What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Harrowden's Supply Chain Director asked for twenty more users for the planners but would not commit before seeing a named seat list and a quote. Usage is flat against 60 seats, and the renewal is 5 Jan 2027.
What happened: Rajesh Mistry, Supply Chain Director, asked for twenty more users on the Growth subscription for the supply chain planners. Gemma Holt backed the request, and Rajesh wants usage evidence first.
Customer view: Usage was reported as fourteen active out of 60 seats, flat on the previous quarter. Rajesh said he is not saying yes or no and will come back once he has seen the seat list, a quote and spoken to the planners' manager.
Commercial: Lewis Kerr said he would send a written quote the same day, co-termed to the renewal, in two versions. The order form is £58k a year and matches the invoices.
Watch: Amara Obi flagged that questions lean on a small group, a key-person risk. Reassigning dormant seats could shrink the expansion, and the renewal still carries 60 seats.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Amara Obi to send Rajesh and Gemma the seat list by name and team by Friday.
- Lewis Kerr to send a written co-termed quote the same day, in two versions.
- Amara Obi to book the next review for early December ahead of the renewal.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Active users are flat against 60 licensed seats, so the renewal could be questioned on value.
- Dormant seats may be reassigned to planners, reducing the amount of new seats bought.
- Questions lean on a small group of people, a key-person risk.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Twenty additional Growth users for the planners, co-termed to the renewal.
- Planner-built dashboards through the Growth dashboards builder to make the seats stick.
- Optional on-site training day as an add-on line on the quote.
Transcript
- Amara ObiHello, can you hear me alright? I can see Gemma and Lewis, just waiting on Rajesh.
- Gemma HoltLoud and clear. Afternoon, Amara. Rajesh messaged, he's walking down the corridor as we speak.
- Lewis KerrAfternoon all. Apologies, my mic was off.
- Rajesh MistrySorry, sorry. The meeting before overran and the projector in here wouldn't talk to my laptop. Afternoon. Can you hear me alright?
- Amara ObiPerfect, we're all here. Right, let's make a start. I'm Amara Obi, Customer Success Manager at BG-Demo, and I run these reviews for Harrowden, so thanks all for making time on a Tuesday afternoon. Before I share any charts, what does good look like for you this quarter? What would make this worth your time?
- Gemma HoltCan I start with a win? Last week one of the account managers had a retailer review, and the retailer turned up with a list of service-level complaints. She'd already pulled the complaint history and the orders together in the brain before she walked in. Normally that's a day of chasing customer service for spreadsheets. She did it in an afternoon, and she knew the answers before they asked. The account managers love it.
- Amara ObiThat's exactly the use we hoped for. Answers before the retailer asks. Lovely.
- Rajesh MistryGood. Can I ask for the usage figures first, though? Numbers before opinions, if you don't mind.
- Amara ObiOf course. Give me a second to share my screen. Can you see it? Right.
- Amara ObiSo here's what the numbers say. Over the last thirty days we've averaged around fourteen active users. That's flat against the previous quarter, down by about one per cent, so effectively no movement. You're licensed for 60. Questions asked are steady, and most of them come from commercial insights and customer service.
- Rajesh MistrySo fourteen out of 60. That's under a quarter of the seats.
- Gemma HoltHang on, Rajesh, that's an average. It's not everyone who ever logs in. The account managers dip in around retailer reviews, so it's lumpy.
- Amara ObiThat's fair, Gemma, and I'd say it that way too. It's an average, so it smooths the peaks. But I don't want to dress it up either. It's flat, and with 60 seats there's headroom. I'd rather we talk about that openly than have you find it in a chart later.
- Rajesh MistryI appreciate that. Show me it's used, that's all I ask.
- Amara ObiUnderstood.
- Rajesh MistryWhich brings me to why I wanted to be on this call. I'd like twenty more users. For the supply chain planners.
- Gemma HoltYes. Finally. Sorry, Rajesh, go on.
- Lewis KerrThanks, Rajesh. Let me just confirm what you want to buy, and by when. Twenty additional users on the Growth subscription, for the planners. Is there a date you need them live by?
- Rajesh MistryIdeally before the planning cycle for the winter peak. So weeks, not months. But I'll be straight with you. I'm looking at fourteen active out of 60 and I'm asking for twenty more. I know how that sounds.
- Gemma HoltCan I explain that one? The 60 are named seats. Most of them went to the account managers and customer service. The planners are a different group, and honestly they've been borrowing screenshots off us.
- Rajesh MistryThey have. I've seen the screenshots in a planning pack. Which is rather the point.
- Gemma HoltWhat would it cost to add them? That's what I've been asking Lewis for a while.
