Ardcarne Life Assurance / BG-Demo – Negotiation
Callcompleted
Ardcarne Life Assurance · 27 Jul 2026 11:00
Negotiation call on a new Enterprise deal. The exit plan is settled enough for price. Owen Tallis held £155k as total deal value, implementation included. Procurement replies after Legal; signature target 4 Sep 2026.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Negotiation call on a new Enterprise deal. The exit plan is settled enough for price. Owen Tallis held £155k as total deal value, implementation included. Procurement replies after Legal; signature target 4 Sep 2026.
What happened: Matteo Ricci hosted the 27 Jul 2026 negotiation with Niamh Costello, Aoife Kinsella and Ronan Tierney, with Owen Tallis taking the commercial part. Aoife judged the exit plan settled enough to hear price, subject to Legal.
Commercial: Owen stated £155k as the total value of a new Enterprise deal, implementation included and not an annual price. Any concession would be on the first term only.
Customer view: Niamh was content with the number. Ronan signs once the CISO and procurement are content, and Aoife will respond on price after Legal has seen the exit schedule.
Watch: Target signature is 4 Sep 2026, and Aoife said the date moves if Legal needs longer. The termination assistance duration is still unconfirmed.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Enterprise deal exit plan
Importance
neutral
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- Matteo Ricci to confirm the termination assistance duration in writing by the end of that week.
- Matteo Ricci to send one email with the exit schedule, notification wording, sub-processor list and proposed implementation plan with named owners.
- Owen Tallis and Matteo Ricci to send a clean draft to Ronan Tierney once the CISO has seen the wording.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The termination assistance duration is not yet stated, and Legal cannot close the exit section without it.
- Procurement has not responded on price and will only do so after Legal has seen the exit schedule.
- The CISO must be comfortable with the incident notification wording before Ronan Tierney signs.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Niamh Costello is content with the £155,000 figure and values the company-wide broker view.
- Extras such as a sandbox or more connectors would be separate lines, though none was offered on the call.
Transcript
Matteo RicciGood morning, everyone. Can you all hear me all right? Niamh, I can see you. Aoife, I think you might still be on mute.
Aoife KinsellaMorning. Yes, sorry, there we are. Is that better?- Matteo RicciPerfect, thank you. And Ronan, welcome. Thank you for making the time, I know these calls are not usually in your diary.
Ronan TierneyMorning all. Happy to. What decision is needed from me?- Matteo RicciFair question, and let me restate the timeline so it is clear for everybody. We are working towards signature on Friday 4 September 2026. Between now and then there are two things to close. One is the exit plan, which is Aoife's area, and the other is the commercial terms, where Owen has joined us. I would suggest we take the exit plan first, as Aoife asked, and only then turn to the number. Is that acceptable?
- Aoife KinsellaThat is the right order. Before we start, can we confirm which draft is under discussion? I have the order form draft that came back to us after the last round, with your tracked changes on the termination section.
- Matteo RicciYes, that is the one. Same draft, nothing newer. I will say so in the follow-up so there is no doubt in your file about which version we discussed.
- Aoife KinsellaGood. So, from an outsourcing perspective, the exit plan needs to cover three things. First, return of the data and the configuration, in a usable form. Second, termination assistance for a defined transition period, so that broker distribution and customer service are not left without a view of the broker firms on the day the contract ends. Third, the position on anything BG-Demo relies on to run the service. Subject to Legal, of course, I am not agreeing wording today.
Niamh CostelloCan I add the business outcome, because I think it helps? What does good look like for the brokers? If we ever had to leave, the brokers should not notice. Customer service should still be able to pull up one view of a firm. So I would rather we describe that outcome in the plan and not over-engineer the mechanics.- Matteo RicciThat is helpful, Niamh, thank you. And there is something structural I should put on the table, because it makes the exit simpler than with most suppliers. The brain is built and run inside your own Snowflake account. The data and the models sit with you, not with us. So there is no extraction project in the usual sense. What we would be handing back is mainly the configuration, the connector set-up and the documentation of how it was built.
- Aoife KinsellaMm. I understand that, and it is in your security pack. But the plan still has to say it. A regulator reading our register will not infer it.
- Matteo RicciAgreed. We will write it down in plain words.
- Aoife KinsellaAnd the transition period. How long are you offering for termination assistance? That is not stated anywhere.
