Kelbrook Mutual Insurance / BG-Demo – Renewal
Callcompleted
Kelbrook Mutual Insurance · 3 Nov 2025 12:45
Usage is up and support is quiet. Rebecca Ainsworth wants to carry on, but the CFO wants a clear value case and the contract terms in writing before taking a multi-year commitment to the board.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Usage is up and support is quiet. Rebecca Ainsworth wants to carry on, but the CFO wants a clear value case and the contract terms in writing before taking a multi-year commitment to the board.
What happened: Marcus Bell showed usage on 3 Nov 2025, with just under twenty of 80 licensed users active on an average day. Questions asked are well up on last year, and no tickets were raised in the last month.
Customer view: Rebecca said she is very keen to carry on. Malcolm Hebden said he has no quarrel with the product, but wants the commitment understood and a one-sentence value case for the board.
Commercial: Tom Ashdown confirmed Growth at £56k a year and called the £116k renewal figure a placeholder, not a proposal. Tom could not say whether the yearly price changes, and offered a shorter term as an option.
Watch: Malcolm would not add the finance team until he knows the cost. The evidence does not show the renewal outcome.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Growth renewal and value case
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 sends Malcolm the breakdown with yearly figure, total and payment dates by Friday, plus an answer on any price change.
- Marcus Bell prepares a usage summary for the board paper, with base and period on every figure, and offers a finance walkthrough.
- Tom Ashdown sends an invite for a Monday afternoon catch-up after the note arrives.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Usage logs cannot show time saved, so the CFO has no value case for the board yet.
- Any multi-year commitment needs board approval and an early paper to the company secretary.
- The renewal price and the meaning of the £116,000 renewal deal are still unconfirmed.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The finance team is curious about B-Viz, which could add a team.
- Under twenty daily active users against 80 licences gives a headroom conversation.
Transcript
Tom AshdownHello, can you hear me all right? I think that's the recording going. Rebecca, Malcolm, I can see you both. Marcus is still on his way in.
Marcus BellI'm here, sorry. Just sorting the audio. Hello both.
Rebecca AinsworthHello, Marcus. Yes, we can hear you fine.
Malcolm HebdenGood afternoon, all. Apologies if I look distracted, I have the last order form open on the other screen and I am trying to find the right page.- Tom AshdownNo drama at all, take your time. How's your week been, Malcolm? And Rebecca, you're usually full of stories on a Monday.
- Rebecca AinsworthI do have one, actually. The caretaker at a primary school rang our helpline on Friday about a boiler claim from last winter. The relationship manager had the whole thing in front of her, the claim, the earlier call, the survey notes. And he said, you've remembered us. I nearly cried, to be honest. That's the whole point, isn't it? Let's not make them tell us twice.
- Tom AshdownThat's lovely. That's exactly what you told us you wanted when we started, back in January 2024.
- Rebecca AinsworthIt is. Though I'd say it took a few months before the team believed it would be there every time.
- Malcolm HebdenFound it. Right. Before we start, may I ask what has changed since the last order form? I have the two-year term in front of me, and I would like to be sure we are all reading from the same page.
- Tom AshdownFair question, and I'll come back to it properly. In short, the term runs out on 16 Jan 2026, and the renewal date on our side is 17 Jan 2026. So we've got a bit of road, but not loads. What I'd suggest is Marcus walks us through how it's been used first, and then we talk about what comes next. Does that work?
- Malcolm HebdenThat is sensible. Usage first, then the commitment.
- Marcus BellGreat. I'll share my screen, and I'll say what I want to cover so nobody's guessing. Three things: how many people are using it, what they're asking, and whether anything's been giving you grief. I've pulled the numbers. Can you see that all right?
- Rebecca AinsworthYes, I can see a line going up. Always a good start.
- Marcus BellHa, yes. So you've got 80 licensed users. On an average day over the last month, just under twenty of them are active. That's a good chunk higher than it was last quarter, up by about a third. And it's not one or two people doing all the work, which is what I'd normally worry about. It's spread across member services, underwriting and claims.
- Malcolm HebdenJust under twenty out of 80. May I ask whether that is a good proportion, or a poor one?
- Marcus BellHonest answer, it's a reasonable one for a team that's still growing into it. Not every licensed person needs to be in daily. Some come in before a renewal meeting or when a claim gets complicated. What I look at is the direction, and the direction is up. I wouldn't call the rest wasted, but there's headroom, and that's something we can talk about.
- Rebecca AinsworthI can say why it's gone up. We ran two sessions for the relationship managers in the autumn, and one of them showed everyone how to ask for a member's whole history in one go. After that, people stopped keeping their own spreadsheets. Well, most people.
- Tom AshdownMost people. That's the best kind of adoption, the kind where the spreadsheets die quietly.
- Marcus BellThat fits with what I see on questions asked. It's the number I trust most, because it shows people actually getting something out of it. Questions are well up on the same period last year, and the top asker is not a huge share of the total, so no key-person worry. Let me scroll down. These are the kinds of things being asked, grouped by team.
