What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Onboarding kick-off on 24 Apr 2025. Kelly Swainston wants returns data first, then orders. Three sources to connect first, Josh Pearce as admin, and a small group of client managers to start.
What happened: Laura Penhaligon agreed a deliberately small start with three sources: CRM, helpdesk and the warehouse data already in Snowflake. Access requests and a table list were assigned to Josh Pearce.
Customer view: Kelly said the review prep is exactly why they bought, with orders, returns tickets and review notes in three places. She prefers a few facts she trusts to many she has to apologise for.
Commercial: The customer is on Growth with forty seats. Josh asked about single sign-on and was told it is an Enterprise feature, so there is no sign of a tier upgrade need yet.
Watch: The helpdesk service account depends on a queue in IT, and returns tickets and orders may not join cleanly. Kelly's first question is which brands have rising returns.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Laura sends the checklist and table list template after the call.
- Josh requests the helpdesk account, creates the CRM account and sends the warehouse tables.
- Kelly names the first client managers the next day and supplies a first question.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The helpdesk service account depends on a colleague in IT and may take a couple of days.
- Returns tickets and orders may not join cleanly, since the ticket does not always carry the brand or order number.
- Adoption could stall if invited client managers never open the brain.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Kelly's monthly review pack could become a Growth dashboard built by the customer.
- Growth has room for more connectors once the first three sources are trusted.
- A small group of client managers using it well could pull in the rest of the forty seats.
Transcript
- Laura Penhaligon NoneMorning both. Can you hear me alright? I've got the recording going, so apologies in advance.
- Kelly Swainston NoneMorning Laura. Yes, loud and clear. Josh is just coming in, I can see him lurking.
- Josh Pearce NoneSorry, sorry. Headset decided to update itself. Morning. Can you hear me?
- Laura Penhaligon NonePerfectly. Right, good, we're all here. Lovely start to the week for you, I hope?
- Kelly Swainston NoneBusy. I've got a service review with one of our beauty brands later this week and I'm trying to pull the pieces together, which, honestly, is exactly why we bought this. Orders in one place, returns tickets in another, and the review notes somewhere else entirely.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's a good place to start from, actually. What did the brand see, as you'd say. Let's make that the thread for today. I'd like to cover which sources we connect first, who owns what on your side, and what the first few weeks look like.
- Kelly Swainston NonePerfect. Returns first, then orders. That's the order I'd like things to arrive in.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneMm, okay. So just so we're level. You're on Growth, forty licensed users, and the plan is the client managers use it day to day. Josh, you're the admin, so you'll be the one doing most of the hands-on setting up with me.
- Josh Pearce NoneThat's me. I'm a systems analyst here, so anything that touches our systems tends to land on my desk anyway. I'll be honest, I'm not completely sure what you need from us yet.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's fine, that's what today is for. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the first thing is that we need a place in there for it to live. Do you already have a Snowflake account that your team uses?
- Josh Pearce NoneWe do. It's mainly used for the warehouse reporting. Order lines, dispatches, that sort of thing. Returns are a bit messier.
- Kelly Swainston NoneMessier is kind. Returns come in through the helpdesk as tickets and then somebody on the floor books them in separately, so you can't always match the two.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneRight, and that's the bit the brain should help with, because it can read the tickets and the warehouse records side by side. But it's only as good as what we connect. So I'd suggest we start small. Three sources: your CRM, the helpdesk, and the warehouse data that's already in Snowflake.
- Josh Pearce NoneOnly three? I thought there'd be a long list.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGrowth gives you room for more, and we'll add them. But in my experience the customers who connect everything in week one end up with a pile of half-working sources and nobody trusts the answers. Three that work properly beats eight that don't.
- Kelly Swainston NoneI like that. I'd rather walk into the review with a few facts I trust than a lot I have to apologise for.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneExactly. Josh, for the CRM and the helpdesk, what we need is a service account for each, read-only, with access to the objects we'll list in the checklist. Is that something you can create yourself or do you need to ask?
