What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Kirkhope Insurance Services described manual broker lookups across several systems. Managing Director Anne Kirkhope wants faster response times and better broker retention. A tailored demo was agreed for mid-September.
What happened: On the 2 Sep 2026 discovery call, Karl Tennison described a team of six handling around two hundred broker relationships. Answers mean logging into two or three systems.
Customer view: Anne Kirkhope named two goals: faster responses and better retention, because slow brokers go to competitors. Karl said everyone on the team would use the brain.
Commercial: The sources named were CRM, underwriting system, Slack, emails and call recordings. That is five, above Starter's four connectors, so tier fit is open.
Watch: The evidence does not show whether the mid-September demo was held, or that any proposal followed.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Sophie Ling to confirm whether the tailored demo with Karl Tennison and Anne Kirkhope has been held or rescheduled.
- Sophie to confirm the connector list and tier fit before proposing.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The evidence does not show that the mid-September demo took place or that any commercial step followed.
- Five data sources named may exceed Starter's four connectors, which complicates the tier choice.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A tailored demo on broker data addresses a clear response-time and retention goal.
- A team of six all wanting to use the brain suggests a single-team subscription with a defined user base.
Transcript
- Sophie LingHi Karl, hi Anne, can you both hear me?
- Karl TennisonYes, loud and clear.
- Anne KirkhopeYes, hello Sophie.
- Sophie LingGreat. Thanks both for making time. So today I want to understand your world a bit better: how you're managing broker relationships, where the pain points are, and whether the brain could help.
- Karl TennisonRight. So we work with a network of brokers across marine, haulage, goods-in-transit. We're constantly dealing with queries, claims information, coverage updates. It's quite manual.
- Sophie LingHow many brokers are we talking about?
- Karl TennisonAround two hundred active relationships. Some are big, some are small. We have a team of six managing them.
- Sophie LingOkay. And when a broker calls with a question about a claim or coverage, how does that typically flow?
- Karl TennisonUsually they ring or email. One of my team takes it, looks up the policy details in the underwriting system, cross-checks anything in our CRM notes, pulls together an answer. Takes time if there's history they need to know.
- Sophie LingAre these queries coming to you mainly or going to other teams?
- Karl TennisonMostly to us, but some go straight to underwriting. And we have call recordings of all of them.
- Anne KirkhopeOne thing we're trying to improve is response time. We want brokers to feel we're responsive.
- Sophie LingThat's smart. So if you could search across your CRM notes, policy records, call recordings all at once, you could answer questions faster?
- Karl TennisonDefinitely. Right now if someone says a broker is asking about a lapsed policy, I'm logging into two or three systems to understand it.
- Sophie LingOkay, that's really helpful. Who sits on your team?
- Karl TennisonMe, and five others. We're all handling relationships, queries, some back-office admin.
- Sophie LingAnd if you had a tool where your team could ask questions about any broker interaction: calls, emails, policy details: and get an answer instantly, who would use that most?
- Karl TennisonAll of us, really. We'd all be logging in, searching for information.
- Sophie LingRight. And where is the data right now? What systems?
- Karl TennisonCRM for relationships, underwriting system for policies and claims, Slack for internal chat, emails, and we have call recordings.
- Sophie LingWhat about data quality? If I were searching for information about a broker, how fresh is it?
- Karl TennisonCRM is pretty current. Underwriting updates a few times a day. Call recordings are live as we make them.
- Sophie LingGood. And Anne, from your perspective, is there a business case for this? Are there KPIs you're trying to hit?
- Anne KirkhopeWe want faster response times to broker queries, that's key. And we want to improve retention because if brokers feel we're slow, they go to competitors.
- Sophie LingThat makes sense. So if I understand right, you're looking for faster access to broker information to improve response time and keep relationships strong?
- Anne KirkhopeYes, that's it exactly.
- Sophie LingGreat. So here's what I'm thinking. The brain sits on your data: your CRM, your underwriting system, call recordings, and your team asks questions. Show me all interactions with Broker X in the last month. Are there any outstanding issues? All of that comes back instantly.
- Karl TennisonThat would definitely speed us up.
- Sophie LingRight. So what I'd like to do next is put together a demo tailored to your world, using broker data, and we can see if it feels like the right fit.
- Anne KirkhopeWhen would that be?
- Sophie LingI can get something scheduled for mid-September if that works?
- Karl TennisonYeah, that works for us.
- Sophie LingPerfect. I'll send a calendar invite and we can talk through it all then.
- Anne KirkhopeThanks Sophie.
- Sophie LingCheers. Speak soon.