What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Kelbrook's relationship manager, data lead and head of member services saw B-Viz on scrambled sample data. Kirsty Hepworth was sold on the idea and the group asked for a small trial on real schools, with Tariq Mahmood choosing the data.
What happened: Tom Ashdown and Tobias Renwick demoed B-Viz to Rebecca Ainsworth, Tariq Mahmood and Kirsty Hepworth. Kirsty saw a school briefing surface a helpline worry about premium that she would have missed.
Customer view: Tariq's concerns were security, source links and stale data. Tobias said nothing leaves the customer's Snowflake account, and Tariq called that a much shorter conversation than expected.
Commercial: Tom repeated the Growth tier on a two-year term at £124k across the deal, total not yearly, with the split to come in the proposal. Rebecca cannot agree anything without the person who signs off, and the decision is pencilled for Wed 3 Jan 2024.
Watch: Mapping member numbers across systems is the open dependency. Tariq wants the refresh time in writing.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Who was there
BG-Demo
Them
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Tom Ashdown to send a written proposal with the Growth scope, plan and split of the all-in figure.
- Tobias Renwick to draft a one-page design note for the security team.
- Tom and Tobias to agree a small trial on real schools, with Tariq choosing the data.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Member numbers may differ between policy and claims systems, so the mapping could take longer than hoped.
- A connector that stops loading after a claims system change could leave data stale, which Tariq fears.
- The signatory was not on the call, so the commercial decision is still with the board.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A trial on real schools could convert the sponsor and users into advocates.
- Growth headroom on connectors allows email or finance to be added later.
Transcript
- Tom AshdownAfternoon, all. Can you hear me alright? I've got a little echo on my side, hang on.
- Rebecca AinsworthAfternoon, Tom. Yes, you're fine. A bit tinny, but fine.
- Tom AshdownTinny I can live with. Right, how's your week been, Rebecca? Busy?
- Rebecca AinsworthBusy, but a good busy. I had a call on Monday from a church treasurer who'd rung us three times about the same thing and each time had to explain it from the start. She was lovely about it, but she shouldn't have had to. That's really why we're all here, isn't it? Let's not make them tell us twice.
- Tom AshdownNo, that's it exactly. And that's a good one to hold in your head for the next forty minutes or so, because I'd like to come back to something like that when we get to the demo. Tariq, Kirsty, hello. Glad you could both make it.
- Tariq MahmoodHello. Sorry, just getting my camera to behave. I've got the overnight load logs open on the other screen, so if I go quiet that's why.
- Kirsty HepworthHi, everyone. I'm Kirsty, I look after the schools relationships. I'm mainly here to see whether this would actually help before a renewal meeting. Rebecca said I'd be the guinea pig.
- Tom AshdownGuinea pig is the best seat in the house. And I've brought Tobias, our CTO, who built most of what you're about to see. Tobias, say hello.
- Tobias RenwickHello, all. Before Tom shares his screen, may I ask one thing? When this goes to your security team, what will they need to see? I'd rather we answer that properly today than discover it in a month.
- Tariq MahmoodFair question. They'll want to know where the data physically sits, who can read it, and whether anything leaves our environment. Member data is the thing. I can't share any of it by email, so I'd want to know there's no copy going somewhere else.
- Tobias RenwickTo be precise, nothing does. B-Viz is built and runs inside your own Snowflake account. We don't hold a copy of your members' records on our side. The honest answer is that your security team will see it as one more workload in a warehouse they already control, and I'll happily walk them through the design on one page.
- Tariq MahmoodRight. That's helpful. That's a much shorter conversation than I was braced for.
- Tom AshdownNo drama, then. Let me share my screen. Can you see it? Mm, you've got the home page?
- Rebecca AinsworthWe can see a search box and a few tiles.
- Tom AshdownGreat. So what I've done, and Tariq, you'll remember we agreed this a few weeks back, is load the sample extracts you sent over for the policy system, the claims system and the helpline recordings. It's your shape of data, with the member details scrambled, so nobody panic.
- Tariq MahmoodI did scramble them. Properly. Which member number is that on the tile, just so I know it's one of the test ones?
