Ashwell Mercer Interiors / BG-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Ashwell Mercer Interiors · 2 Jun 2025 13:15
On the 2 Jun 2025 renewal call the Finance Director asked why renew forty seats when about five people are active a day. Priya Raman put the renewal at £44k against £40k now. The board needs a value case before anyone signs.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026On the 2 Jun 2025 renewal call the Finance Director asked why renew forty seats when about five people are active a day. Priya Raman put the renewal at £44k against £40k now. The board needs a value case before anyone signs.
What happened: Marcus Bell hosted the renewal call on 2 Jun 2025. Valerie Okon, Finance Director, asked why she should renew forty seats when about five people are active on a typical day.
Customer view: Debbie Rowntree and Craig Ashwell made the value case, citing the weekly cash list and a variation gap the brain flagged on the Thames Valley job. Valerie said she must justify the cost to the board.
Commercial: Priya Raman said the contract is £40k, matching what has been invoiced, and the renewal deal is at £44k. She promised the split in writing and said nothing changes on the service side.
Watch: Valerie would not commit to 8 Aug 2025 until she knows the board dates, and contract end is 22 Aug 2025. Marcus said he cannot give a saved figure he would stand behind.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Renewal price and board case
Importance
renewal
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- Marcus Bell sends a one-page usage summary for the board pack, with Debbie Rowntree adding a line on her time.
- Priya Raman sends the renewal paperwork in writing, showing the current £39,600 beside the renewal figure.
- Craig Ashwell gives Marcus two project manager names so the training sessions can be booked.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only about five of forty Growth seats are active on a typical day, and the Finance Director questioned renewing all forty.
- The renewal moves up from £39,600 to a £44,000 deal figure, and the board must approve before anything is signed.
- Valerie Okon would not commit to the 8 Aug 2025 agreement date until she knows the board dates.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Project managers are not yet using the brain, and training on their own live jobs could widen adoption.
- Craig Ashwell links the variation checks directly to the value of the renewal.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello, can you all hear me? I think I'm coming through. Craig, I can see you, you're a bit frozen.
Craig AshwellCan hear you fine. It's the Wi-Fi in this building, give it a second. There. Better?- Marcus BellBetter, yeah. Afternoon, Craig.
Priya RamanAfternoon, everyone. Sorry, I'm just getting my camera to behave. Right. Is that me? Lovely.
Valerie OkonGood afternoon. Before we start, can I ask where we are on invoices? Is anything outstanding on either side?- Marcus BellNothing that I can see on our side, Valerie. I did check with our finance team this morning and the account is clear. No overdue invoices.
- Valerie OkonGood. Debbie, you've looked at that as well?
Debbie RowntreeYes, I've got it on my list and it matches. Everything's been paid on the agreed terms, nothing open. Hello, by the way, everyone. I'm not sure I've met Priya properly.- Priya RamanHi Debbie, lovely to put a face to the name. I think we've swapped emails around the order form last year, but nothing since.
- Craig AshwellRight, can I just say, before we get into the paperwork, the Thames Valley job is what's keeping me awake at the moment. Fit-out's moving, the client's changed their mind twice on the reception, and I want to know where the variation is.
- Priya RamanHa, understood. We'll park that, Craig, but I'm sure Marcus can show you how the brain surfaces variations against the project. Is that fair, Marcus?
- Marcus BellYeah, happy to. I've pulled the numbers, so I'll share my screen in a minute and cover usage, then the renewal. Priya, did you want to frame it first?
- Priya RamanSure, quick recap so we're all on the same page. You're on Growth, the contract runs to 22 Aug 2025 and the renewal date is 23 Aug 2025. On our side the renewal is open, and to keep momentum I'd love to have it agreed by 8 Aug 2025, which gives everyone a comfortable few weeks.
- Valerie OkonThat's about ten weeks away, so that's fine. But I should say now, I can't sign anything new without the board seeing it.
- Priya RamanOf course. That's exactly why we're talking now rather than August. Happy to make this easy for you.
- Valerie OkonMm. When is the next board?
- Valerie OkonActually, I'll come back to that. Let Marcus show us what we've got.
- Marcus BellOkay, sharing now. Can you see the usage page? Thumbs up, anyone? Good. So I want to cover three things: who's using it, what they're asking, and what I'd suggest for the next year.
- Craig AshwellGo on.
