Harrowden Foods / BG-Demo – Onboarding
Callcompleted
Harrowden Foods · 28 Jan 2026 11:30
Gemma Holt reports an early win from account managers and wants customer service on quickly. Three of five planned connectors are not live. Access from finance and IT is the main risk to the eight-week Growth timeline.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Gemma Holt reports an early win from account managers and wants customer service on quickly. Three of five planned connectors are not live. Access from finance and IT is the main risk to the eight-week Growth timeline.
What happened: Hamza Akhtar reviewed connector status on Growth (eight connectors, forty users). CRM and helpdesk are live, order data is partial, and accounting and the shared drive have not started.
Customer view: Gemma opened with a win, an account manager answering a complaints and orders question in minutes. She says customer service is why they bought it and wants the rest connected quickly.
Commercial: Gemma asked what extra users would cost beyond forty and was pointed to Lewis, the account owner. She would need her director's approval for any purchase or scope change.
Watch: Hamza named access from finance and IT as the likeliest cause of delay. Only Gemma is named as admin so far, and a second name is promised by the end of the week.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Onboarding connectors and rollout
Importance
upsell
Sentiment
positive
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Hamza Akhtar to send finance a short note and planning the order-date question today.
- Gemma Holt to chase finance and IT for access and name a second admin by the end of the week.
- Gemma Holt to supply folder names and ten real customer service questions for training.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Finance and IT access could delay the accounting and shared drive connectors and push the eight-week Growth implementation late.
- Order data history is patchy until planning confirms the true order date and format change.
- Admin cover is thin until a second admin is named.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Customer service could add fifteen or twenty users, which may take the account close to the forty-user Growth limit and open an extra-users add-on conversation.
- Account manager enthusiasm gives a value story to take to Gemma's director.
Transcript
Hamza AkhtarHi Gemma, can you hear me alright?
Gemma HoltYes, loud and clear. Hi Hamza. Can you hear me? I've got the new headset on and I don't trust it yet.- Hamza AkhtarYou sound fine. Good morning, well, nearly afternoon. How's the week been?
- Gemma HoltBusy, but good busy. Honestly, I've got a win to start with, if that's okay before we get into the plan.
- Hamza AkhtarGo for it. I like a win.
- Gemma HoltSo one of the account managers had a retailer review coming up. Normally that's a couple of days of me pulling complaints from one place and order volumes from another and stitching it together in a spreadsheet. She just asked the brain, in plain English, what the service complaints looked like on that account over the last quarter and how they lined up with order changes. Took her minutes. The account managers love it, Hamza. She's already told two others.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's exactly what we want to hear this early. And that's with what's connected so far?
- Gemma HoltYes, what's there so far. Which is why I want the rest on, quickly. Sorry, I'm jumping ahead. What's your agenda?
- Hamza AkhtarNo, that's a good lead in. So the plan for today is three things. One, where the connectors are and what's left. Two, who owns what on your side, because that's usually what slows us down, not the technology. Three, how we roll it out to people so it doesn't just sit with the few of you who've already had a look. Does that work?
- Gemma HoltPerfect. Let's do it.
- Hamza AkhtarRight. I'll share my screen. Give me a second. Can you see it?
- Gemma HoltYes, I can see the connector list. It's small. Can you make it bigger?
- Hamza AkhtarBetter?
- Gemma HoltBetter, thanks.
- Hamza AkhtarSo you're on Growth, which gives you eight connectors in total and forty users. We've planned for five to start with: your CRM, the helpdesk, the accounting system, your order data, and the shared drive where the retailer contracts and service-level documents live. That leaves headroom for three more later, if something else matters.
- Gemma HoltOkay. And which ones are actually live today?
- Hamza AkhtarThe CRM and the helpdesk are loading and indexing properly. The order data is partly there, it's coming through but I'm not happy with the history yet. The accounting system and the shared drive aren't started.
- Gemma HoltRight. The order data, why is the history patchy?
- Hamza AkhtarTwo things, I think. The older orders sit in a different format from the ones since you changed your system, and there's a gap where the two sites were reporting slightly differently. It's not broken, it just needs somebody who knows the data to tell us which is right.
