Marlcliff Security Services / BG-Demo – Proposal
Callcompleted
Marlcliff Security Services · 17 Apr 2025 16:00
Sharon Tilley and Nigel Fairbrother reviewed the Growth proposal. Nigel wants a demo on Marlcliff's own data, a split of subscription and implementation, and proof of usage before he is satisfied. Target decision date was 22 May 2025.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Sharon Tilley and Nigel Fairbrother reviewed the Growth proposal. Nigel wants a demo on Marlcliff's own data, a split of subscription and implementation, and proof of usage before he is satisfied. Target decision date was 22 May 2025.
What happened: Lewis Kerr walked through the Growth proposal. Sharon's overnight alarm incident, where the account manager heard from the client first, set the need.
Customer view: Nigel asked who would use it and said 'Show me before we sign, then. Not after.' He wants the annual figure split from the £52k deal value, which includes implementation.
Commercial: Lewis said Growth service credits cover availability, not stale data, and that freshness credits are an Enterprise feature. He did not push an upgrade. The control room connector carries no promised go-live date yet.
Watch: Nigel said he would decide only when satisfied, not by date. IT is one person and a part-timer, which could slow access to the Snowflake account.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Growth proposal, proof of value
Importance
neutral
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 email the order form draft with the subscription and implementation split the same day.
- Sharon Tilley to name an IT contact and send her list of real questions.
- Lewis Kerr to offer demo slots with Daniel Okafor and request the read-only extract.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Nigel doubts adoption and fears licences end up on a shelf.
- The control room connector has no promised go-live date and IT capacity is thin.
- Growth credits cover availability only, so stale data would not be credited.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- A demo on Marlcliff's own CRM, accounting and incident data could convince Nigel.
- Credit control against incidents gives a measurable case such as time to cash.
Transcript
Lewis KerrGood afternoon, Sharon. Can you hear me all right?
Sharon TilleyLoud and clear. Afternoon, Lewis. Nigel's just dialling in, he's on the other call still, I think.- Lewis KerrNo problem, we'll give him a minute. How's the week been?
- Sharon TilleyBusy. Incident of the week, actually, and it's a good one for why we're talking. A retail client had an alarm activation overnight, our control room dealt with it properly, but the account manager heard about it from the client's store manager before she heard it from us. Which site, which shift, none of that was in front of her. She was on the back foot for the whole morning.
- Lewis KerrThat's frustrating. And the report went out afterwards, I assume?
- Sharon TilleyWent out by lunchtime. I don't let those sit. But what did the client hear from us in the meantime? Nothing. That's the gap.
Nigel FairbrotherSorry, sorry. Am I in? Can you hear me?- Lewis KerrYes, we can, Nigel. Good afternoon.
- Nigel FairbrotherAfternoon. Right. Before anything else, can I ask who is actually going to be using this? I've sat through a few of these and the licences end up on a shelf.
- Lewis KerrFair question, and I'd rather answer it properly than wave at it. Can I start by confirming what we're here to do today? My understanding is you want to look at a Growth proposal, and the aim is to have a decision around Thursday 22 May 2025. Is that still right?
- Sharon TilleyThat's the target, yes. Nigel needs to be comfortable first, obviously. I'm not committing anything without him.
- Nigel FairbrotherWhich is the correct order of things. Go on, Lewis.
- Lewis KerrRight. So, on who uses it. From what Sharon and I have talked through before, there are three groups. The account managers, who want to see each client's sites, incidents, calls and invoices in one place. The control room, who want the history of a site when something happens at two in the morning. And credit control, who want to know whether a client chasing an incident is also a client with an overdue invoice.
- Nigel FairbrotherCredit control is the one I care about. What's that per contract, though? If it saves ten minutes a week I'm not interested.
- Lewis KerrI won't give you a per contract number off the top of my head, Nigel, because I'd be guessing and I don't quote from memory. What I can do is show you on your own data what a credit controller sees today against what they'd see in B-Viz, and you can judge the time saved yourself.
- Nigel FairbrotherMm. Show me before we sign, then. Not after.
- Lewis KerrThat's fair, and I'll build that into the plan. Can I walk through the proposal first, and then we'll come back to it?
- Sharon TilleyPlease. Short sentences, Lewis, we've got a control room handover at five.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood. So, the shape of it. B-Viz sits inside your own Snowflake account. That matters for Nigel and for any client who asks where their data lives: it's yours, not ours. We connect the systems your people already use. Your CRM, the call recorder, the helpdesk, the accounting system, and the system the control room logs incidents in. Then anyone with access can ask a question in plain English and get an answer drawn from all of them.
