What was said
What this says
Current to 13 Oct 26Kickoff for Clashmore Recruitment, signed 18 Sep 2025 on Starter. Deirdre Barry wants consultants to see roles, placements and invoices together. Access, duplicate client records and a cautious mailbox decision are the early dependencies.
What happened: Daniel Okafor and Hamza Akhtar ran the kickoff with Deirdre Barry alone. Her systems coordinator was on a client site and will do most of the hands-on work.
Customer view: The value case is concrete. Consultants lose time finding out whether a client has paid before they ring them.
Commercial: Starter, 15 users. Deirdre plans to start with the pharma consultants. She was cautious about the mailbox, so it is a possible third connector once the core sources have shown results.
Watch: The finance lead must authorise the accounting connector. Duplicate clients and mistyped invoice references could weaken the first results, and some consultants are sceptical.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Who was there
BB-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Daniel Okafor to send Deirdre a short note of what was agreed by Friday.
- Hamza Akhtar to set up a working session with the systems coordinator at the start of next week.
- Hamza Akhtar to send the finance lead a checklist and give Deirdre a list of unmatched clients.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- The accounting connector needs the finance lead to authorise it, and she dislikes being rushed.
- Duplicate clients and mistyped invoice references in the customer's records could weaken the first results.
- The systems coordinator who does the hands-on work was not on the call.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- The mailbox could become a third connector once the core sources have shown results.
- A first group of pharma consultants can build word-of-mouth adoption across the 15 Starter seats.
Transcript
- Daniel Okafor NoneMorning, Deirdre. Hamza, I can see you've joined as well. Thank you both for making the time, I know the week is already busy.
- Deirdre Barry NoneMorning! Grand, can you both hear me alright? Quick one before we start, one of the consultants asked me yesterday if she'll see a client's invoices on the same page as their open roles. I said I'd ask you.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's exactly what this is for, so we'll come back to it properly. Just to check, is anyone else from Clashmore joining us, or is it the three of us?
- Deirdre Barry NoneJust me today. Our systems coordinator is tied up with a client onsite, but she'll be the one doing most of the hands on bits with Hamza, so I'll fill her in.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat works well. Hi Deirdre, good to meet you properly. I'm Hamza, I'm the implementation consultant, so I'll be the person getting your sources connected and checking the data looks right before the consultants see it.
- Deirdre Barry NoneLovely. And it's a lovely bright day in Cork, so I'm in good form.
- Daniel Okafor NoneGood to hear. Let me say where we are, and then I'll hand over to Hamza. You signed on 18 Sep 2025, so we're only a few days in. You're on Starter, with 15 users, and the whole point, as you told us at the start, is that a consultant can open a client and see the roles, the placements and the invoices together without hopping between systems.
- Deirdre Barry NoneThat's it. At the moment a consultant rings a client and then spends five minutes finding out whether they've paid us for the last placement. Nobody wants to be asking that mid call.
- Daniel Okafor NoneRight. So how is the team finding the idea of it so far? Have you said much to them?
- Deirdre Barry NoneI've told them it's coming. A couple of them are keen, a couple are the sort who'll believe it when they see it. Which is fair.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's a healthy mix, honestly. The ones who are sceptical usually become the best testers. Can I walk through what the next few weeks look like, and you tell me where it doesn't fit how you work?
- Deirdre Barry NonePlease, go on.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneSo the brain gets built inside your own Snowflake account, which means your data doesn't go anywhere else. First job is connecting the sources. For what you've described, that's the system where the consultants keep clients, roles and placements, and then the accounting system for invoices. Those two are the core. If there's room, the mailbox is the third one, because that's where a lot of the history lives.
- Deirdre Barry NoneThe mailbox would be great. Nothing lost in inboxes, that's what I keep saying. Though I'd want to understand what it actually reads, is it everyone's email?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneGood question, and it's a decision for you rather than us. We can scope it to specific shared mailboxes or to named people, and we agree that with you before anything is switched on. I'd suggest we start with the two core sources and talk about the mailbox once you've seen the first results.
