Kelbrook Mutual Insurance / BG-Demo – Check In
Callcompleted
Kelbrook Mutual Insurance · 30 Dec 2024 15:15
Marcus Bell told Rebecca Ainsworth that daily active use is about twelve against eighty Growth seats, down nearly a third. Claims stopped trusting the data. Recovery plan agreed ahead of the January 2026 term end.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Marcus Bell told Rebecca Ainsworth that daily active use is about twelve against eighty Growth seats, down nearly a third. Claims stopped trusting the data. Recovery plan agreed ahead of the January 2026 term end.
What happened: Marcus walked Rebecca through a fall in daily active use. Member services is the steady group, underwriting is patchy and claims is barely present.
Customer view: A senior claims handler lost trust after missing claim notes, around the back end of November. Rebecca said the claims platform had recently had an upgrade, so a broken source is the first thing to check. Nothing was raised as a ticket.
Commercial: Rebecca said the board will ask how many people use it and that she cannot agree terms without the person who signs. Marcus confirmed £56k matches the invoices and the term ends 16 Jan 2026. Price and terms go to Tom.
Watch: A few relationship managers ask most of the questions, so use is concentrated. Marcus could not promise a date for any engineering fix.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Falling usage before renewal
Importance
renewal
Sentiment
mixed
Voice
champion
Who was there
BG-Demo
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Marcus checks the connectors and refresh history, claims first, and reports back to Rebecca.
- Marcus sends the seat list with last activity and a one-page onboarding guide.
- Marcus books 30 minutes in the second week of January 2026 to share findings.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Daily active use is about twelve against eighty licensed Growth seats, down nearly a third on the quarter before.
- Claims lost trust in the search after missing claim notes, possibly a connector broken by a claims platform upgrade.
- Most questions come from a few relationship managers, a key-person risk.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Rebecca asked whether bringing another team in would be a conversation with Tom, though Marcus advised getting the existing teams working first.
- A relationship manager's flood-claim story could become a written value case for the board.
Transcript
Marcus BellHello Rebecca, can you hear me alright? I've got a bit of an echo on my side.
Rebecca AinsworthI can hear you fine. Hello, Marcus. Is that better? I've moved the headset.- Marcus BellYeah, that's gone. Good afternoon. Thanks for making time in the dead week between Christmas and New Year. I wasn't sure anyone would be at their desk.
- Rebecca AinsworthOh, I'm in. The office is nearly empty, which is rather nice. Half the building is on leave and the helpline is on its skeleton rota, so I'm catching up on the things I couldn't face in November.
- Marcus BellSounds about right. Did you have a decent Christmas?
- Rebecca AinsworthLovely, thank you. Far too much food. And a story from this week, actually, since you ask. A church treasurer rang the helpline on Friday, a little place with a leaking roof, and the lad on the phone had never spoken to her before. But he could see her policy, the last claim and the survey notes all in one go, so he didn't ask her to repeat any of it. She said it was the first time an insurer hadn't made her tell the story twice.
- Marcus BellThat's exactly what it's meant to do. Good to hear it's still landing like that.
- Rebecca AinsworthIt is. Which is partly why I said yes to this call. I think you're about to show me something I won't enjoy.
- Marcus BellHa, well. Let me share my screen and say what I want to cover, and then you can tell me whether it matches what you're seeing. I've pulled the numbers for the last quarter. Can you see the usage page?
- Rebecca AinsworthI can. It's a bit small. Hang on, there, that's better.
- Marcus BellSo three things. First, how people are using B-Viz day to day. Second, the couple of tickets we've had this month. Third, and I'll be honest it's the one I care about most, how we get more of your teams using it before we get anywhere near the renewal next year.
- Rebecca AinsworthRight. Go on then. Usage first. Rip the plaster off.
- Marcus BellOkay. You've got eighty licensed users on the Growth plan. Over the last thirty days the average number of people actually active on any given day is about twelve. And compared with the quarter before, that's down by nearly a third.