- Lewis KerrTo put a number on it, I'd rather not quote from memory. I'll send a written quote today, co-termed to your renewal, with the VAT position shown line by line. What I can say is where you are now: £58,000 a year on the order form, and that matches what we've invoiced.
- Rajesh MistryCo-term it, yes. And what's the cost per head? That's the figure I compare against.
- Lewis KerrIt'll be on the quote per head and in total, so you can compare like for like. Co-termed means the new seats run to the same end date as everything else, 4 Jan 2027, with the renewal on 5 Jan 2027, so you're not carrying a second renewal date.
- Rajesh MistryGood. I don't want two renewals to track. One is plenty.
- Amara ObiCan I add something, because I'd be doing you a disservice otherwise. Before you buy twenty, it's worth looking at how many of the 60 are named but dormant. If a good chunk haven't logged in for a while, we can reassign those to planners and that costs you nothing. Then you only buy what the planners need on top.
- Lewis KerrAgreed. I don't want to sell you seats the usage doesn't support. If the list says reassign, I'll say so.
- Rajesh MistryThat's what I'd want. Hm. How quickly can you tell me?
- Amara ObiI can pull it by name this week. Who has logged in, who hasn't, which team they sit in. I'll send it to you and Gemma by Friday, and I'll mark which seats look genuinely unused and which are just quiet outside review season.
- Gemma HoltBrilliant. Can we get customer service properly on at the same time? Some of them have seats but they're not in every day.
- Amara ObiYes, that's one of the things I want in the list. Who else should have access, and who has access but isn't using it. They're the same question really.
- Rajesh MistryCustomer service first, then. I don't want to pay for planners and leave a team under-used next door.
- Gemma HoltNo, fair. That would look daft.
- Amara ObiLet me ask the other side of it. When the planners are in, what do they actually ask? I want to be able to say in the next review that the new seats earned their place.
- Rajesh MistryService levels to the supermarkets. Orders against what we promised. Which lines are running short, which sites, what the complaint pattern looks like against that. Today I get it in three different packs from three different people, and by the time I see it, it's a week old. If they can ask the brain on a Monday morning, that's the value.
- Gemma HoltAnd the retailer accounts sit next to it, so they'd see the complaint and the order in one place. That's the bit the account managers use.
- Amara ObiThat's all in what you've already got connected, so the planners wouldn't be waiting on anything new. It's a case of seats and a bit of training.
- Gemma HoltCould the planners have their own dashboard? Rather than asking the same thing every Monday.
- Amara ObiYes. Growth includes the dashboards builder, so one of the planners could build the Monday view once and everyone looks at that. I can walk a couple of them through it. Honestly that's the best way to make the seats stick, because a dashboard somebody built themselves tends to get opened.
- Rajesh MistryI like that. Built by them, not by us.
- Lewis KerrOn the training, there's an on-site day available as an add-on if you'd rather have us in the room. I'll put it on the quote as an optional line, not a default.
- Rajesh MistryOptional, please. Let me see how the list looks first.
- Amara ObiFine. Shall I go through the rest of the picture, then? Tickets and invoices, quickly, and then we can come back to seats.
- Rajesh MistryPlease.
- Amara ObiSo tickets. Three in the last thirty days, one of them marked high priority. I've looked at how they were handled and there's nothing sitting open that worries me. If one of them is still bothering you, tell me now and I'll chase it today.
- Gemma HoltNo, I don't think so. Ours were fairly routine. How-to type of thing, mostly.
- Amara ObiGood. And invoices. No overdue invoices at all, so thank you, Rajesh, your finance team has been prompt.
- Rajesh MistryI'll pass that on. They like hearing it.
- Lewis KerrOn my side, the order form and the invoices agree, so there's no reconciling to do at renewal. That's not always the case, so it's worth saying. It makes the renewal conversation simpler.
- Rajesh MistryLet me be clear about where I am, because I don't want you to think I'm saying yes or no today. I came prepared on the usage. I did not prepare on a purchase. I haven't seen which seats are dormant, I haven't seen a quote, and I haven't spoken to the planners' manager about who would actually use it.
- Gemma HoltWhich is fine. That's exactly why we've asked for the list.
- Rajesh MistrySo what I'm asking for is clear, twenty more for the planners. What I'm not doing is signing it on a Tuesday afternoon. When I've seen the list and the quote, and I've spoken to the planners, I'll come back to you. And if dormant seats cover half of it, we buy half.
- Lewis KerrThat's a sensible way to do it. Then I'll send two versions on the quote today. One for all twenty as new seats, and one for a smaller number, so you can see the difference without asking me again.
- Rajesh MistryThat's helpful. Thank you.
- Amara ObiWhile we've got everyone, can I flag one more thing from the usage side? I'd love to see the questions spread across more people. At the moment it leans on a small group, and that's a bit of a key-person risk if anyone is away or moves on. The planners coming in would help with that, honestly.
