Kelbrook Mutual Insurance / BG-Demo – QBR
Callcompleted
Kelbrook Mutual Insurance · 10 Sep 2024 12:30
At the QBR, active users were down by just under a third. CFO Malcolm Hebden said he would struggle to support any increase and that multi-year commitments go to the board. Platform health was fine; adoption has slipped.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026At the QBR, active users were down by just under a third. CFO Malcolm Hebden said he would struggle to support any increase and that multi-year commitments go to the board. Platform health was fine; adoption has slipped.
What happened: Marcus Bell showed about twelve or thirteen active people a day out of eighty licensed. Underwriting had dropped away most, a handful of people asked most questions, and the nightly refresh finished on time every business day.
Customer view: Malcolm said paying for eighty with a small fraction using it is something he has to explain to the board. Rebecca Ainsworth privately said she is worried and needs something to show him.
Commercial: Tom Ashdown confirmed the two-year Growth term at £56k a year ending 16 Jan 2026 and would not quote renewal terms. Malcolm asked for any figure to come with its base and for the full term.
Watch: The renewal is At risk on value, not on platform quality. Short team sessions and a cleaned user list are the agreed response.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Adoption decline, renewal pressure
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- Tom Ashdown to send Malcolm the order form clause on price across the term.
- Marcus Bell to send usage by team and questions grouped by purpose, and run sessions after Rebecca introduces the team leads.
- Tom Ashdown to write up renewal options with their base and term for a later date in the year.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Malcolm Hebden, the CFO, would find it hard to support any increase, and any multi-year commitment goes to the board.
- Active use is down and concentrated in a few people, with underwriting weakest, so the value case for the Growth renewal is weak.
- Rebecca Ainsworth, the champion, may struggle to defend the spend if usage does not recover.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Short team sessions on the teams' own data could rebuild habit before the term ends.
- A cleaned user list and questions grouped by purpose could give Malcolm a clearer value case.
Transcript
Tom AshdownHello, hello. Can everyone hear me all right? I'm getting a bit of an echo on my side.
Rebecca AinsworthI can hear you fine, Tom. Afternoon. Is that better, or is it me?- Tom AshdownNo, that's gone, it was me. Headphones. How's your week been, Rebecca? Properly, I mean, not just the polite version.
- Rebecca AinsworthBusy, but a good busy. I had a member ring on Monday, a little church hall committee, and the lady said she'd already explained their roof situation twice to us. And I thought, well, that's exactly what we don't want. Let's not make them tell us twice.
- Tom AshdownNo, that's the whole point, isn't it. Did the relationship manager have the history in front of them?
- Rebecca AinsworthThis time, yes. But only because I looked it up myself afterwards. Which is a bit of what I wanted to talk about today, actually.
Marcus BellAfternoon all, sorry, I was on mute. Marcus here. Malcolm, Tariq, are you both with us?
Tariq MahmoodI'm here. Afternoon, Marcus. Before we start, can I just flag there are two open tickets from last month? Neither is urgent, but I'd like them on the list.
Malcolm HebdenGood afternoon, everybody. Malcolm here. I'm a few minutes tight on time at the back end, I have a finance committee paper to finish, so I may drop off a little early. Do carry on.- Marcus BellNo problem at all, Malcolm. Right, I'm going to share my screen and say what I'd like to cover, then we can go wherever is most useful. Can you see that? It's the usage summary I pulled for this quarter.
- Rebecca AinsworthI can see it. Bit small, but I can see it.
- Marcus BellI'll zoom in. So, three things. One, how people are actually using B-Viz. Two, the two tickets Tariq mentioned and how the nightly load has been. Three, what you want from the next few months, including looking ahead to the renewal. I've pulled the numbers, and I'll be straight with you, they're not all pointing the way I'd like.
- Malcolm HebdenBefore we get into the detail, may I ask what has changed since the last order form? I have the two-year Growth term in front of me, from 17 Jan 2024, and I want to be sure we're all talking about the same baseline.
- Tom AshdownGood place to start, Malcolm. Nothing's changed on the paper. You're on Growth, two-year term, ending 16 Jan 2026, at £55,800 a year. Eighty licensed users. And I've checked with our finance team that what's been invoiced matches the order form, so no surprises there.
- Malcolm HebdenThank you. And that is £55,800 each year across the full term, no indexation to come in the meantime?