- Tom AshdownIt's a test one, yes. A primary school, a made-up name. So, Kirsty, you're the relationship manager and you've got a renewal meeting tomorrow. What would you normally do this afternoon to get ready?
- Kirsty HepworthHonestly? Open the policy system, look at cover and the renewal date. Then the claims system to see if they've claimed. Then I'd ask someone on the helpline team if they've rung us recently, because those notes aren't anywhere I can see easily. Probably forty minutes, and I'd still be nervous.
- Rebecca AinsworthAnd that's if you remember to ask the helpline team. Sorry, Kirsty, I don't mean that unkindly.
- Kirsty HepworthNo, it's true. I forget sometimes.
- Tom AshdownRight, so let's try it the other way. I'm just going to type, in plain words, give me a briefing on this school ahead of their renewal. And we'll let it think for a second.
- Tom AshdownWhile it does that, Tobias, what's actually happening underneath? Just so they know it isn't magic.
- Tobias RenwickOf course. The question is turned into a search across the connected sources: the policy records, the claims records and the transcripts of the calls. The trade-off is that it can only answer from what's been loaded, so the quality of the answer follows the quality of the connection. It then writes the answer and, importantly, shows you where each statement came from.
- Tariq MahmoodThat's the bit I care about. Show-your-working. The board won't trust a summary that can't point at a source.
- Tom AshdownHere we go. So you've got the cover summary at the top, the renewal coming up, and then underneath, a claim for storm damage to a roof, still open. Then a note from a helpline call where the head teacher said they were worried about the premium. And each of those has a little source link.
- Kirsty HepworthOh. That last one. I wouldn't have known that. I'd have walked in and talked about the new year's cover and they'd have wanted to talk about the premium.
- Rebecca AinsworthWhat does the member see in that meeting? That's what I keep asking. If Kirsty opens with the roof claim and the worry about cost, they feel known. If she doesn't, they feel like a policy number.
- Tom AshdownThat's the whole thing, really. Can I click through to the call? Let me open that source.
- Tom AshdownSo that's the transcript from the call recorder, the head teacher speaking, and the line is highlighted. You can read the lot, or just the bit that matters.
- Tariq MahmoodIs that pulled from our helpline recordings directly? Or does somebody have to export them?
- Tobias RenwickIt's a connector, so it's read straight from the source on a schedule. Nobody exports anything by hand. Typically the refresh completes overnight, so by the time Kirsty sits down in the morning it's up to date as of the evening before.
- Tariq MahmoodI'll check last night's load, obviously, each morning, but that's good. What happens if one of the systems changes? Our claims system gets reconfigured occasionally.
- Tobias RenwickThe honest answer is that a connector can stop loading when a source changes underneath it. The signal is that the number of records indexed goes flat. That's why we show you the connector status as an admin, and why we'd rather you told us before a change than after. But it would be a mapping fix, and you'd see it.
- Tariq MahmoodThat's a mapping question, then. Fine. I'm comfortable with that. I just don't want to find out from a relationship manager that the data's three weeks old.
- Tom AshdownWhich is why you'd have the admin view. Let me show you. Hang on, wrong tab. Sorry. There.
- Tom AshdownSo this is the admin page. Each connector, when it last ran, how many records it picked up. Tariq, that'd be your front door.
- Tariq MahmoodYes. That I like. I could check that with my coffee. And can I see what a person has asked? For audit, I mean.
- Tobias RenwickYou can see the questions asked and by whom, within the permissions you set. To be precise, people only see answers drawn from records they would already be allowed to see. It doesn't widen anyone's access.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat one matters to me too. Underwriting and claims shouldn't suddenly see the helpline notes unless they should. Is that the whole picture, though? Does it also work the other way, so a claims handler can see the cover?
- Tobias RenwickIt works whichever way you set the permissions. The point of the single layer is that one question can span all three, but only for the people you've allowed.
- Tom AshdownRight, let me try something different. Kirsty, give me a question. Something you'd really want to ask on a Monday morning.
- Kirsty HepworthWhich of my schools have an open claim and a renewal coming up soon? That's the list I never manage to build.
- Tom AshdownBrilliant. Typing it exactly as you said it.
- Tom AshdownAnd there's your list. A handful of schools, each with the open claim and the renewal date. You could sort it, but it's already in the order of what's soonest.