- Josh Pearce NoneCRM I can do. The helpdesk is run by a colleague in IT, so I'd have to ask. Probably a couple of days.
- Kelly Swainston NoneTell me if she drags her feet and I'll have a word. Returns are the priority.
- Josh Pearce NoneNo, she's good, it's just a queue.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneOkay. And for the warehouse data, it's already in Snowflake, so we won't be pulling it anywhere. We'll just need a role that can read the relevant schemas. Do you know offhand which schemas the order and dispatch tables sit in?
- Josh Pearce NoneTwo of them, I think. One for the main site and one for the second site, and they don't quite use the same column names. I've been meaning to tidy that up for a year.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneHa, I'd say that's normal. Don't tidy it now. Just send me the list of tables and I'll map them. We can handle two naming conventions, it just takes a bit of care.
- Kelly Swainston NoneCan I ask something slightly different? When the brain looks at a brand, can I ask it about returns for that brand specifically? Not the whole site, one brand.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneYes, as long as the brand is something we can find in the data. So is the brand name on the ticket, or on the order, or both?
- Kelly Swainston NoneOn the order, always. On the ticket, mostly. Sometimes the customer's own email is all you've got.
- Josh Pearce NoneWe could link them through the order number, if the customer quotes it. Most do.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThat's a sensible join. Let's use that and see how many tickets don't match, and then we know how much of a gap there is. I'd rather find out in week one than in front of a brand.
- Kelly Swainston NoneYes. Let's take the facts to the review, even if the fact is that we've got a gap.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGood. Now, who owns what? Josh, you're admin, so technical setup and access. Kelly, I think you're the one deciding which questions matter and who gets invited. Is that fair?
- Kelly Swainston NoneThat's fair. I'll say who the first client managers are. I'd start with a small group so they actually use it rather than ignoring it.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneSmall group is wise. How many are you thinking?
- Kelly Swainston NoneThree or four to begin with. The ones who run the biggest accounts. If they like it the rest will want it.
- Laura Penhaligon NonePerfect. You've got forty seats, so there's no pressure on numbers. The danger isn't running out, it's that people get an invite and never open it. So I'd pair each of them with a real question from their own review prep.
- Josh Pearce NoneIs there anything I need to do about single sign-on? I've seen it on the list.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneNot on Growth, that's an Enterprise feature. People sign in with their own credentials, and you as admin manage who's in. It's simple enough.
- Josh Pearce NoneOkay, good. One less thing.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneLet me share my screen and show you the checklist so you can see what I mean. Give me a second. Can you see that?
- Kelly Swainston NoneI can. It's a bit small but I can read it.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneI'll send it as a document afterwards so nobody's squinting. Basically three blocks, one per source. Access, scope, and a test query. Josh, you'd tick them off and I'd check them my end.
- Josh Pearce NoneThat's clear enough. What's a test query?
- Laura Penhaligon NoneA very simple question we run once the connection's live, just to prove records are arriving. How many returns tickets in the last month, say. If the number looks wrong to you, we've found a problem before anyone depends on it.
- Kelly Swainston NoneI'll know if it's wrong. I've been counting them by hand for months.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneThen you're the best test we've got. Brilliant. Timing. Realistically I'd say the three sources are live in a couple of weeks if the access comes through, and then we spend time on the questions and the review pack.
- Kelly Swainston NoneThat works. The review this week I'll do the old way, and the next one I want to do from the brain.
- Josh Pearce NoneThat's tight but I'll push on the helpdesk account today.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneGreat. So to recap. I send the checklist and the table list template after this call. Josh, you request the helpdesk account and create the CRM one, and send me the warehouse tables. Kelly, you pick your first few client managers and the first real question you'd like answered.
- Kelly Swainston NoneDone. I'll send the names tomorrow. Question's easy: which brands have rising returns, and what are the customers saying.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneLovely, that's a proper first question. Anything else before we stop? I know we're early.
- Josh Pearce NoneNo, I think I've got what I need. Thanks Laura.
- Kelly Swainston NoneNothing from me. Thanks, speak soon.
- Laura Penhaligon NoneCheers both. Speak soon.