What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26On the 5 Mar 2026 QBR, finance director Robert Lindsay confirmed the £104k Enterprise order form matches the invoice, then asked for a written board-ready value case. He will agree nothing on a call ahead of the 28 Aug 2026 renewal.
What happened: Marcus Bell ran the QBR with Shona Baird, Robert Lindsay and Alan Rennie. Usage has more than doubled to about thirty-nine active people a month, against 150 licensed users.
Customer view: Robert confirmed the order form figure against the invoice, then pressed on value. He said he needs to understand what the company gets for the subscription, in writing, in terms he can put to the board.
Commercial: This is an Enterprise subscription at £104k a year with no overdue invoices, so the risk is value, not money. Robert said he will not agree anything on a call and will check any proposal against the order form.
Watch: Robert noted the company is using about a quarter of its licences. Shona plans to bring in provisioning and half the billing team, which would strengthen the case.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Marcus Bell sends Robert Lindsay and Shona Baird a one page note on usage growth, tickets and changed working habits, in the week of the call.
- Marcus Bell arranges a short session for the account managers and has Tom Ashdown briefed on usage before the renewal conversation.
- Alan Rennie gives Marcus Bell notice before the billing tables change so the mapping can be fixed in advance.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The Chief Financial Officer cannot yet state in board terms what the Enterprise subscription delivers, and notes use is about a quarter of the licences.
- Robert Lindsay will not agree anything on a call, so the renewal must be put in writing and will be checked against the order form.
- A planned tidy of the billing tables could break the connector mapping if BB-Demo is not warned first.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Provisioning and half of the billing team are still to be brought in, which would deepen use of the Enterprise licences.
- A short practical session for the account managers could raise how often they ask the brain before customer calls.
Transcript
- Marcus Bell NoneAfternoon, everyone. Can you hear me alright? I've got Shona on, and I think Robert's just joining.
- Shona Baird NoneAye, loud and clear. Bit of an echo on mine, hang on. Is that better?
- Marcus Bell NoneMuch better, thanks.
- Robert Lindsay NoneGood afternoon. Apologies, a minute late, the previous meeting ran on.
- Marcus Bell NoneNo problem at all. Alan, are you with us as well?
- Alan Rennie NoneYes, I'm here. Dialled in from the desk by the window, so apologies if the traffic comes through.
- Shona Baird NoneRight, before we start, worst fault of my week. A customer's leased line was down most of a morning and the account manager only found out because the customer rang them. That's the bit that annoys me. What's the customer actually seeing? Nothing, for hours, and nobody told them.
- Marcus Bell NoneYeah, that's exactly the sort of thing we should come back to. Is that one the service desk saw first, or provisioning?
- Shona Baird NoneService desk. Account management didn't see the ticket at all. So, let's not make this complicated, it's a visibility thing. Hold that thought, I'll bring it up when you get to usage.
- Robert Lindsay NoneMarcus, if I may, before the usage, can I ask the invoice question? Which figure is the contracted one for the subscription? Alan's been through the latest invoice and I'd like it said out loud on the call.
- Marcus Bell NoneOf course. I've pulled the numbers. The order form says £104,500 a year, Enterprise, and that's what you're being invoiced. They match.
- Alan Rennie NoneThat agrees with what I've got. I checked the invoice against the order form line by line and there's nothing outstanding on our side. No overdue invoices.
- Robert Lindsay NoneGood. Thank you. That's all I needed on that, for now.
- Marcus Bell NoneGreat. I'll share my screen then, and say what I want to cover. Usage first, then tickets, then what you want to do next with the brain, and then a word on the renewal. Can you see that okay?
- Shona Baird NoneWe can see it. Bit small, but we can see it.
- Marcus Bell NoneI'll make it bigger. There. So this is active users over the last quarter. You're averaging about thirty-nine active people a month now. Compared with the quarter before, that's more than doubled.
- Shona Baird NoneThat's the service desk. We moved them on at the start of the year and then the account managers followed because they got fed up asking the desk for things.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's what the numbers say. And the questions being asked have gone up with it, so it's not just logging in. People are actually asking things.