- Gemma HoltThat'll be someone in our planning team. I know roughly who. Can you give me a question to put to them, rather than me trying to explain it badly?
- Hamza AkhtarYes, I'll write it up properly. Basically: for each site, which field is the true order date, and from when did the format change. That's it. Two answers.
- Gemma HoltTwo answers. Good. I can get that this week, I think.
- Hamza AkhtarThat would unblock quite a lot. Now, the accounting system. For that I need somebody in finance to create the access for us, and to tell me what they're comfortable with us seeing. Who would that be on your side?
- Gemma HoltThat's our finance team, not me. I can ask, but I'd want to explain it to them properly first. They'll want to know why customer service and commercial need invoices at all.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's fair. The honest answer is it's for things like seeing whether a retailer who's complaining is also paying late, or which accounts are growing. It's not about giving everyone the ledger. We can restrict what's indexed.
- Gemma HoltOkay, that helps. Can you send me two or three lines I can forward? Short ones. Finance don't read long emails.
- Hamza AkhtarSure. Short and plain. I'll send it today.
- Gemma HoltBrilliant.
- Hamza AkhtarOkay, next is the shared drive. This is the one where scope tends to creep, so I'd rather agree it now. Do you want the whole drive, or only certain folders?
- Gemma HoltNot the whole thing, definitely not. There's HR stuff and all sorts. Just the retailer folders. Contracts, the service-level schedules, review packs, that sort of thing.
- Hamza AkhtarGood. Then I'll ask you for the folder names, and your IT colleague just needs to grant read access to those. We don't copy anything out, it all stays in your Snowflake account.
- Gemma HoltYeah, that was the thing that got it through, to be honest. Everything staying in our own account. Our IT lot were relaxed about that.
- Hamza AkhtarGood. So that's the other ask, someone in IT with the right permissions in Snowflake. Do you know who that would be?
- Gemma HoltThere's a colleague in IT who did the original set up with you. I'll name him in the email. He's good, he just needs to be asked properly and early, not on a Friday.
- Hamza AkhtarNoted. No Fridays.
- Gemma HoltHa. Exactly.
- Hamza AkhtarRight, let me stop sharing for a second. Sorry, I wanted to go back to who owns what, because I'd like to leave this call with names against things. So far I have you as the business owner for the whole rollout. Is that right?
- Gemma HoltYes, that's me. Me and my director, who signs things off. I don't buy anything or change scope without him, just so you know.
- Hamza AkhtarUnderstood, that's clear. And for admin, we normally recommend two people who can manage connectors and users, so you're not stuck if one is away.
- Gemma HoltTwo. Me, and, hmm. Probably someone from the data side of commercial insights. Let me think. I'd rather it was someone who's here every day than someone senior who isn't.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's the right instinct. The admin job isn't big, it's mostly checking a connector hasn't stopped loading and adding people. Maybe twenty minutes a week once it's settled.
- Gemma HoltFine. I'll come back to you on the second name by the end of the week.
- Hamza AkhtarGreat. Now, the rollout. Who's actually using it today?
- Gemma HoltA handful. Me, a couple of the account managers, and one person from the commercial team who's just curious. That's about it.
- Hamza AkhtarAnd you've got forty licences, so there's plenty of room. How were you thinking of bringing people on?
- Gemma HoltSo the account managers first, one per supermarket. They're the ones who need it before a review. Then the next bit, and I've said this to you before, can we get customer service on? Because that's why we bought it, really. Complaints on one side, orders on the other, and nobody sees both.
- Hamza AkhtarYes, you mentioned that early on, and it's very much in the original scope. The helpdesk is already connected, so technically they could be using it now. The question is more about whether they'd trust it, and whether the order data is good enough to be useful to them.
- Gemma HoltThat's fair. They'd lose patience fast if the first answer was wrong.
- Hamza AkhtarExactly. So I'd propose we get the order history sorted first, then train the account managers properly, and then bring customer service in with real questions from their own tickets. Not a demo of someone else's data.
- Gemma HoltYes. I like that. Their lead will like that too, she hates being shown generic stuff.
- Hamza AkhtarThen we'll make it theirs. If you can get me ten or so real questions they'd ask on a normal week, that's gold. I can build the session around those.
