Harcastle Environmental / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Harcastle Environmental · 18 Aug 2026 15:00
QBR on 18 Aug 2026: the brain is healthy and Tolmere customers are loaded. The April renewal is quoted at fifty-eight thousand a year, up six thousand, with the two user packs questioned and Tolmere seat numbers still open.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026QBR on 18 Aug 2026: the brain is healthy and Tolmere customers are loaded. The April renewal is quoted at fifty-eight thousand a year, up six thousand, with the two user packs questioned and Tolmere seat numbers still open.
What happened: Quarterly review with Nicola Brearley, Andrew Sugden and Claire Ackroyd. Marcus Bell reported a healthy brain, no open tickets and Tolmere customers loaded alongside Harcastle's own.
Commercial: Lewis Kerr put the April renewal at fifty-eight thousand a year plus VAT, up six thousand on the current fifty-two thousand. Andrew asked what the extra buys; Lewis said it is the price book, not new features.
Customer view: Eleven daily users against sixty licences led Andrew to question both user packs. Claire cannot size Tolmere seats until the team structure is agreed, so the seat question stays open.
Watch: Moving Tolmere's helpdesk or collection system onto Harcastle's own could stop a connector loading. Claire promised Marcus early notice; the renewal date is 11 Apr 2027.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Renewal price and Tolmere integration
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 send the written renewal figure with the VAT position and the open seat count.
- Marcus Bell to send session options for the account manager walk-through, including the Tolmere team.
- Claire Ackroyd to give Tolmere system dates and a seat number once the team structure is agreed.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The renewal moves from fifty-two thousand to fifty-eight thousand a year and the CFO asked what the extra six thousand buys.
- Only about eleven of sixty licensed users are active on a typical day, so both user packs are open to challenge.
- Moving Tolmere's helpdesk or collection system could stop a connector loading.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- More Tolmere account managers may need seats, which would justify keeping the user headroom.
- A walk-through for account managers, including the Tolmere team, could lift daily use.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello, hello. Can everyone hear me all right? I think I'm coming through a bit quiet on my side.
Nicola BrearleyLoud and clear, Marcus. Afternoon. Andrew's just getting his camera sorted and Claire's literally walking into the room now.
Claire AckroydSorry, sorry, I'm here. Back to back since lunch. Afternoon all.
Andrew SugdenAfternoon. Right, I'm on. What's the headline?- Marcus BellHa, straight in. Fair enough, that's what I'd want too. Short version: the brain is healthy, usage is edging up, there's nothing open with support, and the Tolmere customers are now sitting in it alongside your own. The one thing for you, Andrew, is what the April renewal looks like, and Lewis is here for that.
Lewis KerrAfternoon everyone. Yes, I'll cover the renewal after Marcus has done the usage. I've got the quote sheet open so I'm not working from memory.- Nicola BrearleyCan I just say, before we start, my worst complaint this week was a Tolmere customer who didn't know whether to ring us or ring the old Tolmere number. That's really why I wanted this call to happen. Which depot, which round, and who owns it, and I couldn't get that answer fast enough.
- Claire AckroydAnd that's exactly the thing I don't want. Those customers shouldn't be working out who we are. Whose customers are these now? They're ours, so we need to behave like it.
- Marcus BellRight, that's a good place to start then. Let me share my screen. Can you see it? It's the usage overview for the account.
- Nicola BrearleyYep, I've got it.
- Marcus BellGreat. So I've pulled the numbers for the quarter. Active users: you've got sixty licensed, and on a typical day it's around eleven people actually in there. That's up a little on the previous quarter, not dramatically, but it's moving the right way.
- Andrew SugdenEleven out of sixty.
- Marcus BellYeah. I'll be straight about that, Andrew. It's a daily average, so a lot more people than eleven dip in across a week. But yes, there's headroom. Not everyone you've licensed is using it every day.
