Fenmoor Specialty Underwriting / B-Brain – Discovery
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Fenmoor Specialty Underwriting: documents · 2024-03-20 16:15
Discovery on 20 Mar 2024. Fenmoor answers capacity-provider questions by hand across four systems. Priya Raman framed Growth at fifty-six thousand total, implementation included. Richard Thorne wants one proposal and security in writing.
What was said
What this says
Current to 10 Oct 26Discovery on 20 Mar 2024. Fenmoor answers capacity-provider questions by hand across four systems. Priya Raman framed Growth at fifty-six thousand total, implementation included. Richard Thorne wants one proposal and security in writing.
What happened: Priya Raman ran discovery with Callum Reid, and Richard Thorne joined part way through. No demo was shown and no decision was asked for.
Customer view: Oversight questions from syndicates are stitched together by hand across the underwriting system, bordereaux files, helpdesk and CRM, by the same two people. Richard's worry is that syndicates stay quiet and then remember at binder renewal.
Commercial: Priya pointed to the Growth tier with eight weeks of fixed-fee implementation, a total of fifty-six thousand and not an annual figure. The decision target is 17 Jun 2024, after a board conversation.
Watch: Callum called the 07:00 refresh a hard requirement. The bordereaux side is files, so connector scope needs care.
Themes
Current to 9 Oct 26Theme
Oversight question workload
Importance
neutral
Sentiment
neutral
Voice
decision-maker
Who was there
B-Brain
CRMmade from
Them
CRMmade from
Follow-up
Next steps
Current to 9 Oct 26- Callum sends the connector list and the security questionnaire by Friday.
- Priya Raman returns a one-page proposal and sets up an introduction to Daniel Okafor.
- The decision target is 17 Jun 2024, pending the board.
Risks
Current to 9 Oct 26- Callum Reid treats the 07:00 refresh as a hard requirement, so any stale data would undermine adoption.
- The bordereaux side arrives as files, so connector scope and go-live commitments need careful agreement.
- Richard Thorne must take the figure to the board and wants the security position written down.
Opportunities
Current to 9 Oct 26- Growth tier fits three teams now, with a fourth team possible later.
- Two syndicates have asked for a standing monthly view, which gives a concrete value case.
Transcript
Priya Raman NoneHello, can you hear me alright? I've got the little green bar moving on my side.
Callum Reid NoneLoud and clear. Afternoon, Priya.- Priya Raman NoneAfternoon, Callum! Lovely. Richard's on the invite, I think he said he might be a few minutes behind.
- Callum Reid NoneHe's in a capacity provider catch-up. They always overrun. He'll drop in when he can. Shall we crack on?
- Priya Raman NoneAbsolutely, happy to make this easy. Quick recap so we're all on the same page: we spoke briefly last time, you've seen the short overview, and today is really about me understanding how your team works now – no slides, no demo – so that when we do show you the brain it's on things you actually recognise.
- Callum Reid NoneGood. What I need out of this is simple. I need to know whether you can take the oversight questions off my team. That's it.
- Priya Raman NonePerfect, that's exactly where I'd start. Tell me what an oversight question looks like in practice. Who asks, how often, what happens when it lands?
- Callum Reid NoneCapacity providers. Syndicates, mainly marine cargo and the professional indemnity book. They'll ask for a view on a binder – how many submissions, how many bound, what's sitting in referral, what claims are open against it. Sometimes it's a bordereaux query, a line that doesn't reconcile. Sometimes it's just, show me everything you've done with this broker in the last quarter.
- Priya Raman NoneAnd where does the answer come from today?
- Callum Reid NoneEverywhere. That's the problem. Submissions are in the underwriting system. Bordereaux are in spreadsheets, honestly, then loaded. Claims tickets are in the helpdesk. Broker activity is in the CRM. Somebody on my team has to stitch it together by hand.
- Priya Raman NoneMm. And how long does that take, a typical one?
- Callum Reid NoneA simple one, half a day. A proper one, a couple of days. And it's always the same two people, because they know where the bodies are buried.
- Priya Raman NoneRight, so key people. If one of them is off, the question just sits there.
- Callum Reid NonePretty much. And a capacity provider doesn't care that someone's on holiday. That's a capacity-provider question, it needs an answer by when they say.
- Priya Raman NoneUnderstood. Can I ask about the quality side? When they get the answer, do they trust it? Or does it come back with, hang on, that doesn't match what we had?
- Callum Reid NoneIt comes back. Not often, but often enough. Different cut-off times, different definitions. One system says bound, another says firm order. I spend more time explaining the numbers than producing them.
- Priya Raman NoneYeah. That's very common, actually, in the specialty world. The data is fine in each place, it's the joining that hurts.
- Callum Reid NoneExactly that.
- Priya Raman NoneSo let me ask about freshness. If somebody asked at nine in the morning, what do you want them to be looking at?
- Callum Reid NoneYesterday's close, complete. Dashboards that are right at 07:00, not right by lunchtime. If it's wrong at 07:00 the underwriters stop looking at it and then it's dead.