- Robert Lindsay NoneSorry to interrupt. Thirty-nine of how many? We have a number of licences in the order form, I believe.
- Marcus Bell NoneA hundred and fifty licensed users. So plenty of headroom. You're nowhere near the limit.
- Robert Lindsay NoneUnderstood. So we are paying for a hundred and fifty and using about a quarter of it.
- Shona Baird NoneFor now, Robert. For now. I've still got provisioning and half of the billing team to bring in. That's the plan.
- Robert Lindsay NoneThat's fine. I'm not criticising, I'm just making sure I understand it.
- Marcus Bell NoneNo, fair question. And it's a good problem to have, honestly. Most customers I look after at this stage are asking me how to get people in, you're past that. Okay, tickets. There were three in the last month, and none of them were high priority.
- Shona Baird NoneThree. That's fewer than I expected. What were they?
- Marcus Bell NoneMostly how-to questions. One was a sync query on the billing data, which Alan raised, and that was closed inside the Enterprise response time.
- Alan Rennie NoneYes, that was mine. I'd changed a field name in the billing export and the mapping didn't pick it up. Support walked me through it. It was my doing, really, not a fault.
- Marcus Bell NoneWhich is useful to know, actually. If you're planning more changes to the exports, tell me before you do it and we'll sort the mapping in advance. Happy to jump on a call.
- Alan Rennie NoneI will. There's a bigger tidy of the billing tables coming, probably in the next few weeks. I'll give you a heads up.
- Shona Baird NoneRight, back to my fault. Marcus, can the account managers see open fault tickets for a customer in the brain, so they're not blindsided?
- Marcus Bell NoneThey can, if the helpdesk is connected and they ask. Ask for a customer and you get circuits, tickets, bills, one view. What you need is for them to do it before the customer call, not after.
- Shona Baird NoneThat's a habit thing, then, not a tool thing. Fair enough. I'll make it part of how they prepare. Who's got the fault, who's talking to the customer, all of it in one place.
- Marcus Bell NoneI can do a short session for the account managers if that helps. Show them the questions that work best. People get more out of it when it's their own customers on screen.
- Shona Baird NoneYes, do that. Not too long. They'll switch off after twenty minutes.
- Marcus Bell NoneShort and practical, understood. Okay, Robert, you mentioned cost per customer served at the last session.
- Robert Lindsay NoneI did. I keep coming back to it. Can someone tell me what the brain has changed, in terms I can put in front of the board? I don't need features. I need to understand what we get for the subscription.
- Shona Baird NoneI'll give you my version. We've stopped chasing each other. Before, a fault meant three people looking in three systems. Now it's one question. Fewer escalations, fewer customers ringing us to ask where something is.
- Robert Lindsay NoneThat is helpful, thank you, Shona. But I'll need that in writing, with something I can point at, if I'm to take it forward.
- Marcus Bell NoneI can do that. I'll put together a one page note, the usage growth, the ticket picture and what Shona's team say they're doing differently. I'll send it to you and Shona both this week.
- Robert Lindsay NoneThat would be good. Thank you.
- Marcus Bell NoneAnd one more thing, just so there are no surprises. The contract runs to the end of August, and the renewal date is 28 August 2026. Tom Ashdown, who looks after the commercial side, will come to you on that, and I'll make sure he's got the usage picture first.
- Robert Lindsay NoneUnderstood. I'll say now that I won't be agreeing anything on a call. When Tom has something, send it over and we'll check it against the order form.
- Marcus Bell NoneCompletely fair. That's how Tom would want it too. It'll be in writing.
- Shona Baird NoneIs that us, then? I've got a customer escalation waiting.
- Marcus Bell NoneThat's us. So, I'll send the note this week, set up the short session with the account managers, and Alan will give me notice before the billing tables change. Anything I've missed?
- Alan Rennie NoneNo, that covers it from me.
- Robert Lindsay NoneNothing further. Thank you, Marcus.
- Marcus Bell NoneThanks, all. Speak soon.
- Shona Baird NoneCheers, everyone.