- Sharon TilleySo the account manager asks, what happened at this client's sites this week, and it tells her.
- Lewis KerrExactly that. And which site, which shift, if the incident log carries it. If the data's in the log, it comes through. If it isn't, B-Viz can't invent it, and I'd be straight about that.
- Sharon TilleyGood. I'd rather know the gaps.
- Nigel FairbrotherHow many connectors are we talking? And is the control room system one of them? Because that one's old.
- Lewis KerrGrowth covers several teams and a good number of connectors, and your list is within it. The control room system is the one I'd want to check carefully. I'd rather not promise a go-live date for that connector until our team has looked at how it exports. I'll confirm in writing what's straightforward and what needs investigating.
- Nigel FairbrotherThat's an honest answer. Most people would have said yes.
- Lewis KerrIt would be a bad start if I said yes and then we missed it.
- Sharon TilleyWhat about the billing side? The invoices. Can credit control see an invoice and the client's incidents on one screen? That's what I've been telling people it does.
- Lewis KerrYes, once the accounting system is connected, they can ask about a client and see invoices alongside incidents and calls. Growth also includes the dashboards builder, so if credit control wants a standing view of overdue accounts against open incidents, they can build it themselves rather than waiting for us.
- Nigel FairbrotherRight. Let's do the money, then. I'd rather get to it.
- Lewis KerrOf course. To put a number on it, the total deal value on the proposal is £51,600, plus VAT. That figure includes the one-off implementation fee, so please don't read it as the yearly subscription on its own. The order form splits the two out line by line.
- Nigel FairbrotherHang on. So what's the annual number? Because I budget annually.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood. The order form will show the subscription separately from the implementation, and I'll put both in the email so you're not doing sums from the total. I'd rather you saw it in writing than took my word on a call.
- Nigel FairbrotherFine. I want it split before I take anything to the board.
- Lewis KerrI'll send that over today.
- Sharon TilleyAnd payment? Nigel will ask, so I'll ask for him.
- Nigel FairbrotherI will, thank you, Sharon.
- Lewis KerrThe subscription is invoiced annually in advance as standard. Quarterly is possible on request, and terms are thirty days. The implementation is a fixed fee, so there's no meter running if it takes longer than planned.
- Nigel FairbrotherFixed fee. I like that. What's the catch? There's always a catch with fixed.
- Lewis KerrThe catch is scope. It's fixed for what's in the order form. If we agreed seven connectors and you later want an eighth that isn't in there, that's a conversation. So the thing to get right now is the list, which is why I'm cautious about the control room one.
- Sharon TilleyLet me think about the list. CRM, yes. Call recorder, yes. Helpdesk, yes. Accounting, yes. Control room log, yes, that's the whole point. Is there anything else we'd regret leaving out?
- Lewis KerrI'd ask your account managers rather than guess. The usual regret is email. People assume it's included and then want it in month three.
- Sharon TilleyRight. Yes. Account managers live in their inboxes. I'll check with them this week.
- Nigel FairbrotherAnd that's more cost, presumably.
- Lewis KerrNot necessarily. It depends whether it fits inside what Growth already allows. I'll check the count against your list and tell you plainly. If it fits, there's no extra charge. If it doesn't, I'll say so and price the add-on separately.
- Nigel FairbrotherGood. Now, usage. I asked at the start and you gave me roles. I want to know how you'd stop this becoming a thing two enthusiasts use.
- Lewis KerrIt's the right worry. It happens, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't. Two things help. First, Daniel Okafor, who'd be your customer success manager, sets up the first weeks around real questions your teams already ask, not a generic training. Second, there's a regular review where we look at who is asking questions and who isn't. If it's three people, we'd say so, and you'd see it before the renewal, not after.
- Nigel FairbrotherBefore the renewal. Good phrase. I'll hold you to it.
- Sharon TilleyHe will.
- Lewis KerrI'd expect nothing less.
- Sharon TilleyCan I ask about the account managers specifically? Some of them are, let's say, wary. They've had two or three tools foisted on them. What do I tell them on day one?
- Lewis KerrTell them it's for the moment a client rings and they don't have the answer. That's the use case that sticks. Not a dashboard to look at, a question to ask when they're caught out. In the demo on your data we'd use a client they know, so it's their own sites in front of them.
- Sharon TilleyThat's what the overnight alarm was. Caught out. Yes. I like that.
