Merriott Lyle Distribution / BG-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Merriott Lyle Distribution · 26 Jan 2026 12:15
CFO Malcolm Ridgway asked what the brain costs and whether unused seats are paid for. About fifty of two hundred licensed users are active. Lewis Kerr will send itemised like-for-like and deal versions; expected close 17 Feb 2026.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026CFO Malcolm Ridgway asked what the brain costs and whether unused seats are paid for. About fifty of two hundred licensed users are active. Lewis Kerr will send itemised like-for-like and deal versions; expected close 17 Feb 2026.
What happened: Renewal call on 26 Jan 2026 with the CFO, Head of Commercial Systems and Head of Credit Control. Contract ends 27 Feb 2026, with the renewal date the day after.
Customer view: Malcolm opened on cost and unused licences. Bernadette Lowry values the single dispute page but goes with the ledger when they differ, and no one could show an effect on debtor days.
Commercial: The contracted figure is £116k, matching the order form and invoices. The open renewal deal shows £128k plus VAT, which Malcolm noted is more than they pay now. Lewis said he would not add anything and floated right-sizing Enterprise users, with add-on blocks addable in term.
Watch: Malcolm wants base and add-on shown separately and will read the service schedule. Same service levels must be written into the new form. The question split may show a few heavy askers.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Renewal price and seat usage
Importance
renewal
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- Lewis Kerr to email the itemised like-for-like and deal versions, base and add-on separate, on 26 Jan 2026.
- Daniel Okafor to send usage by branch and user, the connector check and the disputes page answer by Friday.
- Agree expected close of 17 Feb 2026 ahead of contract end on 27 Feb 2026.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- About fifty of two hundred licensed Enterprise users are active, so the CFO is questioning what he pays for.
- No measured value case exists yet: credit control cannot show an effect on debtor days.
- The open deal total is higher than the contracted figure and Malcolm will challenge any line that does not tie.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Set the user count at what usage supports, with add-on blocks available later, to keep the renewal on good terms.
- Build a value case at the next account data review from real disputes and questions-asked data.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforHello, can everyone hear me alright? Thanks all for making the time, I know it's a busy stretch. Let me just check who has joined. I've got Malcolm, and Lewis is here from our side. Deepa, Bernadette, are you with us?
Malcolm RidgwayI can hear you. What's changed since the last one?- Daniel OkaforNot a great deal, Malcolm, and I'll come to it properly. Let me just get everyone in first.
Deepa ChauhanHere, sorry. The link opened in the wrong window. Good afternoon, everyone.
Bernadette LowryAfternoon. I'm on. Can you hear me?- Daniel OkaforLoud and clear. Lovely, that's everyone.
Lewis KerrAfternoon all. So we're pointed the same way: Malcolm, what I need to understand is what you want to do at the end of February, and by when you need to know. Daniel can talk through how the year has gone, and then we can see where that leaves the commercials.- Malcolm RidgwayShort answer. What does it cost, what do we get for it, and are we paying for things we don't use. The contract runs out on Friday 27 February 2026, as I read it. Is that right?
- Lewis KerrThat's right. Contract end is 27 February 2026 and the renewal date on our side is the day after, 28 February 2026. So we have about a month, and I'd like it settled with room to spare.
- Malcolm RidgwayMm. Go on, Daniel.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. Just to close the loop on where we are: you've been with us since 28 February 2025, you're on Enterprise with two hundred licensed users, and the idea from the start was that a branch manager, a key-account manager and someone in credit control would all see the same trade account, its orders, its disputes, the calls and the invoices, in one place. On the service side it's been quiet. One ticket in the last thirty days, nothing high priority, and nothing raised about the nightly refresh. Invoices are paid, nothing overdue. So what I'd really like to hear is how the team is finding it, because the dashboards only tell me so much.
- Malcolm RidgwayTwo hundred licences. How many are used?
- Daniel OkaforThat's the honest part of this, and I'd rather say it than have you find it. Over the last thirty days the average is around fifty active users, and that's down by nearly a fifth on the quarter before.
- Malcolm RidgwayFifty of two hundred. And the cost of that is?