- Andrew SugdenHow many customers does it touch? Day to day, I mean. If it's eleven people, what's the reach?
- Nicola BrearleyI can take that one. It's the account managers and my planning team mostly. Each of them is looking after a lot of businesses, so those eleven are effectively touching most of the book. They pull up a customer and see collections, missed-collection tickets, calls and invoices on one page. Before that it was four systems and a spreadsheet.
- Andrew SugdenFine. Put it in the plan, then, whatever the number is. Go on, Marcus.
- Marcus BellSo the other thing on this slide is tickets. In the last month you've raised none with us. No high priority ones, nothing overdue on the invoice side either. Which is lovely, but I also don't want to read silence as everything being perfect, so I'd rather hear from you whether anything is annoying you that you just haven't logged.
- Nicola BrearleyHonestly, no. It's been quiet. The nightly refresh has been there when the team arrives. If it wasn't I'd have shouted by now.
- Marcus BellGood. That's what I wanted to hear. Now, the Tolmere piece. Claire, do you want to say where that's got to from your side, and then I'll show what we see?
- Claire AckroydYes. So I've got the integration plan on screen as well, I'll try not to bore you with it. Day one was getting Tolmere's customer records into the group view. Day ninety is one set of systems and one way of working for those accounts. We're somewhere in the middle, and the brain is the bit that lets me say to the account managers: look, you can see them, same as everyone else.
- Claire AckroydWhat I can't do is have an account manager open a Tolmere customer and find half of it missing. Let's not lose anyone in the move.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. So on our side, the Tolmere customers are in. They were loaded in and they're indexed with the rest, and when I search for one of them I get the same view you'd get for a Harcastle customer. Collections, tickets, calls, invoices.
- Nicola BrearleyI tested that last week. I picked a Tolmere customer at random, a small café group I think, and it was all there. Even the old complaint history.
- Claire AckroydThat's useful to know. Was the invoice side right? Because that's where I get nervous. Never let an acquired customer find out about a change from an invoice.
- Nicola BrearleyInvoices were showing, yes. Whether the invoice itself looks the way we want is a separate question for finance, not the brain.
- Andrew SugdenThat's mine. It's in hand.
- Claire AckroydGood. Then I'd like it written down with a date, please, Andrew. Not a conversation, a date.
- Andrew SugdenYou'll have a date.
- Marcus BellOkay. Just so everyone's got the same picture, can I show the sources? These are the connectors that are live today. The CRM, the helpdesk, the accounting system, and the call recorder. You're comfortably inside what Growth gives you there.
- Claire AckroydTolmere's on a different set of systems underneath, isn't it? Or at least it was.
- Marcus BellThat's the honest answer, yes, and I'd say that's where I'd want to keep an eye. Right now the customer records came across and they're in your accounts. If you move Tolmere's helpdesk or its collection system onto your own, that's a change to a source, and the brain can stop loading from a source after a change like that. It's nothing to worry about, I'd just like to know before it happens, not after.
- Claire AckroydFair. I'll make sure you're on the plan. When we pick the cut-over dates you'll hear about them first, not last.
- Marcus BellThanks, that helps a lot.
- Nicola BrearleyCan I ask something on the questions side? How many questions are people actually asking? Because I know some people still go and ask me instead of asking the brain.
- Marcus BellQuestions are up on last quarter too, a bit, and it's spread across several people rather than one or two. Which is the healthy way round. I do see a couple of heavier users, and I'd guess one of them is you.
- Nicola BrearleyProbably, yes. I'll try to push a few more of the team on to it.
- Marcus BellHappy to jump on a call with the account managers if that helps. A short one, a walk-through of how to ask it a proper question about a customer. It makes a difference.
- Claire AckroydDo that, and include the Tolmere account managers. Whoever's handling those customers now. They'll be the ones who need it most.
- Marcus BellWill do. Shall we book half an hour next week? I'll send options.
- Nicola BrearleyPlease. Thursday or Friday would suit me best.
