Calderbrook Housing Group / BB-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Calderbrook Housing Group · 2025-07-23 14:45
Helen Marsden said an internal IT group is assessing an in-house alternative and she cannot decide the renewal alone. She also raised an unreconciled repairs figure and asked about a shorter renewal term.
What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Helen Marsden said an internal IT group is assessing an in-house alternative and she cannot decide the renewal alone. She also raised an unreconciled repairs figure and asked about a shorter renewal term.
What happened: Helen Marsden opened with a repairs figure in the board pack that did not match the housing management system. Daniel Okafor offered to line up the repair references and report back by Friday.
Customer view: Helen said an IT and data platform group is looking at running this reporting on a platform Calderbrook builds itself, and that it is not her plan. The executive team will choose once the group reports in the next few weeks.
Commercial: About eleven people are active against forty licensed seats, and the finance director's office asks about it. Tom Ashdown quoted Growth at forty-four thousand from memory and said the order form figure would follow in writing.
Watch: Helen asked whether a term shorter than a full year is possible, and Tom is to find out. Paperwork goes across marked for review, with a signing target of 11 Aug 2025 ahead of the 2 Sep 2025 start.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
In-house build threatens renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BB-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daniel Okafor sends the matched repairs list by Friday, then the value summary and connector list.
- Tom Ashdown sends the renewal paperwork marked for review, with any shorter-term option and dates in early August.
- Helen Marsden checks the run time of the housing report that afternoon.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- An in-house platform being assessed by the customer's IT group could replace the Growth subscription.
- Eleven active users against forty licensed seats invites a value challenge from the finance director's office.
- The repairs figure that does not reconcile with the housing system is still open before the board pack goes.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- A value summary with figures and sources gives Helen something to hand her director.
- A connector list showing what each source feeds helps the group compare like with like.
Transcript
Daniel Okafor NoneHello Helen, good afternoon. Thank you for making the time. Can you hear us all right?
Helen Marsden NoneGood afternoon, Daniel. Yes, loud and clear. Is Tom with us?
Tom Ashdown NoneI am, I am. Sorry, I was fighting with the mute button. Afternoon, Helen. How's your week been?- Helen Marsden NoneBusy. We've got board papers going out shortly, so the whole team is heads down. It's one of those weeks where everything is urgent and nothing is quite finished.
- Tom Ashdown NoneSounds familiar. Is it any better up there? It's been grey and drizzly all day down here.
- Helen Marsden NoneDry, which is something. Can I start with something before we get to the renewal? I've got a discrepancy I'm chasing and I'd rather raise it now than at the end.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course. Please, go ahead.
- Helen Marsden NoneIt's the repairs section of the board pack, the open repairs that are past their target date. The brain gives me one figure, the report out of the housing management system gives me another, and these don't reconcile. The board will ask. I'd like to know why before they do. Can you show me the source?
- Daniel Okafor NoneUnderstood. Is the gap large, or is it a handful of jobs?
- Helen Marsden NoneA handful, relatively. But it's in the direction that makes us look a little better than the housing system does, which is exactly the direction the board is suspicious of.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's fair, and I'd feel the same. Just to check the basics first. The nightly refresh is complete before seven in the morning on business days, so if the housing report was run later in the day, it would include jobs logged that morning that the brain hadn't seen yet.
- Helen Marsden NoneI did wonder about that. The housing report was run on the Monday afternoon. Mine was pulled from the brain the same day, I think, but I'd have to check the time on it.
- Tom Ashdown NoneThat might explain a few of them. Repairs raised that same morning, say.
- Daniel Okafor NoneIt might, and I wouldn't want to say it does until we've looked at the records. What I can do is take the repair references from both sides and line them up, so you can see exactly which ones sit in one list and not the other. I'll come back to you by Friday with that.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would help. If it turns out to be timing, I'll put a note under the section. If it's a mapping problem, I need to know before the pack goes, not after.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAgreed. So just to close the loop on that: I'll send you the matched list by Friday, and you'll confirm the time the housing report was run. Does that sound right?
- Helen Marsden NoneYes. I'll check the run time this afternoon.
- Daniel Okafor NoneLovely. Then, Tom, shall we turn to the renewal?
- Tom Ashdown NoneYeah, go on then. So, Helen, no drama, I just wanted to hear where you are. Your current term ends on 1 September 2025, and a renewed one would start on 2 September 2025. I've got it pencilled for 11 August 2025 as the date we'd aim to have it signed, mainly so nobody's rushing at the end.
- Helen Marsden NoneRight. Well, I should be straightforward with you both. I'm not the person who decides this one on her own.
- Tom Ashdown NoneNo, understood. We never assumed you were.
- Helen Marsden NoneThere's a piece of work going on, led by our IT and data platform group, looking at whether we could run this kind of reporting on a platform we build and run ourselves. I want to be clear that it isn't my plan. I didn't propose it, and I'd be uncomfortable if you thought I had. I was asked to contribute the reporting requirements, and that's what I've been doing.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you, Helen. I appreciate you being so open with us. Can I ask, how is the team finding the brain at the moment, day to day?