- Rebecca AinsworthTwelve.
- Marcus BellAbout twelve, yeah. I should say that's a daily average, so it isn't the same as how many people have logged in at all this month. That number's higher. But the trend is the thing, and it's going the wrong way.
- Rebecca AinsworthMm. I won't pretend I'm shocked. I've felt it, if I'm honest, I just hadn't seen it written down. Is that the whole picture, though? Because December is always strange for us. Renewals season for the schools is September to November, so the relationship managers were flat out, and then everyone disappears.
- Marcus BellThat's fair, and I did look at it against last year's pattern before I called. Part of the dip is the holidays, no question. But the fall started before December, back in the autumn, so I don't think we can put it all down to the Christmas week.
- Rebecca AinsworthNo. I'd not want you to let me off that lightly.
- Marcus BellCan I show you who's in that twelve? Because I think the split's more interesting than the total.
- Rebecca AinsworthPlease.
- Marcus BellSo member services is still the biggest group. Your helpline team and the relationship managers, they're the steady ones. Underwriting is patchy. A handful of people dip in, but it's not a habit. And claims, well, claims is barely there. A few searches a week, really.
- Rebecca AinsworthClaims was always going to be the hard one. When we signed up, the idea was that member services, underwriting and claims would all be looking at the same member in one place. That was the whole pitch to the board. And what I think has happened is claims went back to their own system, because that's where the handlers do their work, and a search tool is one more tab.
- Marcus BellRight, and that's useful to know. Is it a case of them not seeing the point, or is something about it getting in their way?
- Rebecca AinsworthBit of both, I think. Hmm. One of the senior handlers said to me, a few weeks ago, that when she searched a member's name she got the policy and the calls but not the latest claim notes, and she lost trust. After that she stopped bothering.
- Marcus BellThat's the sort of thing I'd really like to look at. Do you know roughly when she noticed it?
- Rebecca AinsworthI'd say the back end of November. I can ask her. I didn't raise it as a ticket, I just thought, oh dear, and moved on. Which I suppose is half the problem.
- Marcus BellIt's not a problem, it's very normal. People stop using a thing quietly. They don't ring up and complain. Which brings me onto the tickets, actually, because there are two from this month and I want to check whether either of them is the same thing.
- Rebecca AinsworthGo on.
- Marcus BellNeither was urgent, nothing high priority at all. One was a how-to, somebody wanting to save a search so they could rerun it. We answered that the same day. The other was about the morning refresh, a user saying a record looked a day old. That one's a data freshness question, and I'd want to go through it with you rather than just tell you it's closed.
- Rebecca AinsworthWho raised the second one?
- Marcus BellSomeone in member services. A relationship manager, going by the ticket. I won't read the name out, I'll forward it to you after.
- Rebecca AinsworthFine. That would fit, to be fair. If the relationship managers walk into a meeting and the notes are a day behind, they feel it straight away. What does the member see? That's what I always ask. If the manager says something out of date to a headteacher, that's on us.
- Marcus BellCompletely. So what I'd suggest, and tell me if this is too much, is I look at your connectors and the refresh history for the last couple of months, and specifically at the claims side. If the claim notes have stopped coming through properly, I want to know before we talk about training anyone.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat sounds sensible. Because if I get the claims people into a room and the tool's still not showing them what they need, I've wasted their afternoon and mine.
- Marcus BellExactly that. Fix the data first, then ask people to trust it. I can't promise a date for any engineering fix, I'll be straight about that, but I can tell you what's actually happening, and I can get the right people to look.
- Rebecca AinsworthI appreciate you saying that rather than telling me it'll all be fine.
- Marcus BellWouldn't be much use to you if I did.
- Rebecca AinsworthCan I ask something slightly awkward?
- Marcus BellOf course.