- Gemma HoltTen questions. I can do that. Actually I can probably get them to tell me the annoying ones. What takes them ages.
- Hamza AkhtarPerfect, the annoying ones are the best ones.
- Gemma HoltCan I ask something about users while we're here? What would it cost to add more people, if we went over forty?
- Hamza AkhtarI'd rather not quote you something off the top of my head, that sits with Lewis, your account owner. There is an add-on for extra users in blocks of ten, so it's not a big conversation. But honestly, you're nowhere near forty yet, so I'd not worry about it for now.
- Gemma HoltNo, no, I'm just thinking ahead. If customer service is, what, fifteen or twenty people, plus account managers, plus commercial, we might get close.
- Hamza AkhtarIt could be close, yes. Let's see how many actually want to log in. In my experience not everyone does, and the people who do ask a lot of questions.
- Gemma HoltOkay. I'll keep it in my back pocket. And I'd need to take anything like that to my director anyway.
- Hamza AkhtarOf course. When it's time I'll let Lewis know and he can sort it with you both.
- Gemma HoltSorry, I just had to move something, a colleague was at my desk. Where were we?
- Hamza AkhtarNo problem at all. We were about done on users. I wanted to talk about timing. Growth implementations run to about eight weeks, and we're a little way in. I'd like to have all five connectors live and checked well before the end, so there's time for training and a proper review of whether the answers look right.
- Gemma HoltRight. So what's the thing most likely to make us late?
- Hamza AkhtarHonestly? Access. Waiting for permissions from finance and IT. The technical work is days, the waiting is weeks if it's left to drift. So if you can start those conversations this week, that does more than anything I can do.
- Gemma HoltOkay. That's clear. I don't like things sitting. I'll chase finance today and IT tomorrow.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's what I like to hear.
- Hamza AkhtarOkay, one more thing on data quality, and then I'll let you go. When the account managers ask a question and the answer looks wrong, what do you want them to do?
- Gemma HoltTell me. Straight away. I'd rather know. I don't want people quietly deciding it doesn't work and going back to their spreadsheets.
- Hamza AkhtarGood. Then I'll give you a simple route. They tell you, you tell me, and I'll look at whether it's the source, the connector or the question. Most of the time it's the source.
- Gemma HoltThat's most of life, isn't it.
- Hamza AkhtarIt is, yes.
- Gemma HoltCan I just check one thing about what happens after the eight weeks? Who do we speak to then?
- Hamza AkhtarAmara Obi, your customer success manager. She'll pick up from me once we're through, and she runs the quarterly reviews with you on Growth. Lewis stays on the commercial side. I'll introduce you properly, she's been sitting in the background so far.
- Gemma HoltLovely. I'd like her at the training, actually, if she's free. Then she's seen what people ask.
- Hamza AkhtarGood idea. I'll ask her.
- Hamza AkhtarRight, let me read back what I've got so we're not relying on memory. You're sending me the two answers on the order data from planning. You're chasing finance for accounting access and IT for the drive and Snowflake permissions. You're giving me the folder names, a second admin name by the end of the week, and ten real questions from customer service. Did I miss anything?
- Gemma HoltNo, that's it. And you're sending me the short note for finance, and the question for planning.
- Hamza AkhtarYes, both today. And I'll send a one page summary of the connector plan, so you've got something to point people at.
- Gemma HoltBrilliant. That's really useful.
- Gemma HoltLast thing, and it's a small one. Is it normal that I'm a bit nervous about customer service seeing everything? Complaints from every retailer, all in one place. Some of it isn't flattering.
- Hamza AkhtarIt's very normal. And it's partly the point, isn't it? Better that you see it before the retailer raises it. You can control who sees what, though, so if there's a sensitive set, we can scope it down.
- Gemma HoltOkay. Never hides a problem, that's me. I'd just like to choose how we show it. Fine, I'm happy.
- Hamza AkhtarThat's a sensible way to put it.
- Hamza AkhtarI think that's everything from me. Thank you, Gemma, this was really useful.
- Gemma HoltThanks Hamza. I'll get on to finance now, before I forget. Speak soon.
- Hamza AkhtarSpeak soon. Cheers, bye.
- Gemma HoltCheers, Gemma. Sorry, habit, I mean bye. Bye!
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