- Daniel OkaforWell, I wouldn't put it as a cost exactly, but I take the point, and it's one for Lewis in a moment. Before that, Deepa, I think you know better than the charts why it has dipped.
- Deepa ChauhanI have a view, but I haven't got the numbers to prove it, so bear with me. When we rolled out, we wanted every branch to have a seat. A lot of those people logged in a few times, saw the account view, and then went back to ringing credit control, which is habit rather than a complaint. The people who use it properly, the key-account managers and the credit control team and a handful of the regional directors, are still on it most days. Show me where that number comes from, by branch, and I can tell you who has drifted.
- Daniel OkaforI can do that. Which account, which branch, as you'd say.
- Deepa ChauhanHa, yes. Exactly that.
- Bernadette LowryCan I come in? I'm one of the ones on it most days. Short version. I use it for disputes. I can see the order, the call notes and the invoice on one page. That saves me ringing three people.
- Bernadette LowryBut the ledger says otherwise sometimes. And when it does, I go with the ledger. I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
- Daniel OkaforThat's fair, and it's what I'd want you to do. When they differ, is it usually timing, or is it something in how the invoice comes through?
- Bernadette LowryMostly timing. A payment lands in the afternoon and the brain doesn't know until the morning. I'll believe it when it reconciles, and so far it mostly does. The one ticket this month was ours, and it was sorted.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Thank you, that's helpful to hear.
- Malcolm RidgwayRight. Put that against the money. Lewis, what is the number?
- Lewis KerrTo put a number on it. Contracted ARR is £116,500. That matches what's on the order form and what has been invoiced, so there's no gap between those. The renewal deal I have open at the moment shows a total of £127,500, plus VAT.
- Malcolm RidgwayThat's more than we pay now.
- Lewis KerrIt is, yes.
- Malcolm RidgwayAnd what is in it?
- Lewis KerrI'm not going to break that down from memory, Malcolm, because I'd rather check the record than guess on a call. What I'll do is send it over today, itemised, with the base for every line, so you're not reading a total without knowing what's underneath it.
- Malcolm RidgwayPut it in writing. Every line.
- Lewis KerrEvery line. And I'll say this while I have you all here. With active use where it is, I wouldn't ask you to add anything. If anything, the conversation to have is whether two hundred is the right number of users for you.
- Malcolm RidgwayGo on.
- Lewis KerrEnterprise includes a base number of users and anything above that sits on add-on blocks. I'd need the order form in front of me to say how yours is made up and what moving the user count would do to the price. It may do a good deal, it may do very little. I don't want to quote you either way until I've read it.
- Malcolm RidgwayNever accept a percentage without the base. Same for seats. I want the base number and the add-on number, separately.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood. Separately, and co-termed to your renewal so nothing runs on a different date.
- Bernadette LowryCan I ask something, before we get carried away with cutting seats?
- Daniel OkaforPlease do.
- Bernadette LowryIf you cut seats, who decides which ones? Because if it's by who logged in last, and my team have been on a training week or a month end, you'll cut the wrong people. Who decides?
- Lewis KerrYou do, Bernadette, not us. My principle would be credit control and key-account first, then regional directors, and then we look at branches. Nobody loses a seat on a number I've produced.
- Deepa ChauhanAnd I'd want the branch list before anyone decides. Some branch managers don't open it, but their assistants do, on their behalf. That's a seat in use that doesn't look like one.
- Daniel OkaforThat's a good point, Deepa. I can't see that from the usage data on its own, so it's something to ask rather than assume.
- Malcolm RidgwayHold on. Let me look at something.
- Malcolm RidgwayRight. I've got the original order form open. It's got the service schedule at the back. I haven't signed anything without reading that schedule in my life and I'm not starting now.
- Daniel OkaforQuite right. Anything you want me to read out, or shall I just answer questions on it?
- Malcolm RidgwayFreshness. It says the data has to be complete before the morning on business days. And there's a credit if it isn't. How often has that been missed?
- Daniel OkaforNothing has been claimed, and I've not seen a breach in the record. Enterprise is credited for freshness as well as availability, and I'd be the first to tell you if there had been a miss. Nothing about that changes unless it's written into the new order form.
- Malcolm RidgwayThen it stays as it is. In writing.