- Deirdre Barry NoneGrand. That's sensible. I'd rather not have the whole office wondering what we've plugged in.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd just to close the loop on your consultant's question, the invoices come from the accounting connector, so yes, they'd sit next to the roles for that client. Hamza will show you what that looks like once the connector is loading.
- Deirdre Barry NoneBrilliant, she'll be delighted. Can the consultants see that without me setting up something for each of them?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneNo, once they're added as users they all get the same view. You'll decide who gets added. You've got 15 seats, so it's about who you want in the first group.
- Deirdre Barry NoneI was thinking the consultants who handle the pharma accounts first. They're the busiest and they'd give you the loudest feedback.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat sounds like the right instinct. A smaller first group means you can fix things quickly and the rest of the team hear good stories from colleagues, not from us.
- Deirdre Barry NoneMm. Yes. Word of mouth in this place is faster than any email.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneRight, so what I need from your side. For each source, someone with admin rights who can authorise the connection. For the accounting system that's usually a finance person, so it may not be you or your coordinator. Do you know who that would be?
- Deirdre Barry NoneIt'd be our finance lead. I can ask her this week. Will she need to be on a call or is it just a click?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneUsually about ten minutes, and I can be on with her so she isn't left on her own with it. I'll send a short checklist so she knows what she's agreeing to, no surprises.
- Deirdre Barry NoneGrand, that'd save us hours. She hates being rushed into things.
- Daniel Okafor NoneWhich is entirely reasonable. And on the records side, Deirdre, how clean would you say the data is at the moment? I ask because the brain is only as good as what it reads.
- Deirdre Barry NoneHonestly? Mostly good. There are duplicate clients, because someone creates a new one rather than searching for the old one. And a few placements where the invoice reference was typed in differently. I've been meaning to tidy it.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThat's very normal, and it's useful to know now. What I'll do is look at how clients are matched between the two systems, and give you a short list of the ones that don't line up. You don't need to fix anything before we start, but the list will tell you where to spend an afternoon.
- Deirdre Barry NoneOh that'd be great. Clean records, that's the dream.
- Daniel Okafor NoneHamza, what's a realistic timeline for them, so Deirdre can set expectations with the team?
- Hamza Akhtar NoneStarter implementation is around four weeks. If the access is sorted in the first week, I'd expect the core data to be flowing by the end of next week, and the consultants to be trying it in the weeks after that. I'd rather say that and beat it than promise a date I can't hold.
- Deirdre Barry NoneFair enough. I won't tell them a date then, I'll tell them it's weeks not months.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThat's a good way to put it. One more thing from me, the nightly refresh. The brain refreshes overnight, so each morning your consultants are looking at yesterday's picture, and that should be there before the working day starts. If it ever isn't, tell us straight away.
- Deirdre Barry NoneWill do. They'd notice before I would, to be fair.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneLast bit, then, who is the day to day contact? Is that you, or your systems coordinator?
- Deirdre Barry NoneShe'll be the admin on the technical side, and I'll be the one chasing and making sure the consultants actually use it. That's the split.
- Hamza Akhtar NonePerfect. I'll set up a working session with her for the start of next week, and I'll copy you in so you can see how it's going without needing to join every one.
- Daniel Okafor NoneAnd I'll come back to you by Friday with a short note of what we agreed today, so we've all got the same thing written down. Anything else you want to raise, Deirdre?
- Deirdre Barry NoneNo, I think that's the lot. Actually, one thing. What if the consultants ask it something silly? Is that a problem?
- Daniel Okafor NoneNot at all. Ask it anything. The best way for people to learn what it can do is to try, and we'd much rather see real questions than polite ones.
- Deirdre Barry NoneGrand. Right, I'll let you both get on. Thanks a million.
- Hamza Akhtar NoneThanks, Deirdre. Speak soon.
- Daniel Okafor NoneThank you both. Have a good rest of the day.