- Malcolm HebdenIs that in members' money terms? What I mean is, can you show me anything that says this saved time, or avoided a cost?
- Marcus BellNot directly, no. And I'd rather say that plainly than dress it up. What B-Viz can show is the questions and who asked them. The time saved is something Rebecca's team would have to tell us, because it happens in their day, not in our logs.
- Rebecca AinsworthI can give you a feel for it, Malcolm. Before, a relationship manager would spend a good part of the morning pulling a member's policies from one place, claims from another, and the call history from a third. Now it's a question and a couple of minutes. What does the member see? A person who already knows them.
- Malcolm HebdenI do not doubt it. I would like to be able to put it in front of the board in a sentence, that is all.
- Tom AshdownThat's fair, and it's something we should help with. Marcus, can we do a short note on that, in Rebecca's words and the usage figures side by side?
- Marcus BellHappy to. Rebecca, shall we book half an hour this month and I'll draft it with you?
- Rebecca AinsworthYes, please. Later in the month suits me better, we've got an audit week coming up.
- Marcus BellPerfect. Next, the support side. In the last month there have been no tickets at all from you, and nothing urgent. Nothing overdue on invoices either, in case that's useful, Malcolm.
- Malcolm HebdenThank you. Our finance team confirmed the same. Everything has been paid on time.
- Rebecca AinsworthIs that quiet because it's working, or because people have stopped bothering to tell you? I'm asking because in the helpline, silence can mean either.
- Marcus BellGood question, and it's the right instinct. Here it looks like the first. The data's refreshing on time and the connectors are loading, so there's nothing to complain about. If records stopped coming in I'd see it before you did. But if anyone on your side has a workaround they've stopped mentioning, tell me and I'll chase it.
- Rebecca AinsworthNo, I don't think so. Underwriting did ask whether they could see a few more fields from the claims system, but that's a wish rather than a problem.
- Marcus BellSend me the fields and I'll see what's involved. I won't promise a date until I've asked the engineers, but I'll come back to you either way.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat's all I ask.
- Tom AshdownRight. Malcolm, I think that's the usage picture. Shall we turn to the contract? You asked what's changed, so let me try and answer that straight.
- Malcolm HebdenPlease.
- Tom AshdownSo you're on Growth, contracted at £55,800 a year, and that's also what's been invoiced, so those two agree, which is always nice. That's the order form figure and I'm confident of it. Your team hasn't changed tier, and you haven't added anything on top.
- Malcolm HebdenCorrect. £55,800 a year, for the full term, as I recall. Over the full term, please, what did we commit to in total?
- Tom AshdownTwo years of that, plus whatever the original set-up covered. I don't want to quote you a total off the top of my head, because I'd rather get it right than get it quick. Leave that with me and I'll send the breakdown in writing.
- Malcolm HebdenI would appreciate that. I never accept a figure without its base. Which brings me to something I noticed. I understand there is a renewal figure on your side already. May I ask what it is?
- Tom AshdownYes, there's a renewal in our system with £116,000 against it. I want to be careful here, because that's the total value of the deal as we've logged it, not a yearly price. I'm not going to stand here and tell you what it's made of until I've checked it against the order form. It's a placeholder as far as I'm concerned, not a proposal.
- Malcolm HebdenThank you for being candid. £116,000 for what period, may I ask? What does that commit us to, and for how long?
- Tom AshdownThat's precisely what I need to confirm. If it's a multi-year renewal then it covers more than one year, and I'll show you how it splits by year. If it's something else, I'll say so. I'd sooner you heard it from me in a clear note than guessed at it from a number in a system.
- Malcolm HebdenI shall hold you to that. Members' money, not ours. I need to know the yearly figure, the total, and the date each payment falls due.
- Tom AshdownUnderstood. Yearly, total and dates, all three in one note.
- Rebecca AinsworthCan I ask something, Tom? If we did go for another long term, does it change what we get, or is it just the same thing for longer?
- Tom AshdownSame Growth, same bits and pieces, at the start. What I'd want to talk about is whether it still fits you. If those 80 licences are more than you need, we can look at that. If you want to bring in another team, that goes the other way. I'd rather fit it to how you're using it than just roll it over.
- Rebecca AinsworthI do think another team might want in. Finance has been asking, haven't they, Malcolm?
- Malcolm HebdenThey have been curious, yes. I would not want to add anything until I understand what it adds to the cost. And I should say, plainly, that I do not sign a multi-year commitment without the board. Nothing will be decided on this call.
- Tom AshdownNo, and I wouldn't expect it to be. That's why I'm raising it now rather than at Christmas. When does your board next meet, roughly?
- Malcolm HebdenThere is a meeting before the new year. I would need a paper to the company secretary a good while ahead of that. So the sooner I have your note, the better.
- Tom AshdownThen let's work backwards. I'll get you the breakdown this week, the proposal after that, and we can aim to have the order form ready to sign before 14 Jan 2026, which is when we've pencilled in the close. That leaves a safety margin before the term ends on 16 Jan 2026.