- Helen Marsden NoneHonestly, they use it. Eleven or so of us dip in regularly. The tenant and repairs joins are what everyone likes. The complaints view, less so, but that's more about how we log complaints than about the brain. And we've had no real problems in the past month, which I'd put down to you.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat matches what I'm seeing. About eleven people active on average over the last month, and a little up on the quarter before. You've got forty licensed, so there's plenty of room.
- Helen Marsden NoneYes, we've never come close to filling the forty. If I'm honest, that's one of the things the finance director's office asks about.
- Tom Ashdown NoneFair question, and I'd rather you heard it from us. Mm. Let me say it plainly. You're on Growth at forty-four thousand a year. I'll confirm the exact paperwork figure when I send it, so don't hold me to it from memory, but last year's order form is the base and I don't expect it to change at this renewal.
- Helen Marsden NoneSo the same as we pay now.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAs far as I know, yes. The price book change that's been in the news from us doesn't apply to this renewal. But I'll put it in writing so you're not relying on me on a call.
- Helen Marsden NoneGood. Because the question I'll be asked is what we get for forty-four thousand that we couldn't get from our own platform, and what it would cost to build and run. I can't answer the second half of that.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd you shouldn't have to answer it alone. One thing I can put together is a short value summary. The questions your team has asked, which sections of the board pack they fed, the joins you'd have to rebuild. Not a sales document. Something you can hand to your director.
- Helen Marsden NonePlease. With the figures and the sources, not adjectives.
- Daniel Okafor NoneFigures and sources. Understood.
- Helen Marsden NoneCan I ask something else? If we did decide to go in-house, what happens to the data, and to the work that's been built on top of it?
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's a good thing to ask early. The brain runs inside your own Snowflake account, so the data and the models sit in your environment, not ours. What would stop is the layer we run and maintain on top: the connectors, the chat and the search. I'd want to set out exactly what you'd keep in writing, rather than from memory on a call.
- Tom Ashdown NoneAnd that's not us trying to talk you out of anything, Helen. You'd want to know that either way.
- Helen Marsden NoneI appreciate that. I don't want it to sound as though we've decided, because we haven't. The group is meant to report in the next few weeks, and then the executive team will choose.
- Tom Ashdown NoneRight. So before that report, is there anything you'd want from us that would help them compare like with like?
- Helen Marsden NoneA list of what's connected today and what each connector feeds. The group keeps asking me and I keep answering from memory, which I don't like doing.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI can do that as part of the same pack. Connectors, what they pull, and which pages and questions depend on them. I'll come back to you on when, once I've done the repairs matching, so I don't promise two things for Friday.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat's sensible. Thank you.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCan I suggest something? I'll send the renewal paperwork across anyway, so that if the answer's yes it's ready, and if it isn't, nobody's scrambling at the end of August. Would that be all right?
- Helen Marsden NoneSend it, but please make it very clear it's for review. I'd rather it didn't sit in someone's inbox looking like a commitment.
- Tom Ashdown NoneWill do. Marked for review, nothing to sign yet.
- Helen Marsden NoneAnd one more question, and you can say no. If the group wanted a bit longer to finish their work, is there any way of renewing for less than a full year?
- Tom Ashdown NoneAh. I can't promise that off the top of my head. Leave that with me and I'll find out what we can offer, then put it in the same email so you've got both options side by side.
- Helen Marsden NoneThat would be useful. Even if we don't use it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHelen, is there anyone from the IT group who should be on a follow-up call, particularly for the data side of things?
- Helen Marsden NoneNot yet. Perhaps later. I'd like to talk to them first and see how they want to approach it. I don't want to go over anyone's head, and I don't want them to feel ambushed.
- Daniel Okafor NoneOf course. Your call entirely.
- Tom Ashdown NoneWhile we've got you, anything on the product side that's been annoying the team? Anything I should be taking back?
- Helen Marsden NoneNot annoying, really. A couple of people said they'd like to export tables from the repairs page straight into spreadsheets without a few steps in between. It's minor. The bigger point is still the one about reconciling to the housing system. If that's clean, nobody complains.
- Daniel Okafor NoneI'll note the export point. And the reconciling is the right priority. I'll keep that one with me until it's properly closed.
- Helen Marsden NoneThank you. I think I've said what I needed to say.
- Tom Ashdown NoneLet's get something in the diary, then. Another call before 11 August 2025, once the group has reported. Does early August work, roughly?
- Helen Marsden NoneEarly August would be sensible. I'd rather have heard from them first. Send me a couple of options and I'll find a slot.
- Tom Ashdown NoneDone, I'll send a couple of options with the paperwork.
- Daniel Okafor NoneSo just to read it back. By Friday I'll send the matched repairs list and what I find, and then the value summary with the connector list. Tom sends the renewal paperwork for review, with whatever we can offer on a shorter term, and some dates in early August. And you'll check the run time of the housing report this afternoon. Have I missed anything?
- Helen Marsden NoneNo, that's everything. Thank you both, and thank you for not being defensive about it.
- Daniel Okafor NoneNot at all. We'd much rather know. Thank you for your time, Helen, and good luck with the board papers.
- Tom Ashdown NoneCheers, Helen. Speak soon.
- Helen Marsden NoneGoodbye both.
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