- Rebecca AinsworthWe're paying fifty-five thousand eight hundred a year for this. I'm not complaining about the price, I want to be clear. But when the board looks at it, and they will, because the term runs to January next year, the first thing they'll ask is how many people use it. And I don't want to be explaining twelve.
- Marcus BellNo, I understand. And you're right that it's the contracted figure, fifty-five thousand eight hundred a year, which matches what's been invoiced, so there's nothing odd on the billing side. The term ends on 16 Jan 2026, with the renewal falling on 17 Jan 2026. So you've got a year, but not a long one when you think about how budgets get set.
- Rebecca AinsworthQuite. And I'll say now, so there are no surprises, that I can't agree anything on terms without the person who signs for us. That's not me being coy. I'd just rather you didn't hear a yes from me and take it as final.
- Marcus BellThat's absolutely fine. And anything about price or terms isn't mine to discuss anyway, that goes to Tom. What I'm here for is making sure that when you do have that conversation, there's a good story about use behind it. Not a scramble.
- Rebecca AinsworthGood. That's what I want too.
- Marcus BellSo let me ask something. If you think about the people who do use it, what are they getting out of it? What would you point to?
- Rebecca AinsworthThe relationship managers, mostly. Before a renewal meeting they used to spend, oh, the best part of an hour pulling together policies, claims history and the last few calls. Now it's a few minutes. One of them told me she'd walked into a meeting with a village hall committee already knowing they'd had a flood claim two years ago and that the chair had phoned about the excess. She said it changed the whole tone.
- Marcus BellThat's great, and it's exactly the kind of example we want to capture. Would she be happy to have it written up, a paragraph or two? It's the sort of thing that's far more convincing to a board than a usage chart.
- Rebecca AinsworthI'd have to ask her. I don't see why not. She's a bit modest. But yes, I'll ask.
- Marcus BellBrilliant. Now, can I flip to the other half of this? Why do you think the others stopped? You mentioned the handler. Anything else?
- Rebecca AinsworthHonestly? A few things, and none of them dramatic. There was a lot of enthusiasm in the first few months. Then we got busy. Some people didn't have a clear reason to open it every day, so it became something you remember on a quiet afternoon. And we've had a couple of people move teams, and nobody properly showed their replacements how it works.
- Marcus BellThat last one's very common. Handover is where adoption leaks. Is there anyone on your side who'd be the natural person to onboard new starters? Not necessarily you.
- Rebecca AinsworthNot formally. It's usually me, by default, which is not sustainable. I could probably nominate one of the senior helpline team. She's good with people and she likes a bit of structure.
- Marcus BellThat would help a lot. We can run a short session for her, and for whoever else you'd like, and give her a one-page guide she can hand to new people. Nothing heavy.
- Rebecca AinsworthMm, I like that. Keep it short. Nobody here will read anything longer than a page.
- Marcus BellUnderstood. A page. Now, one more thing on the numbers, if you don't mind. You've got eighty seats and well under a fifth are in daily use. I'm not going to make a point of that, but I'd like us to think about whether the right eighty people have access. Some may not need it. Others who would benefit might not have been given a seat.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's a fair thing to ask. I'd have to go through the list properly. I suspect a few seats went to people who've since left or moved on. And I know there are people in underwriting who ask me for things they could look up themselves.
- Marcus BellThen what I can do is send you the list of seats, with last activity against each name. You can mark the ones you recognise and the ones you don't. It takes ten minutes and it tells us a lot.
- Rebecca AinsworthDo it. Send it over and I'll do it with a cup of tea. Early January, once everyone's back, would be better, if that's alright.
- Marcus BellPerfect. I'll send it this week, so it's waiting for you.
- Rebecca AinsworthLovely.
- Marcus BellLet me go back to claims for a minute, because that's the group where I think we have the most to gain. You said the handler lost trust after seeing missing notes. Do you know which system the claim notes come from? I don't want to guess.
- Rebecca AinsworthIt's our claims platform. We've had some work done on it recently, I think, an upgrade of some sort, but I'm not close enough to say what changed. That would be a question for our IT people.