- Daniel OkaforIn writing, yes. Same service levels, same schedule, and I'll make sure the new form says so, rather than saying nothing.
- Malcolm RidgwayGood. Now the part I care about. A return I can show the board. Deepa.
- Deepa ChauhanYes. I've been thinking about how to say this, and I'd rather be straight than clever. There are three things I can honestly point to. One, the account data review, where credit control, sales and the regional directors sit in the same meeting and look at the same account. That meeting didn't exist before this. Two, branch managers acting on what the account page says rather than what somebody told them in the car park. Three, Bernadette's team finding disputes sooner.
- Malcolm RidgwayAnd what does that do to debtor days?
- Bernadette LowryI can't tell you it moved debtor days. I can tell you disputes get found sooner. That's not the same thing, and I won't sell it as the same thing.
- Malcolm RidgwayGood. Then say that. And how much sooner?
- Bernadette LowryI don't have a figure. Nobody has measured it. I could pull a few examples from the ledger, and I'd want the statements next to them, not a screenshot.
- Deepa ChauhanLet's get credit control in the room for that. I'd suggest we do it at the next account data review, with Bernadette's examples and Daniel's usage side by side.
- Daniel OkaforI'd be glad to. If it helps, the number I pay most attention to is questions asked, month on month, and who is asking them. It's the best single measure of whether a team has made it part of the working day.
- Malcolm RidgwayAnd who is asking them?
- Daniel OkaforThat's exactly what I'd want to show you rather than say from memory. If a couple of people ask most of the questions, that's something we should be honest about, because it makes the whole thing fragile if one of them moves on. I'll bring you the split.
- Deepa ChauhanI'd guess it's me, Bernadette and two of the key-account managers. I'd rather know than guess though.
- Bernadette LowryIt's me. I'd put money on it.
- Daniel OkaforWell, we'll see. Either way it's better to look at it together.
- Malcolm RidgwayLewis. If we renewed on what we have, exactly as it is, same users, same schedule. What would that cost?
- Lewis KerrHonestly, I'd expect it to be the contracted figure of £116,500, plus VAT, but I don't quote from memory, and I'd want to confirm there is nothing in the open deal that changes it. I'll send both: the like-for-like renewal, and the version that's on the deal record. Then you can see the difference line by line.
- Malcolm RidgwayBoth. Same day.
- Lewis KerrSame email, today.
- Deepa ChauhanMalcolm, can I say one thing about the regions? They're going to ask me whether anything changes for them. If seats go down, or if features are added, I don't want to tell them something that isn't true.
- Malcolm RidgwayYou tell them nothing until I've signed.
- Deepa ChauhanUnderstood. I wasn't going to.
- Daniel OkaforWhile we're on the people side, can I check something? Last time we spoke there was a change among the admins at your end. Is that settled?
- Deepa ChauhanIt's me, and it's Bernadette's deputy for the credit control side. We're fine.
- Daniel OkaforGood. Just to close the loop on that, then. I like having at least two.
- Bernadette LowryQuestion, though. Who changed the way disputes show on the account page? It looks different from the start of the year.
- Daniel OkaforI can't tell you that from here, Bernadette, and I don't want to guess. I'll find out and come back to you by Friday.
- Bernadette LowryThank you. A dispute sitting on a page I can't explain is a dispute I can't defend.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood.
- Malcolm RidgwaySorry, one moment. Right. Back. Where were we. Timing.
- Lewis KerrYes. The expected close on the deal is Tuesday 17 February 2026. That gives you the best part of ten days before the contract ends on Friday 27 February 2026. If you need longer for sign-off, tell me now rather than the week before, and I'll plan around it.
- Malcolm RidgwaySeventeenth is fine if the paperwork is right. Send it this week. I'll read the schedule. If it doesn't tie to what we pay, I'll come back in writing.
- Lewis KerrThat's all I'd ask. And if what you want is the like-for-like renewal, say so and I'll make that the version I put in front of you.
- Malcolm RidgwayI'll say so when I've read both.
- Deepa ChauhanCan I ask what happens if we do reduce? Not today, but I'd want to know whether we can add them back. If the regions come back and want more seats in the summer.