- Gemma HoltI take that one on the chin. I do ask a lot of them. Can't help it.
- Amara ObiNo, it's a good problem. It just means I'd like a few more of you doing it.
- Gemma HoltI can get a few of the account managers to show the planners what they ask. Quick lunch session, nothing formal. They'd enjoy it.
- Amara ObiThat would be great. Send me the date and I'll join if you want me there, I can bring a few example questions that tend to land well.
- Rajesh MistryNow, the renewal. I know it's January. Is there anything I should be doing before then? I'd rather not be surprised by a number in December.
- Amara ObiRight, so the contract runs to 4 Jan 2027 and the renewal date is 5 Jan 2027. The formal renewal notice will come from me, in good time, and Lewis will have the commercial terms ready alongside it. What I'd like is to get the next review in the diary before the end of the year, so the renewal is a conversation we've already had, not a new one.
- Lewis KerrAnd if the twenty seats are co-termed, they just fold into that same conversation. One document, one date.
- Rajesh MistryGood. Put the review in for early December and I'll make sure I'm in it.
- Amara ObiEarly December. Done. I'll send the invite after this call, and I'll make sure Gemma and Lewis are on it too.
- Gemma HoltCan I ask one practical thing? If the planners get seats, who looks after who has access? Because at the moment it's a bit of me and a bit of IT, and I'd rather it was one person.
- Amara ObiFair question. It should be one named admin on your side, with a second as cover, so that if the one person is away nothing stalls. I'll put that in the follow-up note, and you can decide who it is. It doesn't have to be you, Gemma, although I suspect it will be.
- Gemma HoltIt will be me. Cover can be someone from IT, I'll ask.
- Rajesh MistryAsk a colleague in IT, then, and let Amara know who it is.
- Lewis KerrOne more question from me, Rajesh, so I get the quote right. Are the planners all at the two sites, or are some of them remote, working from home? It doesn't change the price, I just want the quote to describe the right group when your finance people read it.
- Rajesh MistryMostly the two sites. A couple work from home a few days a week. Say planners across both sites, that's accurate enough.
- Lewis KerrPlanners across both sites. Perfect. That's how I'll write it.
- Amara ObiLet me just run through what we've agreed so we're all holding the same list. One: I send the seat list by name, by team, by Friday, to Rajesh and Gemma. Two: Lewis sends a written quote today, co-termed, prices shown with the VAT position, in two versions. Three: Gemma sorts the lunch session with the account managers and the planners, and finds a cover admin from IT. Four: Rajesh speaks to the planners' manager and comes back on the seats once he's seen the list. And five: I put the review in for early December.
- Rajesh MistryThat's it. That's the whole list. Nothing I'd add.
- Gemma HoltNothing from me either. Oh, except, thank you for being straight about the dormant seats. Honestly I half expected a sales pitch.
- Lewis KerrIf the usage doesn't support it I'd rather tell you than have you tell me at renewal. That's the cheaper conversation for everyone.
- Rajesh MistryQuite. That's why I'll look at the list properly.
- Amara ObiIs there anything else you'd want from me before we close? Anything you've been meaning to raise and haven't? It's easy for these calls to run on the numbers and miss the thing that's actually bugging someone.
- Gemma HoltOnly that the nightly refresh has been reliable. Nobody's mentioned stale data in a while, which is really what I care about with a retailer meeting looming.
- Amara ObiGood to hear, and I'll keep an eye on it. If anything looks late, you'll hear it from me first.
- Rajesh MistryJust one from me. When the quote comes, put the usage you'd expect from the planners in a line or two. Not a promise, just what you'd consider reasonable. I'd rather have a yardstick to hold you and me to.
- Amara ObiI can do that. I'll write what I'd treat as healthy for a team that size after the first couple of months, and we can check against it in the review after renewal. If it falls short, we look at it together, no blame.
- Rajesh MistryThat's all I need. Good.
- Lewis KerrI'll send that quote across today, as I said, and I'll copy Amara so the seat list and the quote arrive in step. If you have questions on the quote itself, ring me rather than letting it sit.
- Gemma HoltWill do. I'll nag him as well.
- Rajesh MistryShe will. She's very good at it.
- Amara ObiRight, I think we're done and slightly early, which never happens. Thank you all. Lovely to get the planners on the table, and I'm glad we've got a sensible way to do it. I'll get everything out this afternoon, and the invite for early December will follow.
- Gemma HoltThanks, everyone. Good call. Speak soon. Cheers.
- Rajesh MistryThank you. Regards, all. I'll look out for the list on Friday.
- Lewis KerrKind regards, all. Quote's coming today. Bye.
- Amara ObiBye, everyone. Best, Amara.