- Nigel FairbrotherLewis, who owns the data? If a client asks, or if we leave.
- Lewis KerrYou do. It's built and run inside your Snowflake account, so it's your data in your environment. If you ever left, the data stays where it is. What you'd lose is the layer we've built on top and the access to it.
- Nigel FairbrotherMm. And that's in the contract.
- Lewis KerrIt's covered under the MSA and the order form. I'll point you to the clause rather than paraphrase it, so your solicitor can read it directly.
- Nigel FairbrotherPlease. And I'll want our people to see it.
- Lewis KerrOf course.
- Sharon TilleyTimeline, then. If we say yes by Thursday 22 May 2025, when do we have something people can actually use? Because I've got a summer of contract reviews coming and I'd love this in time.
- Lewis KerrGrowth implementations typically run a couple of months. I'd rather give you the proper plan in writing than a date now, because it depends on that control room connector and on how quickly your IT people can give us access to the Snowflake account. If access is quick, it goes quicker.
- Sharon TilleyIT is one person and a part-timer. So not quick, honestly.
- Lewis KerrThen that's worth knowing now. We'd name an owner on your side for access and for the connector list, someone who can answer within a day or so. Is that you, Sharon, or someone in IT?
- Sharon TilleyMe for the business side. I'll have to get our IT lead involved for the technical bit. I'll warn him this week.
- Nigel FairbrotherI'd want a named person at your end too. Not a queue.
- Lewis KerrDaniel for the delivery, and me until the order form is signed. After that Daniel is your day to day contact, with me on the commercial side.
- Nigel FairbrotherFine. Now, the thing I keep coming back to. Whether this is a pilot first. I don't love committing the whole amount to something nobody's touched.
- Lewis KerrI understand that. What I'd offer is the demo on your own data before you sign, which is what you asked for earlier. It isn't a pilot in the contractual sense, but it gets you most of what a pilot would, because you'd see your own clients, your own invoices, your own incidents. If that doesn't convince you, then you shouldn't sign, and I'd rather know.
- Nigel FairbrotherThat's more or less what I'm after. Who would run it?
- Lewis KerrOur solutions engineer would run it with me there, and Daniel joining so you meet him. We'd need a read-only extract from two or three of your systems. I'll send exactly what we'd need and who'd see it.
- Sharon TilleyRead-only, fine. I'll ask IT. Which two or three?
- Lewis KerrI'd suggest the CRM, the accounting system and the incident log. Between them you get a client, what they owe and what's happened on their sites. That's the story that matters to both of you.
- Nigel FairbrotherCredit control against incidents. Yes. That I'd actually like to see.
- Sharon TilleySo would I. If a client's furious about an incident, I want the credit controller not ringing them about an invoice that same afternoon.
- Lewis KerrThat's a good example, and it's the kind of thing the dashboards builder would handle: a standing list of accounts with an open incident and an invoice due. Credit control could check it before they pick up the phone.
- Nigel FairbrotherHm. Now that has a number attached. Disputed invoices, collected cash. If it shortens the time to cash, I can price that.
- Lewis KerrThen that's the measure I'd suggest we agree up front. Not a promise from me, a way for you to judge it. Credit control tell us how they work today, and in a quarter we look together at whether anything has moved.
- Nigel FairbrotherAgreed, as an approach. I'm not agreeing to anything else.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood, and nothing is being asked of you on this call.
- Sharon TilleyCan I ask about support? If the nightly refresh doesn't run, and a control room supervisor is asking at seven in the morning why last night's incidents aren't there.
- Lewis KerrGood one. The nightly refresh is meant to be complete by seven in the morning your time on business days, on every tier. If it isn't, that's a ticket, and Growth has a one business hour first response on priority issues. The order form states the service levels, so they're contractual and not just a brochure line.
- Sharon TilleyOne business hour. Right. And if it's stale and nobody notices?
- Lewis KerrThen it's a problem we'd want to catch ourselves, and the regular reviews look at whether records are still coming in. Candidly, if data stops moving, the system can still answer, but on old information. That's the failure I worry about most, more than an outage.
- Nigel FairbrotherDo we get anything back if that happens? Credit, I mean.
- Lewis KerrOn Growth, service credits apply to availability, not to stale data. I'll say it plainly so there's no surprise later. Freshness credits are part of the Enterprise tier. If that's important to you, it's worth a conversation, though I wouldn't push you to a bigger tier on the strength of one worry.
- Nigel FairbrotherAppreciate you not pushing. Most don't say that.