- Tom AshdownAs far as the executed order form goes, that's what it says. If you want, I'll send you the relevant clause so you've got it in black and white. Leave that with me.
- Malcolm HebdenI would appreciate that. Members' money, not ours, so I like to see the clause rather than the recollection.
- Marcus BellFair enough. Okay, so the usage. This chart is people who log in and do something, averaged over the last thirty days. If I put it next to the previous quarter, it's down by just under a third. We're at around twelve or thirteen active people a day, out of eighty licensed.
- Rebecca AinsworthMm. I thought it might be. I've had a feeling in the room.
- Marcus BellI didn't want to guess at why before I'd spoken to you. Some of it will be summer. People are off, schools are on holiday, claims are quieter for some of the building types. But I don't think that's the whole picture.
- Rebecca AinsworthIs that the whole picture, though? That's my question. Can you split it by team?
- Marcus BellI can. Give me a second. Right, so member services is the steadiest. Underwriting has dropped away quite a lot. Claims is somewhere in the middle, up and down. And I'd say a handful of people are asking most of the questions, which is a thing I always look at, because if one or two people carry the usage and they get busy or move on, it falls off a cliff.
- Malcolm HebdenForgive me, when you say a handful of people, do you mean within the eighty, or within those who are active?
- Marcus BellWithin those who are active, Malcolm. Of the dozen or so who use it on a given day, most of the questions come from a small group. So there are plenty of licences that are not being touched.
- Malcolm HebdenI see. So we are paying for eighty and a small fraction are using it. I will be candid, that is the sort of thing I have to explain to the board.
- Tom AshdownWhich is fair, and no drama, that's exactly why we do these reviews. Nobody wants you paying for shelfware. The question is whether it's a rollout problem or a value problem, and I think those are different conversations.
- Rebecca AinsworthI think it's partly rollout. When we started, the relationship managers were keen, and then the renewals season came in and they went back to what they knew. Spreadsheets, the policy system, ringing round. It's habit.
- Marcus BellThat matches what I'm seeing. The people who do use it are using it well. The questions they ask are specific, they're things like what has this member claimed, what did they say on the last call. It's the people who haven't made it part of the routine.
- Rebecca AinsworthWhat does the member see, though? That's what I keep asking myself. If the relationship manager hasn't looked, the member feels it. They're asked for the same details again.
- Tariq MahmoodCan I add something from the data side? I don't want to guess at a cause, but a couple of the relationship managers told me they tried a search and it didn't find a member they expected. After that, they stopped trying. I'd want to check whether that was a mapping issue.
- Marcus BellThat's helpful, Tariq. Do you remember which member number it was?
- Tariq MahmoodI don't, and I'm not going to put member data in an email, so I'll gather the examples and bring them to you through the usual route. But yes, I'll check last night's load as well. It completed on time, I looked this morning.
- Marcus BellGood. That fits with what I see: the nightly refresh has finished on time every business day this period. No misses. So availability and freshness are both fine on our side.
- Tariq MahmoodAgreed. The two tickets are both how-to, really. One was about a filter on the claims page, one was about linking policy records where a member holds two. Neither held anyone up, but they tell you something, don't they. People are hitting small walls.
- Marcus BellThey do. And there were no high priority tickets at all, which is good on the platform. But I'd rather see a few more how-to questions than silence, to be honest. Silence usually means people have stopped trying.
- Malcolm HebdenLet me be sure I understand you, Marcus. The system is working. The data is current. And the issue is that colleagues are not using it as much. Have I got that right?
- Marcus BellThat's how I read it, yes. The platform is doing its job. The adoption has slipped.
- Malcolm HebdenThen the question for me is what it costs to put that right, and whether it can be put right before the term ends.
- Tom AshdownI'd say that's a plan problem more than a spend problem, Malcolm. Marcus, you've got some ideas on a refresher, haven't you?
- Marcus BellI have. Happy to jump on a call with each team separately and show them the five or six questions that save the most time in their own work. Short sessions, on their own data, so they see their own members. Underwriting first, since that's where it's fallen furthest.
- Rebecca AinsworthI'd like that. But can I ask that you speak to the managers first? If they say it's worth their time, the rest will turn up. If it comes from me, they'll nod and go back to their desks.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. Could you give me an introduction to the team leads, Rebecca? I'll keep it to half an hour each so nobody feels it's a big ask.