- Marcus BellSo first, licensed users. You've got forty seats. On a typical day, about five people are actually active in the brain. That's down a bit on the previous quarter, not dramatically, but it's moved the wrong way.
- Craig AshwellFive out of forty. That's not great, is it.
- Marcus BellWell, it's a daily average, so it hides people who dip in weekly. But I'd rather say it straight than dress it up. A handful of you are doing most of the asking.
- Debbie RowntreeI'll own some of that. I'm in there every day, mostly before I ring clients about valuations.
- Marcus BellThat's what I'd have guessed, Debbie. Can you say what you do with it? Because that's the bit I'd want the board to hear.
- Debbie RowntreeRight, so before I chase a client I ask for the whole picture. Which projects they have with us, what's been invoiced, what's been certified, what's been paid, and any emails or calls about it. It used to take me most of the morning going between the accounts system and the project folders. Now it's a couple of questions.
- Valerie OkonAnd that's what I get asked in the weekly cash meeting. What's outstanding by client.
- Debbie RowntreeYes. I do that list from the brain now, and then I check a few lines by hand. Mostly it's right.
- Valerie OkonMostly.
- Debbie RowntreeMostly. There was one client where a payment hadn't been matched, but that was on our side, in the ledger. It wasn't the brain.
- Marcus BellThat's consistent with what I see. No tickets raised in the last month, nothing high priority, so I'm not seeing sync problems or stale data from our end. If anything's felt off, I'd like to hear it.
- Craig AshwellNo, nothing off. It's just that the project managers don't use it. They say they haven't got time.
- Priya RamanThat's a common one, honestly. Credit control and commercial adopt first, the delivery people come later.
- Craig AshwellWell, later's no good to me. That's where the variations start. A PM agrees something on site, nobody writes it down, and then three months on we're arguing with the client about what was signed. What has the client signed? That's the only question I care about.
- Marcus BellRight, and that's actually where I'd point the next stage. Can I show you something? This is a project view for one of your jobs. You can see the emails and call notes against it, the invoices, and the contract lines. If the variation conversation happened on a call, it's here, next to the money.
- Craig AshwellHang on. Go back. Can you filter that to just where there's no invoice raised?
- Marcus BellYou can ask it. Let me try the chat. Show me projects with a variation mentioned in an email but nothing invoiced. Give it a moment.
- Craig AshwellCome on then.
- Marcus BellThere. Three projects. It's listing them with the email it picked up. You'd want a person to check each one, obviously, it's not a verdict. But it tells you where to look.
- Craig AshwellThat's useful. That's actually useful. Why am I only seeing this now?
- Marcus BellFair challenge. I think we've shown it to the credit side and not to the commercial side as much as we should. That's on me.
- Priya RamanAnd it's why I'd say there's real upside in keeping the licences you've got. You've paid for forty, and the people who'd get the most out of it, the project managers, aren't in yet.
- Valerie OkonRight. Let me be blunt, Priya, because it's my job. If only a handful of people use it, why would I renew forty?
- Priya RamanThat's a fair question and I'd rather you asked it. Two things. One, forty is what Growth includes, so it's the tier, not a number we picked for you. Two, the plan is to get the delivery team using it, and that's the bit Marcus can help with. Marcus, I know you don't want to get into the price side.
- Marcus BellNo, that's yours, Priya. I'll stick to adoption. But on adoption I can say a couple of things concretely.
- Valerie OkonGo on.
- Marcus BellI'd suggest we run a short training for the project managers, maybe two sessions, thirty minutes each, on their own jobs. Not a general demo. They bring a live project and we ask the brain about it. And I'd ask Craig to name a couple of PMs to start with, the ones who'll tell us honestly if it's rubbish.
- Craig AshwellI can do that. I'll give you two names by the end of the week. One of them will be rude about it, mind.
- Marcus BellGood, that's what I want.
- Debbie RowntreeCan I add something? If the PMs are in there, I'd like them to record variations in a way that I can see from my side. Because at the moment I only find out a variation exists when the client disputes the valuation.
- Craig AshwellExactly. Where's the variation? That's what I keep saying.
- Priya RamanWell, there you go. That's a very good reason to keep it all in one place.
- Valerie OkonI'm not disagreeing with the use case. I'm asking about the cost. What is the renewal?
- Priya RamanOkay. So today you're contracted at £39,600, and that's what's been invoiced, so those two agree. The renewal deal on our side is sitting at £44,000. I'd want to confirm exactly how that splits in the paperwork before you take it anywhere, but that's the figure in front of me.