- Malcolm HebdenA margin is welcome. I should like it to be a comfortable one.
- Marcus BellCan I add something from the adoption side? If there's a board paper, I can give you a one-page usage summary to go with it. Same figures I just showed, but tidier, and with the quarter on quarter movement.
- Malcolm HebdenThat would be useful. Please make sure each figure states what it is measured against.
- Marcus BellWill do. Base and period on every line.
- Rebecca AinsworthIs that the whole picture, though? I'm thinking about what the board will ask. They'll want to know if members are better off, not just if staff like the tool.
- Malcolm HebdenQuite. They will ask exactly that, and I would rather have an honest, modest answer than a grand one.
- Rebecca AinsworthI can write a few lines. The boiler claim, for one. And the way renewal meetings now start from the facts. I won't promise anything about claims outcomes, because that's not what this is. It's about members feeling known.
- Tom AshdownThat's the right story and it's true. I'd keep it just like that.
- Malcolm HebdenMay I ask one more thing on price? Will the yearly figure for the renewal be the same as today's, or is there any change I should plan for?
- Tom AshdownI can't tell you that from memory, and I'm not going to guess in front of your CFO. Let me check exactly where you sit against our current terms and put it in the note, with the reasoning, so you can see the base for whatever number I give you.
- Malcolm HebdenThat is acceptable. I would rather wait a few days for a correct figure than hear a confident wrong one today.
- Tom AshdownCouldn't agree more. And if there's a movement, I'll tell you why and what the options are, including a shorter term if the board prefers that.
- Malcolm HebdenA shorter term as an option is helpful to hear. Thank you.
- Rebecca AinsworthMarcus, on the extra team. If finance came in, would they need training, or would they pick it up?
- Marcus BellSome of both. The first session is usually the one that matters. If you want, I'll put together a short walkthrough for finance, using questions they'd actually ask. Nothing heavy.
- Malcolm HebdenI would be glad to see that before I decide anything, as a way of judging the value, not as a commitment.
- Marcus BellUnderstood, no strings. I'll offer it as a look-around and nothing more.
- Tom AshdownRight, I think that gets us somewhere. Let me play it back so we're all clear who's doing what. I'll send Malcolm the breakdown with yearly figure, total and dates, plus a proper answer on whether anything changes at renewal. Marcus does the usage summary for the board paper, and a finance walkthrough if Malcolm wants one. Rebecca writes a few lines on what members see.
- Rebecca AinsworthAnd I'll send Marcus the extra fields underwriting asked about.
- Marcus BellThanks, Rebecca. And I'll get that half hour in the diary with you, later in the month.
- Malcolm HebdenMay I ask when I should expect the note? I should like a date to put in my own diary.
- Tom AshdownBy Friday. If it slips I'll tell you before Friday, not after.
- Malcolm HebdenThank you. That is all I ask of a supplier. That they keep their word on price, and tell me early if they cannot.
- Tom AshdownFair enough. That's how I'd want to be treated.
- Rebecca AinsworthCan I say one thing before we go, from my side? I'm very keen we carry on. I can't tell you how different the renewal meetings feel. I know it's Malcolm's decision with the board, and I'm not trying to lean on anyone, but I wanted it said.
- Malcolm HebdenIt is noted, Rebecca, and I take it seriously. My concern is only that the commitment is understood by everyone who has to approve it. I have no quarrel with the product.
- Tom AshdownThat's good to hear, honestly. Let's get something in the diary now, so it doesn't drift. Shall we say a short catch-up after you've had the note, Malcolm, just to go through it?
- Malcolm HebdenYes. Early next week would suit, if the note arrives on Friday.
- Tom AshdownBrilliant. I'll send an invite for Monday afternoon and we can move it if it clashes.
- Malcolm HebdenMonday afternoon is acceptable.
- Marcus BellAnything else you want from the usage side before I stop sharing? I can leave the screen up if there's something you want to look at again.
- Rebecca AinsworthCould you go back to the page with the questions by team? I'd like another look at claims, they're quieter than I expected.
- Marcus BellSure. There. Claims is the smallest of the three, but it's climbing too. My guess is they come in when something's complicated, rather than as a daily habit.
- Rebecca AinsworthThat sounds right. I'll have a word with the head of claims and see whether there's a use they haven't spotted.
- Marcus BellIf they want a session, I'm happy to jump on a call with them.
- Tom AshdownRight, I think we're done unless anyone's got a last thing. Malcolm?
- Malcolm HebdenNothing further. Thank you all. It has been a clear conversation, and I am grateful for the candour about the figure in your system.
- Tom AshdownCheers, Malcolm. Rebecca, thanks for the boiler story, that's made my Monday. Speak soon, all of you.
- Rebecca AinsworthThanks, everyone. Bye for now.
- Marcus BellThanks, all. I'll send a note with the actions this afternoon. Bye.
Callsmade from