- Rebecca AinsworthI'll do that this week. I'll copy Tariq so he can sit in on the underwriting one and answer the data questions.
- Tariq MahmoodFine by me. I'd want to tell you in advance if I'm changing anything in the mapping, Rebecca, as I always do. I won't touch it without you knowing.
- Rebecca AinsworthThank you, Tariq. That's all I ask.
- Malcolm HebdenMay I raise the renewal, since I may have to leave shortly? The term ends on 16 Jan 2026, and the order form renews from 17 Jan 2026. I would like to know what you will be asking us to commit to, and for how long. Over the full term, please, not just the first year.
- Tom AshdownSure. And I'll be honest, I'm not going to quote you anything from memory today, Malcolm, because I'd want to confirm it properly. That's a long way off yet, and what we put in front of you will depend on how the next few months go. What I can say is that I'd rather talk about it with the usage story improving than with it where it is now.
- Malcolm HebdenThat is an honest answer, thank you. I will say plainly that I would find it hard to support any increase on the back of these figures. And I cannot decide anything on a call. Any multi-year commitment goes to the board.
- Tom AshdownCompletely understood. Nobody's asking you to decide anything today. Let's get something in the diary for later in the year, once Marcus's sessions have had a chance to land, and we can look at the numbers together then.
- Malcolm HebdenThat seems sensible. I would ask that any figure comes with its base, so that I can compare like with like.
- Tom AshdownAlways. Base, term, what's in and what's out. I'll write it up so you can take it to the board without having to translate it.
- Malcolm HebdenThank you. I am afraid I must go now. Rebecca, Tariq, I leave it with you. Thank you, Marcus, Tom.
- Tom AshdownCheers, Malcolm. Speak soon.
- Marcus BellThanks, Malcolm.
- Rebecca AinsworthNow he's gone, can I say something a bit more honest? I'm a little worried. Malcolm's right to ask. If the usage doesn't come back, I don't want to be the one defending it, and I brought this in. I believe in it, but I need something to show him.
- Marcus BellI hear you. And I think that's the right way to look at it. What would help you most, a number he'd recognise, or a story?
- Rebecca AinsworthBoth, ideally. A story like the church hall one is what moves me. But Malcolm wants to see it in the cost of a renewal conversation. Time saved, fewer repeat calls, that sort of thing.
- Marcus BellI can pull together the questions your team has asked this year, grouped by what they were trying to do, and sit that alongside the usage by team. Then we can see where it's making a difference and who's missing out. I'd rather give you facts than a sales pitch.
- Tom AshdownAnd I'd add, Rebecca, don't beat yourself up. It's a common pattern. People start strong, busy season hits, habits drift. The ones who recover are the ones who catch it early, and you've caught it early.
- Rebecca AinsworthThank you, Tom. That helps a bit. I'd still like to see some movement by the next review.
- Marcus BellThen let's agree what movement looks like. Shall we say more of the eighty actually logging in, and more questions coming from underwriting and claims, not just member services? I won't promise a number today, but we can pick one together once I've seen the team split properly.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's fair. I'd sooner a realistic target than a nice one.
- Tariq MahmoodOne more practical thing. If we do the sessions, I'd like to tidy the user list first. Some of the eighty are people who've moved teams. I'll check it and tell you who should be switched off, so the numbers aren't flattered or hurt by names that don't belong.
- Marcus BellThat would be really useful, thanks Tariq. It would make the picture cleaner for Malcolm too.
- Rebecca AinsworthRight. So, summing up so I've got it. Marcus sends the usage by team and the questions grouped by purpose. I introduce him to the team leads this week. Tariq collects the search examples and tidies the user list. Tom writes up the renewal options with their base, later in the year.
- Tom AshdownAnd I send Malcolm the clause on the price across the term. I'll do that today, no drama.
- Marcus BellThat's everything I had. Anything else from anyone? Rebecca, Tariq?
- Tariq MahmoodNothing from me. I'll let you know about the two tickets once I've been through them.
- Rebecca AinsworthNothing else. Thank you both. It was a hard conversation, but a useful one.
- Marcus BellThanks, everyone. I'll send the summary this afternoon. Speak soon.
- Tom AshdownCheers all. Bye now.
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