- Lewis KerrAdd-on blocks can be added during the term, so that's not a problem in principle. What I'd rather do is set it at a number the usage supports and add if you need it, than sell you headroom you're not using.
- Malcolm RidgwayThat's the first sensible thing I've heard a supplier say about seats this year.
- Lewis KerrI'll take that.
- Daniel OkaforCan I add one practical thing? Whatever you decide on seats, it would help to look at the connectors at the same time. If the usage has dipped in places, I'd want to be sure it's people and not a source that has stopped loading.
- Bernadette LowryHave you seen one that has?
- Daniel OkaforNo, nothing that I've seen has stopped, and there's no ticket saying so. But I'd rather check and tell you, than assume and be wrong.
- Bernadette LowryCheck it. I'll believe it when it reconciles.
- Daniel OkaforI'll check it and I'll show you the evidence rather than just say so.
- Deepa ChauhanDaniel, while Malcolm's reading. Would it be possible to have the usage by branch before the next account data review? I'd rather bring the regional directors a list than a feeling.
- Daniel OkaforYes. By user and by branch, questions asked month on month, and who is asking them, with the one thing I can't see, which is people using it through someone else. I'll come back to you by Friday with what I can see.
- Deepa ChauhanFriday is fine. Thanks.
- Malcolm RidgwayRight. Let me see if I've got this. One, Lewis sends me the like-for-like and the deal version, itemised, today, plus VAT stated. Two, Daniel sends usage by branch and by user. Three, the schedule stays as it is. Four, nobody tells the regions anything. Have I missed something?
- Lewis KerrYou've missed nothing. I'd add that I'll show the user numbers separately, base and add-on, as you asked.
- Malcolm RidgwayBase and add-on. Yes.
- Bernadette LowryAnd someone is going to tell me who changed the disputes page.
- Daniel OkaforThat's mine. By Friday.
- Deepa ChauhanAnd I'll put the value conversation on the agenda for the next review. Bernadette, can you bring a few disputes, with statements?
- Bernadette LowryYes. Real ones. Not the neat ones.
- Deepa ChauhanReal ones, please. That's the point.
- Malcolm RidgwayOne last question for Lewis. If the number I get back is the figure on the deal. Is there any room on it?
- Lewis KerrI'd rather not answer that on a call, in fairness to you. Let me see what is in it first. If there's something in it that isn't supported by how you use the brain, I'll say so in the email and take it out. I'm not going to defend a number I can't explain.
- Malcolm RidgwayFine. That's an answer.
- Daniel OkaforBefore we go, can I say something that isn't about money? You're one of the accounts I enjoy talking to, because you ask the awkward question. If the usage tells a worse story than you'd like, that's useful to me too. It tells me where to put the work.
- Deepa ChauhanWe'll keep being awkward. It's a gift.
- Bernadette LowryIt's a job requirement.
- Malcolm RidgwayRight. Anything else from anyone? No.
- Lewis KerrJust to confirm, so there's no doubt on the timing. The email goes today. You've the week to read it. Expected close is Tuesday 17 February 2026 and the contract ends Friday 27 February 2026, with the renewal date the day after.
- Malcolm RidgwayUnderstood. I'll come back if it doesn't tie.
- Deepa ChauhanCould one of you send the invite for the review, Daniel, with the usage attached once you have it?
- Daniel OkaforI will. Usage first, by Friday, and I'll suggest a date for the review in the same note so you can see what fits.
- Bernadette LowryI need to drop, I have an account on stop waiting for me. Regards, all.
- Daniel OkaforThank you, Bernadette. Speak soon.
- Deepa ChauhanThanks, both of you. I'll go and see whether the regional directors have noticed they're meant to be somewhere. Thanks, Deepa, out.
- Malcolm RidgwayAnything outstanding on your side, Daniel?
- Daniel OkaforOnly what I've said. Usage by branch and by user, the check on the connectors, and the answer on the disputes page, all by Friday. And thank you for your time, Malcolm, I know this wasn't a comfortable number to open with.
- Malcolm RidgwayIt was the right one to open with.
- Lewis KerrI'll send that over today, then. Thanks, Malcolm, and thanks Daniel.
- Malcolm RidgwayGood. Goodbye.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. Best wishes, all. Speak soon.
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