- Matteo RicciRight. I would rather be straight with you than quote something I have not agreed internally. The principle is yes, assistance for a transition period, on the same service terms. The duration I need to confirm with our delivery team, and I will do that in writing. I do not want to give you a figure on a call that engineering then has to walk back.
- Aoife KinsellaI would prefer that to a guess. But I do need it before Legal can close the section.
Owen TallisIf I can come in. What's the next dated step on that? I'd suggest we commit to sending the duration, in writing, by the end of this week. Matteo, can you do that without overreaching?- Matteo RicciI will ask for the answer today and confirm what I can by the end of the week. If delivery needs longer, I will tell you that on the day, not stay silent.
- Aoife KinsellaFine. Next, the register of information. We have to describe the service, where it runs and who else is involved in running it. The sub-processor list in the draft is, frankly, thin. The exit plan needs to cover those parties too, not just BG-Demo.
- Matteo RicciUnderstood. Because it runs in your Snowflake account, the list is shorter than you might expect, but I take the point that it should be complete and in one place. I will have it restated against the draft, and I will ask our security colleagues to check it before it reaches you.
- Niamh CostelloMatteo, I want to raise the July outage while Ronan is here. I do not want it to be a surprise to anyone later. Our CISO was satisfied with how it was handled, but he asked that it be reflected in the contract, not just in the review notes.
- Matteo RicciThank you for raising it, and I would rather you heard it from me than from anyone else. The security review ran through that outage, so your team saw it as it happened, which is not how anyone would choose to do a review. What I can say is that the order form should carry notification wording that reflects what your security team learned, so an incident like that is reported to you in a defined way and in a defined time. I will propose that wording and send it to Aoife for Legal.
- Ronan TierneyWhat's the board risk?
- Niamh CostelloRonan, I would put it like this. The risk the board cares about is operational resilience and an exit we can evidence. The outage showed us the first, in a way, and the exit plan is how we evidence the second. If both are in the contract, I am comfortable taking it to the board as a managed outsourcing, not a surprise.
- Ronan TierneyGood. Is our CISO content?
- Niamh CostelloOn the security review, yes. On the notification wording he wants to see the draft. I need him comfortable with it before anything is signed, and so do you.
- Ronan TierneyAgreed. Then he sees it.
- Aoife KinsellaCan I come back to the plan itself? I want to be clear about what we would have at the end of this call. Not agreed terms. A list of what must be in the exit plan: data and configuration return, termination assistance with a stated duration, the sub-processor position, and incident notification. Is that the complete list, Matteo?
- Matteo RicciThose four, yes. One more I would add for completeness, which is the documentation. A runbook for how the brain is set up in your account, so your own team or another provider could carry it on. Let me confirm that in writing as well.
- Aoife KinsellaYes, five then. Good. I would add that the plan should be a schedule to the order form, not a side letter.
- Owen TallisThat works for us. A schedule is cleaner.
- Aoife KinsellaThen, subject to Legal, the exit plan is in a state where I am content to hear the commercial position. I want to be careful about the order, because I do not discuss price before the plan is settled, and I am saying it is settled enough, not agreed.
- Matteo RicciUnderstood, and thank you, Aoife. Owen, would you take the commercial part?
- Owen TallisYes. Short version. This is a new Enterprise deal. The figure on the order form is £155,000. That is the total value of the deal, implementation included. It is not an annual price, and I'd rather we were all clear on that now than find it in the finance team's question later. The subscription is annual, paid in advance, on the standard terms.
- Ronan TierneySo that is the whole commitment? Nothing sitting behind it?
- Owen TallisEverything in the order form is in that figure: the implementation, including support through your security review, and the first year of the Enterprise subscription. Anything extra, a sandbox, more connectors, would be a separate line and a separate conversation. I'm not adding any today.
- Niamh CostelloOwen, just so I can explain it to my own team. Is there any room on that number, or is it where it is?
- Owen TallisHonest answer. The figure reflects where we've landed after the long review, and I'd rather not trade price for speed. If there's a concession that matters to you, it'll be on the first term only. I won't discount twice, so nothing that carries into the renewal. Let's keep the clean number and spend the time on things that actually reduce your risk.
- Aoife KinsellaThat is a position I can note. I will not respond to price on this call, as I have said. Procurement will come back after Legal has seen the exit schedule.
- Ronan TierneyI do not need the detail. Niamh, are you content with the number for what we are getting?
