Marlcliff Security Services / BG-Demo – Check In
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Marlcliff Security Services · 22 Dec 2025 14:15
Sharon Tilley said only about three of forty Growth seats are in daily use and account managers have reverted to old habits. Daniel Okafor proposed a January session and a login review. Budget needs her boss.
What was said
What this says
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Sharon Tilley said only about three of forty Growth seats are in daily use and account managers have reverted to old habits. Daniel Okafor proposed a January session and a login review. Budget needs her boss.
What happened: Daniel opened with usage, saying daily logins had dropped by roughly half on the quarter before. Sharon agreed and said she was annoyed rather than surprised.
Customer view: She sponsored the rollout and says account managers went back to spreadsheets, the shared inbox and ringing the control room. A client alarm panel incident was not checked in B-Viz, and she wants a list of what it would have shown.
Commercial: Daniel said the £40k a year matches the order form and the invoices. Sharon cannot commit budget without her boss and wants proof of weekly use first. She asked whether to cut seats, and Daniel said nothing is decided before the January session.
Watch: The renewal date is 5 Jun 2026, and the evidence does not show the outcome of the seat question. The lack of support tickets reflects non-use, not health.
Themes
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026Theme
Low adoption 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- Daniel to send Sharon a short list of shift questions to mark up.
- Daniel to review who has logins across account managers, credit control and the control room.
- Daniel to send session slots for the first week back and build the incident example once Sharon emails the client name.
Risks
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- Only about three of forty Growth seats are used on a typical day, which weakens the value case for the June renewal.
- Sharon cannot commit budget without her boss and wants usage evidence first.
- She asked directly whether to cut seats, so a seat reduction is a live possibility at renewal.
Opportunities
As at Fri 9 Oct 2026- The weekend alarm incident is a concrete example of what B-Viz would have shown the account manager.
- A January working session on account managers' own clients could rebuild weekly use before the spring budget conversation.
Transcript
Daniel OkaforGood afternoon, Sharon, can you hear me alright? Thank you for making the time, I know this is a mad week for everyone.
Sharon TilleyI can hear you. Yes, mad is the word. Give me a second, I've just come out of the control room and I'm walking back to my desk.- Daniel OkaforNo rush at all. It's just the two of us today, I think? I wasn't sure whether anyone from your account management side was joining.
- Sharon TilleyJust me. I did ask, but half of them are out on client visits before Christmas and the other half are covering the phones. Incident of the week, if you want it: a client's alarm panel dropped off on Saturday night and the client rang us before our own people had spotted it. Not great. Not great at all.
- Daniel OkaforOh, that's the one you dread. Did the client hear it from you first, or did they ring in?
- Sharon TilleyThey rang in, which is exactly what I hate. The officer on shift logged it, but nobody joined it up with the account manager, so the client heard nothing from us until they called. We've got a review on it in the new year.
- Daniel OkaforI'm sorry to hear that. And I'll come back to it in a moment, because I think it's quite close to what I wanted to talk about today. Is it alright if I start with the usage numbers first?
- Sharon TilleyGo on. I saw the note on the calendar invite, so I can guess.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. So, just to close the loop on where we are: you're on Growth, forty licensed users, and you've been with us since 5 Jun 2025, so about six months now. The contract runs to 4 Jun 2026 and the renewal date is 5 Jun 2026, so there's plenty of time, and I'm not raising an alarm. But when I look at the last quarter, the number of people actually logging in on a typical day has dropped by roughly half compared with the quarter before. On an average day we're seeing a little over three people. And you have forty seats. So I really wanted to ask you, how is the team finding it?
- Sharon TilleyYeah. I'm not surprised, to be honest, I'm just annoyed. Three. That's me, probably, and a couple of others. It was never meant to be three. We bought it so every account manager could see their clients' sites, incidents, calls and invoices in one place.
- Daniel OkaforMm. And do you have a feel for why? I don't want to put words in your mouth, so tell me if I'm off, but is it that people have drifted back to what they did before?
- Sharon TilleyPartly that. The account managers have their old habits. Spreadsheets, the shared inbox, ringing the control room and asking. It's quicker for them in the moment, or it feels quicker. And we've had a busy autumn, so nobody has sat down and relearned anything. Honestly, I should have pushed harder. I did the launch push, I did the first few weeks, and then I got pulled back into the control room again.
- Daniel OkaforThat's very understandable, you wear a lot of hats. And I'd say it's not unusual at this stage, the first excitement fades and then the habit has to land in daily work.
- Sharon TilleyFine, but I can't wave it away as normal. I sponsored this. If the account managers don't use it, I look daft, and so do you.
- Daniel OkaforI don't think anybody looks daft. What I'd like us to do is understand it properly. Can I ask: when the alarm incident came in on Saturday, did anyone think to ask B-Viz about that client's sites or recent calls?
- Sharon TilleyNo. And that's the point. If the account manager had asked, they'd have seen the earlier calls and the open incident on that site, and they'd have rung the client first. Nobody thought to. Which site, which shift, it's all in there.
- Daniel OkaforRight. That's a really useful example, actually. Can I make a note of it?
- Sharon TilleyPlease do. Use it, I don't mind.