- Lewis KerrI'd rather the usage justified any change. If you grow into more teams and more users, we'd talk then.
- Sharon TilleyHow many users do we get to start with? I've been saying everyone in the account team and the control room supervisors.
- Lewis KerrGrowth is designed for several teams, so that sounds like it fits, but I'm not going to quote the exact allowance from memory. I'll set it out against your headcount list in the email. If you need to count credit control and the control room supervisors separately from account managers, send me the rough split and I'll check it.
- Sharon TilleyI'll get HR to give me the numbers properly. I don't want to guess either.
- Nigel FairbrotherGood. Everybody not guessing. It's refreshing.
- Sharon TilleyDon't get used to it.
- Nigel FairbrotherLewis, do you do a discount? I'm asking because I always do.
- Lewis KerrHa. You're allowed to. There is some room on a first term for a new customer, but it's limited and it ends at renewal, so I'd want you to look at the price on the basis of where it lands afterwards, not just year one. I'll put the figure with the base and the term so you can see it clearly.
- Nigel FairbrotherThe base. Yes. A percentage without the base is a rumour.
- Lewis KerrAgreed. Everything in the email will be pounds with the VAT position stated, and nothing as a bare percentage.
- Nigel FairbrotherGood man.
- Sharon TilleySecurity. Our larger clients ask about it. Government-adjacent sites, banks. Do I need to prepare for questionnaires?
- Lewis KerrFor Growth there isn't the formal security review that Enterprise has, but I'd expect you or Nigel to have questions, and we'll answer them in writing. The fact it runs in your Snowflake account answers a lot of them straight away. Send me your list when you have it.
- Sharon TilleyI'll dig out the last one we answered for a client. Might save us time.
- Lewis KerrPlease do. It helps me match what they care about.
- Nigel FairbrotherWhile we're on risk. If this goes wrong, who do I phone? Not you, presumably.
- Lewis KerrWell, me for contract problems, always. For anything technical, Daniel and the support team. And if either of us isn't answering, tell me and I'll chase it myself.
- Nigel FairbrotherFine. I'll note that.
- Sharon TilleyCan we go back to the overnight alarm for a second? I want to make sure I'm right about what would have been different.
- Lewis KerrGo ahead.
- Sharon TilleyThe account manager would have asked, anything on this client's sites overnight? And got an answer before the client rang. Or better, someone in the control room could have asked and told her.
- Lewis KerrProvided the incident was logged in time, yes. And that's the dependency. B-Viz reads what's recorded. If the control room logs it late, it shows late. So part of getting value is the logging discipline, which you know better than I do.
- Sharon TilleyHa, I do. I ran that room. They log fast. Not always in the right field, mind.
- Lewis KerrThat's something we'd find in the first weeks, and Daniel would flag it. It's normally fixable without any software change, just agreeing what goes where.
- Nigel FairbrotherFine. Let me summarise so I've got it. You want to show us our own data before we sign. You'll split the subscription from the implementation. You'll confirm the connector list and the control room risk. And you'll say what the user allowance is against our headcount. Anything else?
- Lewis KerrThat's most of it. I'd add the written plan with the timeline, the clause references on data ownership, and the discount with its base and term. And the access request for the read-only extract.
- Nigel FairbrotherThat's a lot of paper for one afternoon.
- Lewis KerrI'll keep it to one email with the order form draft attached, so it's not scattered. I'll send that over today.
- Sharon TilleyGood. And I'll sort the demo slot. Next week suits me. Nigel?
- Nigel FairbrotherNot Monday. Any other day, late morning for preference.
- Lewis KerrI'll offer a couple of slots in the email, late morning, and you can pick.
- Sharon TilleyPerfect. Can I ask something slightly off topic? What do your other clients say about the first month? Honestly.
- Lewis KerrHonestly, the first month is the awkward one. The connectors go in, the data's there, but people haven't built the habit. The ones who do well pick a handful of real questions and ask them every day. I won't talk about any individual customer, but that pattern is consistent.
- Sharon TilleyA handful of real questions. I can give you those. Which site, which shift, what did the client hear from us, who's overdue and angry.
- Lewis KerrThat's a good start. If you write them down and send them, we'll use them in the demo.
- Sharon TilleyWill do. By the end of the week.
- Nigel FairbrotherI'd add one. Which contracts are we losing money on by the guarding hour.
- Lewis KerrThat's a bigger question, Nigel, and it depends on whether your hours and rota data are in a system we can connect. I wouldn't promise it from this call. Worth asking in the demo and seeing what's possible.
