Delancey Haig / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Delancey Haig · 4 Sep 2025 09:00
At the 4 Sep 2025 QBR the CFO questioned £44k a year for a tool about eight people use daily. Usage is concentrated in two people. A three-step adoption plan was agreed, with the renewal conversation parked.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026At the 4 Sep 2025 QBR the CFO questioned £44k a year for a tool about eight people use daily. Usage is concentrated in two people. A three-step adoption plan was agreed, with the renewal conversation parked.
What happened: Daniel Okafor reported around eight daily active users against forty licensed on Growth, down by nearly a third on the previous quarter. Questions come mostly from Saskia Mendes and Holly Tranter.
Customer view: Rupert Lasker, the CFO, wants a return he can state in cost per placement and asked whether Holly could build reports in-house. Saskia accepted adoption has dipped and said she would rather it was working or gone.
Commercial: Priya Raman confirmed £44k matches the order form and invoices. Rupert wants to see results well before the renewal, and Daniel said the tier and seat count would be reviewed if usage does not move.
Watch: Key-person risk on two askers, unused seats, and an in-house build option. No tickets in the last thirty days, so this is a value risk, not a service one.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption and value challenge
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
negative
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Holly Tranter to send the cleaned user list early the following week.
- Saskia Mendes to choose a small group of directors that week.
- Daniel Okafor to return by the end of the following week with a session date, a usage breakdown by team and a one-page summary after the session.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The CFO questions the £44k Growth subscription against low daily use and may not renew without a visible return.
- A large share of questions comes from two people, so usage depends on them.
- The customer raised building reports in-house with the warehouse data as an alternative.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A director-focused routine with one client page per client could make the brain part of review prep.
- A user clean-up and usage breakdown by team could set the right seat count and show whether usage moves.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforGood morning, everyone, and thank you for your time. Let me just check who has joined. I can see Saskia, Rupert and Holly, and Priya is here from our side too. Can you all hear me all right?
Saskia MendesLoud and clear. Morning, Daniel.
Holly TranterMorning. Yes, fine here.
Rupert LaskerMorning. How long is this going to take? I have another call at 10:00.- Daniel OkaforWe have the hour booked, Rupert, but I will aim to finish well before ten if I can. I would rather give you the useful part in the first half and leave the rest for questions.
Priya RamanAnd from me, just a quick recap so everyone knows where we are. You are just over a year in, the renewal is next summer, and there is nothing to decide today. This is purely a look at how it is going. Happy to make this easy.- Saskia MendesCan I start with a story from this week? Because I think it explains a lot of what Daniel is about to show you.
- Daniel OkaforPlease do.
- Saskia MendesOne of our client-account directors had a review with a client on Tuesday. Big contractor account, a couple of complaints in the background. She came to me at half eight asking for the whole picture, vacancies, placements, invoices, the lot. I said, it is all in the brain. And she said, oh, I forgot we had that. Forgot. Which is exactly the problem.
- Daniel OkaforThat is really helpful to hear, Saskia, and honestly it ties straight into the numbers. Shall I share my screen?
- Saskia MendesGo for it.
- Daniel OkaforRight, you should be seeing the usage page now. Let me know if that is too small. So, you are licensed for forty users on Growth. That has not changed. What I want to talk about is how many of those people are actually opening the brain in a typical week.
- Rupert LaskerGo on then. What are we actually using?
- Daniel OkaforFair question. On an average day over the last month, around eight people are active. That is down by nearly a third compared with the previous quarter. I would rather say it plainly than dress it up.
- Rupert LaskerEight out of forty.
- Daniel OkaforYes. Eight on an average day. More people dip in across a whole month, of course, but the daily number is the one I would watch.
- Rupert LaskerRemind me of the annual cost.
- Priya RamanIt is £44k a year, Rupert, Growth tier. That matches the order form and what has been invoiced, so no surprises on the paperwork side.
- Rupert LaskerMm. So forty-four thousand pounds for a tool that eight people use on a given day. You can see why I am asking.
- Saskia MendesRupert, can I jump in? It is not that the people who use it do not value it. The directors need this. It is more that they have not made it a habit.
- Rupert LaskerA habit is not a return, Saskia. I am not saying that to be difficult. I have to be able to say what it does for cost per placement.
- Saskia MendesUnderstood. I am not going to pretend adoption is better than it is. It has dipped, and some of that is the summer, but not all of it.
- Daniel OkaforThank you for being so open, Saskia. Just to close the loop on the summer point, I did look at the same weeks last year, and it is a quieter period, but the drop this time is bigger than the seasonal dip alone would explain. So I do not want to lean on holidays as the whole answer.
- Holly TranterFrom the admin side, can I add something? I have been looking at the user list. Some of the people with seats have changed role since we set it up, and a few of them I do not think have logged in for a good while.
- Daniel OkaforThat is useful, Holly. How many would you say, roughly?
- Holly TranterI would need to check properly. A handful, certainly. Possibly more. I have not done a clean-up since the early months.
- Rupert LaskerSo we could be paying for seats that nobody sits in.
