus about sending the overdue invoice to Sunil Kapoor.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Forty Growth licences are used by about one person, and the Commercial Director has questioned what the subscription costs for that use.
- The finance connector is blocked on written credentials, so the brain cannot yet show what has been paid.
- One invoice is overdue and the customer's finance team has not yet seen the detail.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A small group of five or six people with daily questions, such as credit control and commercial managers, could build real usage.
- A Commercial Director instruction to use the brain would turn it from a reporting tool into how the company works.
Transcript
Callie BrennanHello, can you both hear me all right?
Sunil KapoorYes, loud and clear. Good afternoon, Callie.- Callie BrennanGood afternoon. Craig, are you there? I can see you on the list but no picture.
Craig AshwellHere. Sorry. I'm in the car park at a site, one second, I'm just finding the camera. Right. Can you hear me?- Callie BrennanPerfectly. No camera is fine, honestly. We've only just started.
- Craig AshwellGood. It's been one of those Mondays. A client changed their mind on a ceiling spec at nine o'clock and it's been downhill since.
- Callie BrennanHa, I know that Monday. Okay, so let me tell you what I'd like to do with the time we've got. Four things. First, where the connectors stand. Second, the client list question, because Sunil mentioned it in his email. Third, who's actually in the brain at the moment. And fourth, what I need from your side before we switch on the refresh. Does that work?
- Sunil KapoorThat works. Can I start with the client list? It's the thing I found on Friday and it's been bothering me all weekend.
- Callie BrennanGo for it. That's actually the right place to start.
- Sunil KapoorSo. The project system and the commercial system don't agree on who our clients are. Same landlord, two spellings, sometimes two records. One of them even has a trading name and a legal name as separate clients. That doesn't tie to the ledger either, because the finance system has a third version.
- Craig AshwellWhich is exactly the problem I bought this for. One client, one view. What has the client signed, what do they owe, what have we built.
- Callie BrennanYes, and that's the thing the brain does well once the keys are right. But it does mean I can't just point the refresh at both and hope. Sunil, what's the common key? Is there one?
- Sunil KapoorProject code, mostly. Every project has one and it carries through to the commercial side. The client account reference is the weaker one. People type it differently.
- Callie BrennanRight. So project code is the spine and the client name hangs off it. That maps cleanly, as long as every live project has a code on both sides. Do they?
- Sunil KapoorWhich project code, though? Some of the older jobs were re-coded when we changed the numbering. I'd have to check. I'll reconcile it, but I'd rather not promise it's all of them.
- Callie BrennanThat's fair, and I'd rather you said that than guessed. What would help is a simple list: old code, new code, client name as finance holds it. Doesn't need to be pretty.
- Sunil KapoorA spreadsheet is fine?
- Callie BrennanA spreadsheet is perfect.
- Craig AshwellCan I come in on that? I don't care about the codes. I care that when I ask about a project I can see the variations. Where's the variation? Has the client signed it? Half my problems are work we've done and not got instructed in writing.
- Callie BrennanUnderstood. And that's a good example to build the first week around, actually. Where do variations live today? Is it a field in the commercial system, or is it in people's inboxes?
- Craig AshwellBoth, if I'm honest. The ones that are recorded are in the commercial system. The rest are emails and what somebody said on site.
- Sunil KapoorI'd say the recorded ones are fewer than Craig thinks. I'd want to count them before we build anything on them. I don't want to overstate what the data shows.
- Craig AshwellWell, thanks, Sunil.
- Sunil KapoorIt's better we know.
- Callie BrennanNo, it's helpful, honestly. Whatever is recorded, the brain will show. Whatever is in inboxes, it can only show if the mailbox is connected, and that's a decision for you, not me. We can come back to that. Let me do the connectors quickly. Give me a second, I've got my checklist open.
- Callie BrennanRight. You're on Growth, so you have room for eight connectors. At the moment the project system and the commercial system are in. The finance connector is waiting on credentials, and I need those in writing before I touch it. That's a rule of mine, nothing personal.
- Sunil KapoorI have the access request drafted. It's with our IT contractor. I should have chased it on Friday.
- Callie BrennanCould you chase it today? If I have it by the end of the week I can run the finance mapping early next week, and then the first full refresh lands before the end of the following week.
- Sunil KapoorI'll chase it this afternoon and copy you in.
- Craig AshwellWhat about the call recorder? And the helpdesk? Marcus said those were part of it.
- Callie BrennanThey can be. Marcus is your customer success manager and he'll pick up the wider plan once I hand over. For now I'd keep us to the three that matter for the client view: project, commercial, finance. Get those landing cleanly, then add the others one at a time. If I turn everything on at once and one source is wrong, nobody can tell which.
- Craig AshwellFine. Sequence it. But I don't want this to take all autumn.
- Callie BrennanIt won't. Let me be straight with you on the next bit, though, because it's the part I'm a bit concerned about. Can I?
- Craig AshwellGo on.
- Callie BrennanYou went live on the platform on 23 Aug 2024. You've got forty licensed users. On an average day over the last month, I'm seeing barely more than one person logged in. So roughly one of you, and some days nobody.