- Kirsty HepworthThat's a morning's work, that is. Done in a few seconds. Can I click into any of them?
- Tom AshdownPlease do, I'll hand you control. No, hang on, I can't. Tell me which and I'll click.
- Kirsty HepworthThe second one. The secondary school.
- Tom AshdownThere we go. Their page. Cover, claims history, and every call, all in a timeline. You can ask it things in the chat on the side, too.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat timeline is what I'd love our relationship managers to have open in every renewal. Have the other places you've worked with seen people actually use it, or does it get admired and then forgotten?
- Tom AshdownFair challenge. It depends on whether it's tied to a real routine. Where it sticks, it's because there's a meeting every week where somebody opens it. So I'd want to talk with you about which meeting that is for Kelbrook. Renewals, I'd guess.
- Rebecca AinsworthRenewals, yes. And the monthly review with underwriting.
- Tom AshdownGood. Then that's the pattern. Let me show you search quickly, and then I'd like to talk about how this would be set up, because I know that's what Tariq has been waiting for.
- Tariq MahmoodIs it that obvious? Yes. Go on.
- Tom AshdownSearch. I'll type the name of a church, and it finds everything linked to it. Policies, claims, calls, anything that mentions it by name.
- Kirsty HepworthIt found the one where the name was spelled differently in the call notes. How did it do that?
- Tobias RenwickIt's matching on meaning, not just the exact letters. But I'd add a caution. Where the same member has different identifiers in different systems, the honest answer is that someone needs to tell it how they join. That's the mapping work Tariq knows better than any of us.
- Tariq MahmoodThat's my job anyway. One member record across policy and claims. If the layer helps me do that once and properly, I'm interested. If it's one more place I have to fix, I'm not.
- Tobias RenwickIt would be the first. The mapping is done once at the start, you own it, and we help. Nothing changes without you knowing.
- Rebecca AinsworthAnd Tariq tells me before he changes anything, which I appreciate. Never mind. Carry on.
- Tom AshdownRight. Dashboards, quickly. Because I know your board likes a picture. This is the builder. Here's one I made earlier on your sample data: renewals by month, split by how many have an open claim.
- Rebecca AinsworthCan anybody build one of those, or is it a specialist job?
- Tom AshdownAnybody with the right permissions, though in practice it's usually one or two people who enjoy it. Tariq, I suspect that's you.
- Tariq MahmoodI'd be lying if I said no. As long as I can see where the numbers come from.
- Tom AshdownEvery tile traces back to source. Same as the chat.
- Kirsty HepworthCan I ask something about the helpline notes? Some of them are quite blunt. If a member said something critical, will it be sitting there on my screen?
- Rebecca AinsworthI'd want to know that as well. We'd rather see it. If a member's cross, the relationship manager should walk in knowing.
- Tobias RenwickIt will be there, yes, exactly as it was said, with the source. We don't polish it. I'd say that's a strength, though I understand why it needs some thought on your side about who sees what.
- Rebecca AinsworthI think that's right. We can sort the who-sees-what out ourselves. Honestly, that's a good problem.
- Tom AshdownRight, let me stop sharing for a second and we'll talk about what a rollout would look like, because I'd hate for you to leave thinking it's all just a nice demo. Tobias, do you want to take the connector side?
- Tobias RenwickCertainly. From what Tariq has told us, you'd have three sources at the start: the policy system, the claims system and the helpline recordings. Growth allows for more than that, so there's headroom if you later want to add something like your email or finance. We'd install inside your Snowflake account, connect each source, and then do the member mapping with Tariq.
- Tariq MahmoodHow long does the mapping take, realistically? Please don't say it depends.
- Tobias RenwickIt depends, I'm afraid, but I can be specific about what on. Mostly on how consistent the member numbers are across the policy and claims systems. If they're clean, it's quick. If there are historic oddities, we'll find them in the first fortnight and tell you straight away. I won't put a date in writing today, but Tom will set out the plan.
- Tom AshdownI'll put the implementation plan in the proposal. And on that, can I talk numbers for a minute? I'll say upfront I won't quote anything from memory, I'll confirm it all in writing.