- Daniel OkaforIt is possible, yes. Though I would gently say that seats are not really the problem. The question is whether the right people are asking the right questions, and I would rather look at that first.
- Daniel OkaforSo let me move to the questions page. This is the number of questions asked in the brain each week, and who is asking them.
- Saskia MendesThat is a lot of Holly and me.
- Daniel OkaforIt is, and that is what I wanted to point out. A large share of the questions come from the two of you. Which is lovely for us, but if either of you were away, the usage would fall off a cliff. I would call that a key-person risk, and I would want to reduce it.
- Rupert LaskerAnd the directors? The people it was bought for?
- Saskia MendesA few of them use it well. Two or three. The rest ask my team to pull things for them, and my team come into the brain. So the work is happening, but through us.
- Rupert LaskerWhich is the thing we said we were trying to stop.
- Saskia MendesYes. It is. I will not argue with that.
- Priya RamanCan I offer a thought, to keep momentum? What if we pick a small group of directors, the ones who see the most clients, and make the brain part of their review prep. A defined routine, rather than hoping they remember.
- Saskia MendesI like that. Can we make it simpler, though? If it is another form or another login they will not do it.
- Daniel OkaforIt would be one page per client, built on the data you already have. Vacancies, placements, invoices, complaints, all on one screen. I can show you what I mean on one of your own accounts.
- Daniel OkaforSo that is the client page. Holly, you built this view back in the autumn, if I remember rightly.
- Holly TranterI did. Then I stopped tweaking it because nobody asked for changes.
- Rupert LaskerWhich might mean it is perfect, or that nobody is looking.
- Daniel OkaforHa, yes. I suspect it is the second, Rupert, if I am honest.
- Saskia MendesWhat did the client actually say, is the thing directors ask me. The complaints data is the bit they would use most. Is that still refreshing every night?
- Holly TranterAs far as I can tell, yes. We have not had any tickets with you in the last month, and I have not seen anything stale. The connectors have all been behaving.
- Daniel OkaforThat matches what I see on our side. No tickets at all in the last thirty days, nothing urgent, and the invoices are all paid. So technically it is healthy. The platform is doing its job. It is the usage that worries me, and I would rather we talk about that openly.
- Rupert LaskerCan we do this ourselves? I mean that seriously. We have Holly. If the data is already in the warehouse, could she not build reports for the directors?
- Holly TranterSome of it, yes. Not all of it. The complaints and the call notes joined to the invoices, that would take me a long time, and I would own it forever.
- Daniel OkaforI do not want to oversell it, Rupert. You could build some of it. The question is whether it would be maintained when Holly is busy, and whether the directors could simply ask it a question in plain English. But I think that is for you to judge once you have seen it used properly.
- Rupert LaskerFair. I will say I am not against it. I am against paying for something that sits there.
- Priya RamanThat is completely reasonable. And there is no rush on the commercial side, the contract runs to 2 Jul 2026 and the renewal falls on 3 Jul 2026. We have plenty of time to show it earning its keep before anyone has to make a decision.
- Rupert LaskerI will want to see something before then. Not in July. Well before.
- Daniel OkaforUnderstood. Let me suggest a shape for that, and tell me if it is wrong. First, Holly and I go through the user list and see who still needs a seat. Second, Saskia picks a small group of directors, and we run a short session with them on their own clients. Third, I come back with usage by team so you can see whether it moves.
- Saskia MendesHow many directors? I do not want to overwhelm them.
- Daniel OkaforYour call, Saskia. I would say a few, rather than all of them. Better four who really use it than twelve who nod politely.
- Saskia MendesRight. I can do that. I will pick them this week.
- Rupert LaskerAnd what happens if usage does not move?
- Daniel OkaforThen we have a straight conversation about whether the tier and the seat count are right for you, and I would rather have that early than late. I would not want you paying for more than you need.
- Priya RamanAnd I would say the same from the commercial side. If the right answer is a different shape, we would look at it. But let us give the adoption work a proper go first.
- Rupert LaskerFine. Holly, how long for the user list?
- Holly TranterA couple of days to do it properly. I can send you both the list by early next week.
- Daniel OkaforPerfect. Just to close the loop on who owns what. Holly sends the cleaned user list early next week. Saskia chooses the directors this week. I will come back to you by the end of next week with a date for the session and a usage breakdown by team. Priya, anything from you?
- Priya RamanOnly that I will keep the renewal conversation parked until you have seen the numbers move. Nothing in writing from me until then. Happy to be a sounding board whenever.
- Rupert LaskerGood. I will want a short summary after the session. One page. Questions asked, who asked them, and what it saved.
- Daniel OkaforOne page, understood. I will draft it with Saskia so it uses the words your directors would use.
- Saskia MendesThank you. And Rupert, I will say it again, I am not going to let this drift. I would rather it was working or gone than sitting there half used.
- Rupert LaskerI appreciate that, Saskia. Thanks, everyone. I have to drop.
- Daniel OkaforThank you, Rupert. Best wishes to you all, and I will be in touch by the end of next week. Speak soon.
- Holly TranterCheers all. Speak soon.
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