- Craig AshwellThat's me and Sunil.
- Sunil KapoorMostly me. I've been in there building things. Craig's been on site.
- Craig AshwellYes. All right. I've been on site.
- Callie BrennanAnd that's not a criticism. The data hasn't been landing properly yet, so there's not much reason for anyone else to log in. But I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't say it. Forty licences and one person is not where you want to be a few weeks in.
- Craig AshwellNo. It's not. We're paying thirty-nine thousand six hundred a year for two people to poke about. I'd say that to anybody.
- Callie BrennanI hear you. And it's a fair thing to say. Can I suggest what I think fixes it?
- Craig AshwellPlease.
- Callie BrennanPeople log in when it answers a question they already have. So rather than a general launch, let's pick a handful of people with a real daily question. Commercial managers asking about variations. Credit control asking which valuations are unpaid and why. Maybe a project director or two. Five or six people, not forty.
- Craig AshwellCredit control, yes. They spend half the week building lists out of three systems.
- Sunil KapoorWhich is the list I'd like to stop building by hand.
- Callie BrennanThat's the one. So the plan would be: once the client keys are reconciled and the finance connector is in, I run a short session with that group. Real questions on your real data. Not a demo with made-up clients.
- Craig AshwellHow long?
- Callie BrennanAbout an hour. Plus a setup note afterwards so Sunil can run things without me. That's my whole job, really. Leaving you able to do this alone.
- Sunil KapoorI'd welcome the setup note. At the moment I'm working out the refresh timings by trial and error.
- Callie BrennanYes, I saw that in the logs. Nothing broken, just a bit of guesswork. I'll document it.
- Craig AshwellLet me ask something else. If I put a project in front of you right now, one of the ones that worries me, could the brain tell me what's been built, what's been valued and what's been paid?
- Callie BrennanOnce finance is connected and the codes tie, yes. Today, only partly. You'd get the project and commercial sides, and the paid side would be missing. I'd rather say that than show you something half right.
- Craig AshwellFair. Half right is worse than nothing.
- Sunil KapoorAgreed.
- Callie BrennanOkay. One more thing, and it's not really my area, so I'll be brief. Our billing records show one invoice as overdue on your account. I don't have the detail and I don't want to guess at it. It could easily be crossed wires, a purchase order, someone off. I just don't want it sitting there unseen.
- Craig AshwellRight. That's one for our finance team, not me. I don't talk cash without them. But I'll make sure they see it today.
- Sunil KapoorI can look in the ledger so we know what it is before anyone replies. Is there a reference on it?
- Callie BrennanI'll ask Marcus to send you the invoice itself rather than me quoting it from memory. He's the right person, and Priya is your account owner if it needs a commercial conversation.
- Sunil KapoorThat's fine. I'll tie it up against what we have and come back to Marcus.
- Craig AshwellAnd if it's our mistake we'll pay it. I'm not having it look like we're dodging.
- Callie BrennanNobody's saying that. Honestly. It's just housekeeping, and I'd rather it was tidy while we're building trust in the data.
- Craig AshwellCan I put one thing on the table? I'm a bit worried we've bought a lovely thing and then nobody uses it. I've seen it with other systems. Everyone's keen for a month.
- Callie BrennanThat's a real risk and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. The pattern I'd watch for is exactly what we've got: one admin, one enthusiast, nobody else. The fix is the small group, real questions, and somebody on your side who owns it.
- Craig AshwellSunil owns it.
- Sunil KapoorI'm happy to. But I'd want Craig to tell people to use it. If it comes from me it's a reporting tool. If it comes from the commercial director it's how we work.
- Craig AshwellHm. Yes. That's fair. I'll say it at the Thursday meeting.
- Callie BrennanThat would make a bigger difference than any training I do, honestly.
- Craig AshwellRight. Is there anything else you need from me? I've got a site walk in a few minutes.
- Callie BrennanTwo things. The names of the five or six people for the first session. And a decision on whether the mailboxes come in, because that's how variations in inboxes would show. No rush on that one, but think about it.
- Craig AshwellNames, yes, by Wednesday. Mailboxes, I'll talk to Sunil. I'm cautious about people's email. I want it to be the project mailbox, not everyone's.
- Sunil KapoorThat's sensible. A shared project inbox would be cleaner anyway. I'll write down what that would look like.
- Callie BrennanLovely. Let me read back, so we're all holding the same list. Sunil: the access for the finance connector chased today and sent to me in writing, the old and new project code list with client names as finance holds them, and a look at that open invoice against the ledger. Craig: names for the first session by Wednesday, a word with the team on Thursday, and a view on a shared project mailbox. Me: the finance mapping once access lands, a setup note, the session itself, and a word with Marcus about the invoice today.
- Sunil KapoorThat matches mine.
- Craig AshwellGood. Let's get paid for what we've built, and let's get people using this. In that order, probably.
- Callie BrennanHa. Noted. I'll send a short summary this afternoon so it's in writing. Thanks both.
- Sunil KapoorThanks, Callie. Speak soon.
- Craig AshwellCheers. Bye.
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