- Marcus BellOkay. That could well be it. When a customer changes something at their end, a connector can quietly stop loading, and nobody notices because everything else carries on. I'm not saying that's what happened, I haven't looked yet. But it's the first thing I'd check.
- Rebecca AinsworthIf it is, can I ask someone in IT to talk to you directly? Save me being the go-between.
- Marcus BellPlease. Whoever looked after the change, if they can spare half an hour in January, that would be ideal. And I'll bring our technical colleague if we need one.
- Rebecca AinsworthI'll find out who that was. Might take me a day or two, with everyone off.
- Marcus BellNo rush this week. Next week's soon enough.
- Rebecca AinsworthRight. Can I say something a bit more general?
- Marcus BellGo ahead.
- Rebecca AinsworthI brought B-Viz in. It was my idea, and I argued for it, and I put my name to it with the board. So I take it personally when the numbers drop. I don't want to look back in a year and think I let it fade because I was too busy running the helpline.
- Marcus BellI get that. And I'd say you haven't let it fade. You've got a group who use it properly and see the value, which is a good base. What's missing is a bit of structure around everyone else. That's something I can help with, it's literally my job.
- Rebecca AinsworthMm. Thank you.
- Marcus BellShall I suggest a rough plan, and you tell me what's daft?
- Rebecca AinsworthPlease do.
- Marcus BellRight. One, I check the connectors and refresh history, claims first, and report back to you in plain English. Two, I send the seat list with last activity, and you mark it up. Three, we run a short refresher in January, aimed at claims and underwriting, but only once I'm confident the data is behaving. And four, we write up the relationship manager's flood story, with her say-so, as a proper example.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's a decent list. Can I add one? I'd like a quick look at what the board would actually want to see before the renewal. Not a sales pitch. Just: who uses it, what do they ask it, what changed for the members.
- Marcus BellYes, absolutely. I can put together a short usage summary, by team, with the questions people are asking over time. And we can sit down in the spring and shape it around whatever your board looks for.
- Rebecca AinsworthSpring is good. Gives us time to have moved the numbers, if we're going to.
- Marcus BellThat's the idea. I'd rather we were showing a recovery by then than explaining a slump.
- Rebecca AinsworthMe too. Now, tell me about the questions people are asking. Are they the right sort? Do you see that?
- Marcus BellI can see volume and I can see who's asking. I'll be careful about reading too much into the content, but broadly it's member lookups, policy details, and what's been said on recent calls. The people asking the most are, I think, three or four of your relationship managers. So there's a bit of a concentration there.
- Rebecca AinsworthWhich is a worry in itself, isn't it? If two of them left, we'd lose half the use.
- Marcus BellIt is something to watch, yes. Spreading it wider is part of the point of the refresher. More people asking, and not the same few.
- Rebecca AinsworthAlright. I'll try to get the team leaders on board. If the team leaders say it's expected, it happens. If I say it, it gets nodded at.
- Marcus BellHa. Yes, I've seen that. Is it worth me joining one of their team meetings, just for ten minutes? I'm happy to jump on a call with them.
- Rebecca AinsworthI think it might be. Underwriting have a Monday huddle. I'll ask whether you can have a slot after the new year.
- Marcus BellGreat. If I can show them one thing they'd actually use on a Monday morning, that's worth more than a long demo.
- Rebecca AinsworthWhat would you show them?
- Marcus BellProbably pulling up a broker or a school and seeing the policy, the claims and the last conversation in one page. Something they'd normally have to chase three people for. I'd use a real example of theirs, with your permission.
- Rebecca AinsworthUse something anonymous, if you can. I'm careful about showing live member details to a room.
- Marcus BellSensible. I'll pick a record that's already been cleared with you, or build the example around a test one.
- Rebecca AinsworthThank you.
- Marcus BellAnything on the support side you want to raise while we're here? Response times, anything that felt slow?