- Rebecca AinsworthGo on. Though I should say I can't agree anything without the person who signs off on our side. I'll take whatever you send to them.
- Tom AshdownThat's completely fine, and it's how I'd want it. So, what we've pencilled in is the Growth tier on a two-year term, which gives you several teams on it: member services, underwriting and claims. The all-in figure, implementation included, is £123,600 across the deal. That's the total, not a yearly price, and I'll confirm the breakdown in the proposal so nobody's guessing.
- Rebecca AinsworthRight. So that's the whole of it, implementation and the subscription together, over the two years.
- Tom AshdownThat's how I understand it, yes, and I'll show it split out so it's clear. Leave that with me.
- Rebecca AinsworthThank you. I'll want to see what we'd pay for and when. Our finance team will ask the same.
- Tariq MahmoodCan I ask about support? If a load fails at six in the morning and I've got relationship managers waiting, who do I ring?
- Tom AshdownGood question. On Growth you've got the standard support route with a first-response commitment for urgent issues, and our customer success manager, Marcus Bell, would be your point of contact for how it's going. I'll put the exact response times in the proposal rather than say them off the top of my head.
- Tobias RenwickAnd the nightly refresh is designed to finish before the working day starts, so the six o'clock scenario should be the exception. If it isn't, you'd see it on the admin page first, as we showed.
- Tariq MahmoodGood. I'd like that in writing as well, the refresh time.
- Tom AshdownIt'll be in there. Kirsty, anything from the user's chair that we haven't covered?
- Kirsty HepworthMostly, will I be able to just use it? I'm not technical. If I have to learn a query language I'll go back to asking the helpline team.
- Tom AshdownYou've just used it. You typed a sentence. That's it. And we do training for the users, so you wouldn't be thrown in.
- Kirsty HepworthOkay. Then I'm sold on the idea, at least. I'd want to try it on my own schools before I say more.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's a reasonable next step, I think. Tom, can we do that? A short trial on a few real schools, with Tariq controlling what's loaded?
- Tom AshdownI like that. Let's get something in the diary. Tobias and I need to talk about what a small trial looks like inside your Snowflake account, but in principle, yes. Tariq, would you be happy to be the one who decides which records go in?
- Tariq MahmoodYes, as long as it's a small set and I can take it out again. And I'd want to tell Rebecca before anything is loaded.
- Rebecca AinsworthWhich I'd expect. Good.
- Tobias RenwickI'd propose we also give your security team a one-page description before the trial starts, so they've seen the design and not just heard about it. I'll draft it.
- Tariq MahmoodThat would help. Thank you.
- Tom AshdownSo, to recap, because I know I ramble. I'll send over a written proposal with the Growth scope, the plan and the all-in figure split out. Tobias sends the one-pager on how it sits in your Snowflake account. And we agree a small trial on real schools with Tariq choosing the data.
- Rebecca AinsworthAnd we're aiming at a decision around the start of January, I think? Tom, you mentioned it earlier in the week.
- Tom AshdownYes, we've pencilled Wednesday 3 January 2024 for that, which gives you the rest of this month and December to look at it properly. But if it needs longer, it needs longer. No drama.
- Rebecca AinsworthI'd rather get it right than quick. But that's a sensible target to work back from.
- Kirsty HepworthCan I squeeze in one more thing? The church treasurer Rebecca mentioned. Would something like this have saved her ringing three times?
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's what I'd hope. Whoever picked up the phone would have seen the earlier calls on the same screen. Is that the whole picture? Not quite, we'd still have to act on it. But they wouldn't have to ask her to start again.
- Tom AshdownThat's a lovely way to put it, and I'll steal it for the proposal if you don't mind.
- Rebecca AinsworthHelp yourself.
- Tom AshdownRight, I think we've covered it. Any last questions before I let you go? Tariq?
- Tariq MahmoodNo, I think I've got what I need. I'll look at last night's load for the sample data once more and send you the list of fields I'd want mapped first.
- Tom AshdownPerfect. Thanks all. That was a good one. Speak soon.
- Rebecca AinsworthThank you, Tom, Tobias. Bye for now.
- Tobias RenwickGoodbye, all. Thank you.
- Kirsty HepworthBye, everyone. Thanks.
- Tariq MahmoodThanks, bye.