- Andrew SugdenRight. Can we do the number now? I've got another meeting at the top of the hour.
- Lewis KerrOf course. So, to put a number on it. You're contracted at fifty-two thousand a year at the moment, and that's what's been invoiced, so those two agree, which is tidy. That's Growth with the two extra user packs on top.
- Andrew SugdenRight. And in April?
- Lewis KerrIn April the contract reaches its end and renews, and when it does it moves onto the current price book. Growth on that book is fifty thousand a year. The two user packs are four thousand each. So that's fifty-eight thousand a year, plus VAT. I'll put that in writing today so you've got it exactly.
- Andrew SugdenFifty-eight. So up six on where we are.
- Lewis KerrUp six thousand, yes, on the annual figure. That's the move from the old price book to the new one, and it applies to every customer who signed under the old one, you're not being singled out.
- Andrew SugdenWhat's the margin on that for us? Meaning, what do we get for the extra six that we didn't get before?
- Lewis KerrFair question. The product is the same Growth tier, with the same connectors and the same quarterly reviews like this one. What changes is the list. I'll be honest, I won't argue that it's a new feature set. It's the price book.
- Andrew SugdenOkay. And the packs, do we need both of them? Eleven people a day. Sixty licences.
- Lewis KerrThat's exactly the right thing to ask. I'm not going to push you to keep something the usage doesn't support. If the team is planning to bring more of the Tolmere account managers in, you'll want the headroom. If not, we can look at dropping a pack. I'd want to see the numbers before you decide.
- Claire AckroydI'd hold on that. At the moment I can't tell you how many Tolmere people will end up needing a seat. It depends on how we structure the account teams, and that's a decision for the next couple of months.
- Andrew SugdenSo the answer is we don't know yet, and we need it in the plan before April.
- Claire AckroydYes. I'll give you a number on seats once the team structure is agreed.
- Lewis KerrThat works for me. Ordinarily I'd co-term anything extra to the renewal anyway, so there's no rush and no penalty for waiting. The renewal date is 11 Apr 2027, and the current term ends the day before.
- Andrew SugdenThen it goes in the plan at fifty-eight, with the seat question open. Anything else I should know? Integration costs, for instance. Is there anything to add for bringing Tolmere in?
- Marcus BellNot from what's in front of me. The customers are already loaded and you're inside your connector allowance. If you start adding new sources, say a separate Tolmere system we'd want to connect, that's where we'd need to talk again.
- Andrew SugdenThen flag it early. I don't want a surprise.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. I'll flag it the moment I hear it.
- Nicola BrearleyCan I add one thing for Andrew, on value? Because you asked about reach. The thing I can actually point to is that when a customer rings with a missed collection, the account manager already has the ticket, the round and the last invoice on screen before they answer. That used to take ten minutes of digging. Let's see it from the customer's side: they get an answer first time.
- Andrew SugdenThat's a good line. Can you write that down for the business case? A paragraph, with examples.
- Nicola BrearleyI'll do you a one-pager. Three examples, one per depot.
- Andrew SugdenThank you. That's what I need.
- Claire AckroydRight, so can we agree who does what, because I'll forget otherwise. Marcus, you're sending options for the account manager session, including the Tolmere team.
- Marcus BellYes, I'll send those tomorrow, and I'll write up today's usage numbers in a short note so you've got them.
- Claire AckroydLewis, the written renewal figure.
- Lewis KerrToday. Fifty-eight thousand a year, with the VAT position stated, and a line saying the seat count is open until Claire confirms.
- Claire AckroydNicola, your one-pager for Andrew. And me, I'll get you the Tolmere system dates and a seat number once the team structure is settled.
- Andrew SugdenAnd I'll put the renewal in the plan and give Claire her date on the invoices. Good. Thanks, everyone.
- Nicola BrearleyThanks all. Speak soon.
- Marcus BellThanks, everyone. Speak soon.
Callsmade from