Ardcarne Life Assurance

Demo: On 16 Apr 2026 Niamh Costello asked for a plain demo showing one larger broker firm as one view. At the 20 Apr 2026 demo on masked data, Matteo Ricci restated Enterprise at £155k including implementation, with a decision targeted for 30 Jun 2026.

Security review: From 13 May 2026 Declan Furlong, the CISO, set written DORA requirements and refused verbal assurances. Session one on 19 May 2026 recorded six open findings, all owned by Theo Gallagher.

Exit plan: On 22 May 2026 Theo owed a dated exit plan commitment, which existed only in draft. Session two on 2 Jun 2026 brought in Aoife Kinsella of procurement, who would not skip a policy step to hit the date.

Findings: On 8 Jun 2026 Theo listed three open findings and Declan kept two open and added backup locations. The 16 Jun 2026 incident session added a finding on supporting Ardcarne's regulatory reporting.

Proposal: On 15 Jun 2026 Niamh asked for dated stage commitments and said she will not override Declan. On 18 Jun 2026 Ronan Tierney, the COO, said he would not sign until the CISO and procurement were content.

Open at the end: Four security items were open on 18 Jun 2026, including the sub-processor position. The exit plan annex was a draft, and whether the EU residency add-on is in the proposal was unsettled. The evidence does not show a signed order form.

Scheduling: On 5 Feb 2026 Matteo Ricci proposed a discovery conversation. Niamh Costello chose Thursday morning, wanted a single view of each broker firm and asked for a plain description of where the brain runs and who can see what.

Own-data demo: On 13 Feb 2026 Niamh agreed to a demo on Ardcarne's own data and gave three broker-firm questions. She made CISO comfort with a written access description a condition of going further.

Discovery: On 9 Feb 2026 Niamh described broker data split across policy, CRM, helpdesk, calls and mailboxes. She said SSO is non-negotiable and that DORA applies, so exit without losing records matters.

Price: Matteo gave a working figure of £155k for the whole deal, including one-off implementation and not the annual subscription. Niamh asked for the split in writing.

Demo: On 23 Feb 2026 Hannah Lowe showed a broker firm page, a cross-team question and the connectors view on a sample extract. Ronan Tierney joined late, took no decision and told Niamh to coordinate the security review.

Open at the end: The CISO has not seen the demo and the review is still ahead. The written split of £155k, the architecture note, the connector dates with engineering and a named owner of the broker firm list were all open. The 30 Jun 2026 decision date was described as a plan.

Scope: this period holds one read, a news item. There were no calls, email threads or tickets in the period.

News: on 27 Oct 2025 Ardcarne announced a senior leadership appointment following a review of its executive structure. The item names neither the role nor the person.

Timing: the company said the change takes effect in the coming weeks and that it expects a smooth handover. It said the direction for distribution and customer service support is not expected to change.

Assessment in the read: the read rates the item as neutral importance and medium significance. It notes that further executive changes were not ruled out.

Open at the end: the evidence does not show who the appointee is, or whether the role touches the sponsors or users of the brain. The read suggests asking the CSM to confirm this and to check it at the next call.

Period: this digest rests on one read, a news item dated 12 May 2025. There were no calls, email threads or tickets in the quarter.

News: Ardcarne announced an unnamed partnership to give its broker distribution and customer service teams a shared view of each broker firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Scope: the insurer said the arrangement had passed its internal security and risk review. The first phase would focus on broker distribution and customer service teams, with other functions considered later.

Reading: the item does not name the partner or the product, so overlap with existing work cannot be judged. The read rates it neutral, with medium significance. It sees a possible opening for additional teams or connectors if later phases cover other functions.

Open at the end: the read suggests the CSM ask at the next call how the partnership relates to current use of the brain. The evidence does not show whether that was done, or how the customer sees the partnership.

Invitation: the only read in the period is the 9 Feb 2024 email thread. Nell Ashcombe invited Niamh Costello to an online walk-through of the brain on real data on Thursday 15 Feb 2024, on a single view of each broker firm.

Offer: Nell offered to add someone from the data office and said she would send joining details nearer the day.

Customer view: none recorded. The thread holds no reply, so the evidence does not show whether Niamh attended or showed any interest.

Open at the end: the read suggests a single view of each broker firm and controls for a regulated insurer as the angles likely to matter to Niamh. Nothing else in the quarter shows a call, ticket, commitment or problem.