- Nigel FairbrotherFair. Put it on the list as a maybe.
- Lewis KerrNoted as a maybe.
- Sharon TilleyLewis, can I be blunt? If Nigel's happy with the demo, I want to sign quickly. The overnight thing was one of several. I'd rather not still be talking in July.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood, and I'd work back from Thursday 22 May 2025. Demo next week, your questions and my written answers shortly after, Nigel's review, and then the order form. It's tight but workable if nothing slips.
- Nigel FairbrotherDon't plan around me signing on the 22nd. Plan around me being satisfied. They're different things.
- Lewis KerrNoted, and I'd rather you were satisfied. If it takes longer, it takes longer.
- Sharon TilleyHe says that, but he's easier than he sounds.
- Nigel FairbrotherI'm exactly as hard as I sound.
- Lewis KerrGood to know on both counts.
- Sharon TilleyIs there anything you need from us before the demo, other than the extract?
- Lewis KerrThree things. A named person for IT access. The questions you just mentioned. And a rough picture of who'd use it, by team, so I can check the allowance. That's all.
- Sharon TilleyEasy. IT contact I'll give you by Monday.
- Nigel FairbrotherOne more from me. If we do sign, what does the first review look like? Who's in it?
- Lewis KerrDaniel leads it. It covers who's asking questions, which connectors are loading properly, whether any are stale, and what's been built. Growth includes quarterly reviews, so you'd see it regularly rather than once a year. Both of you would be welcome, and anyone from credit control too.
- Nigel FairbrotherThen I'd want credit control in the room. That's where I'd judge it.
- Lewis KerrThat would suit us too.
- Sharon TilleyWe've got about seven minutes before I need to run. Anything else on your side, Lewis?
- Lewis KerrJust to confirm what I heard on the contract side. Nobody is committing today. You'll review my written answers, see the demo on your data, and Nigel will decide when he's satisfied. The target is Thursday 22 May 2025 but it isn't fixed. Fair?
- Nigel FairbrotherFair.
- Sharon TilleyFair. I'm not committing anything until Nigel has seen it, as you know.
- Lewis KerrAnd I'm not asking you to. I'll also flag anything in the order form that differs from what we've discussed, so nothing is buried.
- Nigel FairbrotherPlease do. If I find something buried, the conversation ends.
- Lewis KerrUnderstood. It won't be.
- Sharon TilleyRight. While I've got you both. How is the weather down your way, Lewis? It's been dreadful in Bristol, drizzle all week.
- Lewis KerrDry here today, strangely. Bright but cold. I won't gloat.
- Nigel FairbrotherYou'll gloat.
- Lewis KerrA little, yes.
- Sharon TilleyLet me think whether I've forgotten anything. Account managers, control room, credit control. Connectors. The cost split. The demo. IT. Yes, I think that's us.
- Lewis KerrOne last thing. Did you want Daniel on the demo, or would you rather meet him once things are firmer?
- Sharon TilleyOn the demo. I'd like to know who I'm dealing with.
- Nigel FairbrotherAgreed. Better to know the person.
- Lewis KerrThen I'll invite him. So to recap my side. Today, I send the email with the order form draft, the split between subscription and implementation, the plan and timeline, the connector view including the control room caveat, the user allowance check, the discount with its base, and the clause references. Offer a couple of demo slots next week. Request the extract. Does that cover it?
- Nigel FairbrotherIt does. Send it to both of us.
- Lewis KerrBoth of you, yes.
- Sharon TilleyAnd mine: IT contact on Monday, the list of questions by the end of the week, headcount from HR, and I'll ask the account managers about email.
- Lewis KerrPerfect. Anything you need from me before the email lands?
- Sharon TilleyNo, I think we're good. I'll forward it to the head of credit control so she has time to think.
- Nigel FairbrotherDo. I'd like her opinion before mine.
- Lewis KerrThat's sensible. If she has questions directly, she can email me, or I'm happy to jump on a short call with her.
- Sharon TilleyI'll tell her. She'll have questions. She always does.
- Nigel FairbrotherGood. Those are the useful people.
- Lewis KerrI'd agree. I'd rather answer awkward questions now than have them arrive in month two.
- Sharon TilleyRight. I do have to run, the handover's soon. Thank you, Lewis. This was useful, genuinely.
- Lewis KerrThank you both. I'll get the email to you this afternoon.
- Nigel FairbrotherThank you. Speak next week.
- Lewis KerrSpeak next week. Take care, both.
- Sharon TilleyCheers, Lewis. Bye.
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