- Valerie OkonSo it goes up.
- Priya RamanIt does move up from what you pay now, yes. The first term had terms that don't carry over into a renewal. I'll set it out in writing so there's no confusion.
- Valerie OkonI'd rather have it in writing. And I'd want to know what's included. Is anything else changing? Support, the connectors, anything?
- Priya RamanNothing changes on the service side. Same tier, same number of users, same connectors. If you did want more of something, that would be a separate conversation.
- Valerie OkonWe don't. If anything we're asking whether we need all of it.
- Craig AshwellValerie, hang on. Can I come in? I know the numbers are what you look at, but if we drop it, Debbie goes back to spending half her week in spreadsheets. And I lose sight of the variations. We brought it in so the credit team and the commercial team and the project teams look at the same client. That's the point. I don't want to lose that over a few thousand.
- Valerie OkonI haven't said drop it, Craig. I've said I need to justify it to the board. They'll ask what it's returned.
- Craig AshwellFine. Then we show them.
- Marcus BellThat's what I was going to suggest. I can put together a one-page summary, plain English. How much it's used, who by, what the questions were about, and a couple of examples like Debbie's cash list and the variations check we just did. You can drop it straight into the board pack.
- Valerie OkonI'd like that. With a proper figure for what it saves, if you can. Not a guess.
- Marcus BellI can't give you a saved figure that I'd stand behind, honestly. What I can show is usage and examples. If Debbie can tell me roughly how much of her week it's taken back, you can put that in your own words.
- Debbie RowntreeI can think about that. It was most of a morning, before. Now it's closer to a quick check. I'll write something down.
- Valerie OkonPlease do. Short.
- Priya RamanBrilliant. So can I just play back the plan? Marcus sends the usage summary. Debbie adds a line or two on her time. Craig gives Marcus two project manager names, and we run the training sessions. I send the renewal paperwork in writing so Valerie can take it to the board. And we look to have it agreed by 8 Aug 2025.
- Valerie OkonAgreed, but I'm not committing to that date until I know the board dates. I'll find out and tell you.
- Priya RamanThat's all I'd ask. If it needs to slide a little, it can, we have until the contract end on 22 Aug 2025. I'd just rather not be doing this the week before.
- Valerie OkonNor would I.
- Craig AshwellCan I ask one more thing, Marcus, while we have you? The Thames Valley job. Can you run that one properly? Not the list, the actual project. What's been agreed on the reception.
- Marcus BellYeah, let's do it now, we've got a few minutes. Give me the client name. Okay. Here we go. Let me ask it what changes have been discussed on the reception area.
- Craig AshwellCome on.
- Marcus BellSo it's found two email threads and a call note. First one, the client asks for a change to the finish. Second, your site manager replies that it's fine. And then a call where the price is mentioned, but it doesn't say it was agreed. Do you see that? It's flagged as discussed, not confirmed.
- Craig AshwellThat's it. That's exactly it. The price was said out loud and nobody put it in writing. Debbie, can you see that?
- Debbie RowntreeI can. And there's no invoice line against it, so I'd not be able to chase it. That's the gap.
- Craig AshwellRight. I'm getting that variation confirmed in writing this week. Thank you. That's worth the renewal on its own, frankly.
- Valerie OkonCraig. Let's not say that in front of Priya before I've seen the board pack.
- Craig AshwellHa. Fair. Sorry, Priya, you didn't hear that.
- Priya RamanHeard nothing at all. Though I'll quote you if I have to.
- Marcus BellShall we book thirty minutes for the training, then? I'll send a couple of slots once I've got the names. Before the end of next week ideally, so they're done before people start going on holiday.
- Craig AshwellYes. Do it. Send me the slots and I'll make them come.
- Debbie RowntreeCan I sit in on those? If I hear what the PMs ask, I'll know what I'm going to see in the records.
- Marcus BellPlease do. That'd help. Okay, I think that's everything from me. Valerie, anything else you'd like to raise?
- Valerie OkonOnly that I'll expect the paperwork to be clear on what's been invoiced to date and what the renewal is. No surprises.
- Priya RamanUnderstood, no surprises. It'll show the current figure of £39,600 and the renewal alongside it.
- Valerie OkonThank you.
- Craig AshwellRight, I've got a site call at half past. Thanks, all.
- Marcus BellThanks, everyone. Speak soon.
- Priya RamanThanks all, have a good afternoon. Bye.
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