- Niamh CostelloI am. It is a company-wide view of the brokers that we simply do not have today, and it was well tested in the evaluation. I would rather pay a fair price for something that works than shave the number and be left with a vague timeline.
- Matteo RicciOn the timeline, since Niamh mentions it. Let me be careful. The implementation plan is in the order form, and the start follows signature. I do not want to put dates in front of you that our engineers have not agreed. What I will do is take the connector list and the broker data sources back to them this week, and come to you with a proposed plan and who owns each step.
- Niamh CostelloI would like that to be specific. Who owns each connector on our side, and who on yours. I do not accept vague timelines, Matteo, as you know.
- Matteo RicciI know, and you should not have to. Elena, our customer success lead, will be part of that planning, so the person who looks after you after signature has already seen the plan.
- Niamh CostelloGood. That is the right person to have in it early.
- Owen TallisCan I ask the question I always ask? Who signs?
- Ronan TierneyI do. Once our CISO and procurement are content. Not before.
- Owen TallisUnderstood. Then the dated steps, as I see them. Our exit schedule and notification wording go to Aoife by the end of this week. Legal's comments back to us the week after. A clean draft for Ronan once your CISO has seen the wording. Target remains Friday 4 September 2026. Does anyone disagree?
- Aoife KinsellaI do not disagree with the sequence. I would add that I will not skip a policy step to hit the date. If Legal needs longer, the date moves. You will recall that happened once already.
- Matteo RicciI do recall, and I would rather the date moved than that we rushed the exit plan. The questions you raised made the contract better. I mean that.
- Aoife KinsellaThank you. Then the other thing from me is the register entry. If you can give me a short description of the service in your own words, I will draft the register text and share it back so you can check we have not described it wrongly.
- Matteo RicciYes, of course. I will send that with the exit schedule, so you have everything in one email.
- Niamh CostelloWhile we are all here, one practical thing for the plan. Broker distribution and customer service will both want to see something early, not at the end of the implementation. Let's not over-engineer it, but is a first useful view of a handful of broker firms realistic as an early milestone?
- Matteo RicciIt is the right way to approach it, and it is how I would sequence it. Start with the sources that hold the broker relationship, prove one view of a firm, and expand. Whether it lands in a particular week is what I need to check with delivery. I will bring you the milestone and the date together, not one without the other.
- Niamh CostelloThat is all I need.
- Ronan TierneyLet me summarise so that I have it right. Exit plan: nearly there, subject to Legal. Notification wording: our CISO sees it. Price: understood, procurement responds after Legal. Plan: Matteo comes back with owners. Yes?
- Matteo RicciExactly that, Ronan. Thank you.
- Ronan TierneyThen let's proceed on that basis. Tell me if anything slips, early.
- Owen TallisWill do. If there's a risk to the date, you'll hear it from Matteo and me the same day.
- Aoife KinsellaOne last point, and then I am finished. When the follow-up comes, please attach the draft you are referring to, so the file shows the version. I have been caught by that before.
- Matteo RicciOf course. The draft goes with the email, named and dated, and I will list in the body what has changed against the last one.
- Niamh CostelloThen I think we have what we need. Thank you, all. That was a more useful call than I expected on a Monday.
- Matteo RicciLet me finish by confirming in writing what I owe. First, the termination assistance duration, or an honest update if delivery needs longer, by the end of this week. Second, the exit schedule and the notification wording, with the sub-processor list and the runbook description. Third, the proposed implementation plan with named owners. I will send one email with the three, today if possible.
- Aoife KinsellaThat will do. I will wait for the single email and not chase piecemeal.
- Owen TallisAnd I'll keep the commercial position exactly as stated. Nothing moves unless one of you asks me in writing.
- Ronan TierneyGood. I'll leave you to it. Thank you all.
- Matteo RicciThank you, Ronan. Have a good day.
- Niamh CostelloMatteo, one thing after Ronan has gone. If our CISO has a question on the wording, can he come straight to you? I would rather not have it going round by email.
- Matteo RicciAbsolutely. He can call me directly, and if it is a technical point I will bring in the right colleague from our side the same day.
- Niamh CostelloGood. That is all from me, then. Best of luck with delivery on your side, I know it is not a small ask.
- Matteo RicciThank you, Niamh. We will not take it lightly. Speak soon, everyone.
- Aoife KinsellaGoodbye.
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