Hartside Student Living / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Hartside Student Living · 7 May 2026 09:15
Four weeks in, the brain sees only the CRM. The helpdesk connector is blocked by a permissions fault and accounting is not started. Bethany Cole questions value at £45k a year with two regular users from forty licences.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Four weeks in, the brain sees only the CRM. The helpdesk connector is blocked by a permissions fault and accounting is not started. Bethany Cole questions value at £45k a year with two regular users from forty licences.
What happened: Hamza Akhtar said the brain is running in Hartside's Snowflake account but sees only the CRM. The helpdesk connector loads nothing because of a permission error on the ticket comments table, and the accounting connector waits on access.
Customer view: Bethany questioned value directly: she pays forty-five thousand a year and only she, Sana Rahman and an occasional resident services visitor log in, against forty licensed users. Her priority is partners, and what she can show the university at the next review.
Commercial: Hamza proposed a single test university using CRM agreement terms, helpdesk tickets and, later, invoices. Bethany also said an invoice to BG-Demo is overdue, which she put down to a process issue on Hartside's side and not to the product.
Watch: Sana is the only admin, so nobody else can change connectors when she is away. A second admin is to be named once connectors are stable.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Thin onboarding, value doubts
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- Sana Rahman to have IT extend the helpdesk role next week, then Hamza Akhtar re-runs the load.
- Hamza Akhtar to send the permission wording and a one-page finance note the same day.
- Bethany Cole to pick the test university and a second admin.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only two regular users from forty licences, so the value of the subscription is questioned early.
- The helpdesk connector loads no records and the accounting connector is not started, so the brain is thin.
- Sana Rahman is the only admin, a key-person risk for the connectors.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A single test university combining agreement terms, tickets and invoices can give a visible win before the partner review.
- Resident services could become users once helpdesk data is in the brain.
Transcript
Hamza AkhtarMorning, Sana. Can you hear me alright? I've had a bit of echo on the last couple of calls.
Sana RahmanMorning, yes, loud and clear. Bethany's just grabbing a coffee, she's two minutes behind me.- Hamza AkhtarNo problem. Rain still hammering down in Nottingham?
- Sana RahmanDon't. I came in soaked. Yes, it's relentless, it's been like it all week.
Bethany ColeSorry, sorry, I'm here. Morning both. Right, I've got the next partner review in a couple of weeks, so what will the university ask? That's what's in my head, and I'd like to leave this call knowing what I can actually show them.- Hamza AkhtarThat's a fair place to start, Bethany. Let me be straight about where we are, because I think it's not where any of us wanted to be four weeks in. The brain is up and running inside your Snowflake account, but it's thin. Right now it's only seeing one of the sources you wanted.
- Bethany ColeWhich is the CRM, yes? The nomination agreements side.
- Hamza AkhtarExactly, the CRM. The helpdesk connector is configured but it's not loading anything, and the accounting system one we haven't started because we're waiting on access.
- Sana RahmanThat's on me, partly. The helpdesk one, I think the service account I set up doesn't have the right permissions. I raised a ticket about it with you last month and then, honestly, it got buried under year-end reporting.
- Hamza AkhtarI saw the ticket, and we replied, but I don't think we closed the loop properly with you. That's partly ours. Can I share my screen and show you what the connector log is saying?
- Sana RahmanPlease, yes.
- Hamza AkhtarSo, there. See that line? Permission denied on the ticket comments table. It can read the tickets themselves but not the comments, which is where the resident issues are described. So the records are flat, nothing's indexed from it.
- Sana RahmanRight, so it's a role thing. I can ask our IT colleague to extend the role. He's usually quick if I put it in writing.
- Bethany ColeCan I just: sorry, Sana, go on.
- Sana RahmanNo, you go.
- Bethany ColeI just want to be honest, because I don't like surprises. I'm paying forty-five thousand a year for this and when I look at who's logging in, it's me, Sana, and occasionally someone from resident services who I think was just curious. We have forty licensed users. That's not a good picture, is it?
- Hamza AkhtarNo, it's not, and I won't dress it up. It's early, and that's normal at this stage, but the pattern you're describing is the one that tends to stay small if we don't do something deliberate. The brain is only useful to a person if it knows about the things they care about. If the tickets and invoices aren't in there, why would resident services bother?
- Bethany ColeMm. That's exactly it. Partners first, for me. I can't go to a university and say we've got a clever tool if the tool can't tell me whether their residents' complaints are getting fixed.
- Hamza AkhtarRight. So what I'd suggest is we stop trying to do everything and pick one university. Whichever partner review is next, make that the test. Agreement terms from the CRM, tickets from the helpdesk, and the invoices once accounting is connected, all for that one partner.
- Bethany ColeThat's sensible. It would be the one with the review coming up. I'd want to be able to ask it about nomination numbers against what was agreed and see open resident issues at the same time.
- Sana RahmanCan I ask about the accounting side? Because that's a different team entirely. Finance would need to agree to give access and I'm not sure they know what they're agreeing to.
- Hamza AkhtarFair. It's read-only, it's invoices and payments, nothing gets written back. I can send a one-page note that you can forward to your finance team, so they're not guessing.
- Bethany ColePlease do. And while we're being honest about finance, I know one of our invoices to you is overdue. I got a nudge from our team this week. That's not a comment on the product, it's a process issue on our side, but I want you to hear it from me.
- Hamza AkhtarThank you, I appreciate that. I don't deal with invoicing so I'll pass it to Lewis and Hollie so nobody's chasing you separately. Who should they speak to on your side?
- Bethany ColeCopy me and I'll walk it through our finance team.
- Hamza AkhtarWill do. Okay, so the helpdesk fix first. Sana, if I send you the exact permission wording, can your IT colleague apply it and then you let me know?
- Sana RahmanYes. I'll aim for the start of next week. I'd rather say that than promise tomorrow and miss it.
- Hamza AkhtarNext week is fine. Once it's in I'll re-run the load and we'll see whether records start coming through. Then second thing, the training. Bethany, there's a short session for your team that Hollie usually runs, it's about how to ask good questions. I'd hold that until there's something worth asking about.
- Bethany ColeAgreed. No point training people on an empty room. Let's bring the numbers first, then the team.
- Sana RahmanOne more thing from me. The admin side, there's only me managing it. If I'm off, nobody else can change the connectors. Is that a problem?
- Hamza AkhtarIt's a risk more than a problem. I'd add a second admin once the connectors are stable. Bethany, is there someone in your team who'd be sensible?
- Bethany ColeI'll think. Possibly someone from partnerships operations. I'll come back to you.
- Hamza AkhtarLovely. So to recap: Sana gets the helpdesk permissions changed, I send the permission wording and the finance note today, Bethany picks the test university and a second admin, and I'll re-run the load as soon as Sana confirms.
- Bethany ColeAnd we speak again in a couple of weeks, before my review, so I know what I can say.
- Hamza AkhtarAbsolutely. I'll book it now. Thanks both, and good luck with the rain.
- Sana RahmanThanks, Hamza. Speak soon.
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