- Daniel OkaforThank you. One other thing I noticed, and tell me if it matters: there have been no support tickets from your side recently. No questions, no issues. Normally with forty seats I'd expect a few how-to questions at least. So I wonder whether it's quiet because everything is fine, or quiet because people have stopped trying.
- Sharon TilleySecond one. Nobody's raised anything because nobody's using it enough to hit a problem. If the data had been wrong, I'd have heard about it. They're just not opening it.
- Daniel OkaforMm, that fits with what I can see. Nothing on my side points to a technical fault, though I'll check again properly rather than just say so.
- Sharon TilleyGood. I'd hate it to be technical, because at least then I could shout at someone.
- Daniel OkaforWell, you're welcome to shout at me, I'm the one on the screen. Right, let me tell you what I'd suggest, and you tell me whether it's sensible or whether I've missed something obvious.
- Sharon TilleyGo on.
- Daniel OkaforThree things, and they're all small. First, a short working session in January with the account managers. Not a training lecture, just their own clients, asking real questions about their own sites and incidents, so they see it earn its keep. Second, I'd like to look at who has logins and who hasn't, so we know whether the gap is the account managers, credit control or the control room. Third, and only once we've seen what people actually need, we can have an honest look at whether the setup is the right size for you. I'm not here to sell you anything today, I promise.
- Sharon TilleyCredit control are the ones I'd worry about. They've the least patience. If invoices and calls aren't in one place for them, they'll never use it. And the control room, honestly, they're fine, they use it when I'm standing there.
- Daniel OkaforMm. That's helpful, I hadn't known that about the control room. Is it when you're there, or is it that they trust it more with someone senior beside them?
- Sharon TilleyBoth. They see me use it and they think, fine. When I'm not there it's the radio and the logbook. Old habits, like I said.
- Daniel OkaforRight. So maybe part of the session is making it usable when you're not in the room. Not a person standing behind them, more a couple of questions they can ask on their own, on a night shift, without thinking about it.
- Sharon TilleyYes. Two or three questions they actually need on a shift. Which site, which shift, what's still open. Give me those and I'll get the shift leads to try them.
- Daniel OkaforI can draft those with you. Would it help if I sent a short list ahead, so you can tell me which ones are wrong?
- Sharon TilleyPlease. Send it, I'll scribble all over it.
- Daniel OkaforAnd just so I'm straight about it, there's no pressure on the renewal today. But it is something I'd like us to be talking about well ahead of June, and I'd rather we walk in with usage heading the right way than have to explain a flat line. The £39,600 a year you pay is what's on the order form and what we've invoiced, so the paperwork all lines up, which is at least one less thing to worry about.
- Sharon TilleyFair. And you should know, I can't commit anything on budget without my boss. So if there's a conversation about money in the spring, I'd want something to show first. If I can say to him, look, the account managers are asking it questions every week, that's a very different conversation from the one we'd have today.
- Daniel OkaforCompletely agree, and I'd much prefer to have the evidence too. Who would be in that conversation, just so I can plan?
- Sharon TilleyMe and my boss. Not the account managers, they'd get nervous. Maybe one of them as a user voice, if they've got something good to say by then.
- Daniel OkaforLovely. And I'll keep it light, I promise.
- Sharon TilleyCan you do something for me on the incident review? A short list of what B-Viz would have shown the account manager on that client, before the client rang? Let's get the account manager on it too, so they see it for themselves.
- Daniel OkaforYes, I can pull together what's visible for that client's sites and calls. If you could email me which client it was, rather than say it on the recording, I'll put it together and send it over. I'll come back to you early in the new year with it, once the holiday is out of the way.
- Sharon TilleyThat's fine. Nobody's here between Christmas and New Year anyway, apart from the control room. So the working session, first proper week back, if you can.
- Daniel OkaforI'll check my diary and send you a couple of slots, rather than promise something I haven't looked at. I'd like it to be a time when the account managers are actually in the office, so tell me which days are best and I'll work around them.
- Sharon TilleyCan I ask you straight? We're paying for forty seats and using about three. Is that something you'd tell me to cut? I'd rather hear it from you now than be surprised later.
- Daniel OkaforI wouldn't rush to decide anything. What I'd rather do is see where we are after the January session. Seats are one thing the renewal conversation can look at, and I'll be honest with you when we get there, but I don't want us to shrink anything before people have had a fair go. Nothing is decided today, and nothing changes before then.
- Sharon TilleyGood. That's what I wanted to hear. I'd rather fix the habit than hide the problem.
- Daniel OkaforSo, just to close the loop. I'll send you a short list of shift questions to mark up. I'll look at who has logins across the account managers, credit control and the control room. I'll pull together what B-Viz would have shown on the client from Saturday, once you've emailed me which one. And I'll send you a few slots for the working session, early in the new year. Have I missed anything?
- Sharon TilleyNo, that's it. I'll email you the client name this afternoon. Thanks for not making this a lecture, Daniel.
- Daniel OkaforNot at all, it's what I'm here for. Have a proper break over Christmas, Sharon, and give my best to the control room. I hope the weekend stays quiet for you.
- Sharon TilleyFingers crossed. Same to you. Speak in the new year. Thanks, bye.
- Daniel OkaforBest wishes, Sharon. Bye for now.
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