- Rebecca AinsworthNo, nothing. The saved search one got answered quickly. I'd say support has been fine. It's us, really, not you.
- Marcus BellI'd not put it all on you. If the claims side stopped trusting it, we should have caught that sooner. I'd rather own part of it.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's generous. Let's call it shared.
- Marcus BellShared. Done.
- Rebecca AinsworthCan I ask about the renewal, just so I know the shape of it? When do we start talking about it properly?
- Marcus BellI'd say we keep this year about adoption, and then I'll come to you well ahead of the end of the term, with the usage summary, and Tom will pick up the commercial side. I won't spring anything on you. If there's something to flag about price, you'll hear it from him, not me.
- Rebecca AinsworthGood. I'd rather hear it early.
- Marcus BellYou will.
- Rebecca AinsworthAlright. And in the meantime, what do you need from me?
- Marcus BellFour small things. A name in IT for the claims platform change. A word with the handler about when she first noticed the gap. The seat list marked up. And a yes or no from your relationship manager on the write-up.
- Rebecca AinsworthGot it. Name in IT, the handler, the seat list, the write-up. I'm writing them down as you say them.
- Marcus BellAnd from me: connector and refresh check, the ticket details over to you, the seat list this week, a one-page guide, and I'll draft the refresher.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's a good exchange. I'll feel better with a list.
- Marcus BellMe too. Lists keep me honest.
- Rebecca AinsworthMarcus, one honest question. Do you think we're in trouble? Not the account, I mean the use. Is it recoverable?
- Marcus BellI do think it's recoverable. The people who use it clearly value it, the data underneath is there, and the gaps look like fixable ones: a possible broken source, no one owning handovers, and no habit built in the other teams. None of that is unusual. It does need attention though, I'd not pretend otherwise.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's about what I hoped you'd say, and more honest than I'd feared.
- Marcus BellGood. Shall we book 30 minutes in the second week of January to go through what I find? Then you've got the answers before you speak to anyone else.
- Rebecca AinsworthYes please. Mornings are better for me. After about ten the phones get busy even with the skeleton staff.
- Marcus BellMornings it is. I'll send an invite and you can shuffle it if it clashes.
- Rebecca AinsworthLovely. Oh, and could you copy my colleague in the helpline team on the one-page guide when it's ready? The one I mentioned for onboarding.
- Marcus BellOf course. Just send me her email when you've decided it's her, and I'll add her.
- Rebecca AinsworthI will. I'll go and ask her now, while it's quiet.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Is there anything else you wanted to cover? I've got the time if you have.
- Rebecca AinsworthI don't think so. Actually, yes. When we first signed, the two-year term seemed a long way off. Now it doesn't. If I wanted to add something, say bring another team in properly, would that be a conversation with Tom too?
- Marcus BellIt would, yes. He'd talk you through what's possible. But honestly I'd get the existing teams working first. It's a much stronger position to ask for more when what you have is well used.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's fair. Walk before we run.
- Marcus BellSomething like that.
- Rebecca AinsworthRight, I think I'm clear. I'll tidy my notes and chase the IT name first thing when we're back.
- Marcus BellBrilliant. And I'll email a short summary of today tonight, or tomorrow at the latest, so you've got it in writing.
- Rebecca AinsworthPlease. Keep it short, and keep it kind.
- Marcus BellHa, I will. Bullet points, as usual.
- Rebecca AinsworthYour bullet points are the one thing everyone here reads, so don't change.
- Marcus BellNoted. Thanks, Rebecca, this was useful. I know it wasn't the easiest set of numbers.
- Rebecca AinsworthIt was better to hear it from you now than from the board in the autumn. Thank you for being straight.
- Marcus BellAny time. Enjoy the rest of the quiet week, and happy New Year when it comes.
- Rebecca AinsworthAnd to you. Happy New Year, Marcus. Speak in January.
- Marcus BellSpeak soon. Bye for now.
- Rebecca AinsworthBye.
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