- Priya Raman NoneGot it. Nightly refresh, ready before the day starts. I'll note that down as a hard requirement rather than a nice-to-have.
- Callum Reid NoneHard requirement.
- Priya Raman NoneOkay. Now, who actually uses it day to day? I'm thinking about the underwriters, the ops team, claims, finance maybe?
- Callum Reid NoneUnderwriting ops is mine. That's the core. Then the underwriters themselves, they want pipeline and referral queues. Claims wants to see the tickets against a binder. Finance only cares at month end. I'd say three teams properly, a fourth later.
- Priya Raman NoneThree teams – that's useful, because that tells me which shape of package we'd talk about. I won't go into detail yet. Let me come back to it.
- Callum Reid NoneFine. By when do you want the connector list?
- Priya Raman NoneHa – you're ahead of me. Not yet, but yes, we'll need it. Honestly the more you can give me on systems the better. What's the underwriting platform, is it something with an open interface or is it more export-and-load?
- Callum Reid NoneMixed. Some of it has a proper interface. The bordereaux side is files. We'd have to be straight with you on that. The CRM and the helpdesk are the easy ones, they're standard.
- Priya Raman NoneThat's honest and it's helpful. Files are fine, the brain lives in your own Snowflake account so we load them there and the rest follows. I'd rather know now than find out at week three.
- Callum Reid NoneIs that in our Snowflake? Not yours?
- Priya Raman NoneYours. Everything runs inside your account, so the data doesn't leave. For a capacity-provider conversation I'd imagine that matters.
- Callum Reid NoneIt matters a great deal. Say that again to Richard when he joins, he'll want to hear it from you.
- Priya Raman NoneWill do.
Richard Thorne NoneApologies. Richard Thorne. I'm told I've missed the first part.- Priya Raman NoneRichard, hello, thank you for making it. Not at all – you've caught the good bit. Callum's been walking me through how oversight questions get answered today. Would it help if I gave you thirty seconds on where we've got to?
- Richard Thorne NonePlease. And tell me what decision I am being asked to make.
- Priya Raman NoneFair question, and the honest answer is none today. It's discovery. The decision, eventually, is whether to put one layer over your submissions, bordereaux, claims tickets and CRM so your team can answer capacity providers from a single view. Today I'm just making sure I've understood the problem properly.
- Richard Thorne NoneUnderstood. Go on.
- Priya Raman NoneSo, Callum's described half a day to a couple of days per question, two key people, numbers that don't always agree between systems. Richard, from where you sit, what's the cost of that? Not in pounds necessarily – what do the syndicates actually say?
- Richard Thorne NoneThey say very little. That is the concern. They are polite, they wait, and then at renewal of the binder they remember. I do not like being surprised.
- Callum Reid NoneTwo of them have asked for a standing monthly view. We can't do that without it eating a week.
- Richard Thorne NoneWhich is the point. What does this cost us, all in?
- Priya Raman NoneYes – let me be straightforward. Based on three teams and what Callum's described, I'd be looking at our Growth tier. All in, implementation included, the deal comes to fifty-six thousand. That's the total value of the deal, not an annual number, I'll split it properly when we get to a proposal.
- Richard Thorne NoneFifty-six, all in. Implementation included.
- Priya Raman NoneCorrect. And that's before anything is agreed, it's a shape, not a quote.
- Richard Thorne NoneI'll need to take that to the board. Not today. But I would like to know the timetable.
- Priya Raman NoneOf course. To keep momentum, what we've pencilled is to have a proposal in front of you in good time for a decision on Monday 17 June 2024. That's the target, it isn't a deadline anyone has imposed on you. If the board meets earlier or later, tell me and I'll work back.
- Richard Thorne NoneKeep it simple. One proposal. No options menu.
- Priya Raman NoneNoted. One page of scope, one number, one timeline.
- Callum Reid NoneCan I ask something on that? Who owns it on your side after we sign? Me, I want a name.
- Priya Raman NoneGood question. Daniel Okafor would be your customer success manager. He owns adoption and the reviews once you're live. I stay with the commercial side. I'll get you two on a call before the proposal so you're not meeting him cold.
- Callum Reid NoneFine. And the eight-week thing, is that fixed?
- Priya Raman NoneFor Growth, implementation is eight weeks, fixed fee. Connectors you name in the order form carry a go-live commitment, so it's worth us agreeing the list carefully.
- Callum Reid NoneThen I'll send you the list. By Friday.
- Priya Raman NoneBrilliant. Richard, anything else from you at this stage? Concerns, things you'd want me to cover in the proposal?
- Richard Thorne NoneSecurity. How it sits with our obligations to the syndicates. I do not want detail now, I want it written.
- Priya Raman NoneWritten, understood. I'll include a short section on how the data stays in your own account and who can see what. If your team has a standard questionnaire send it over and I'll have it answered rather than guessing.
- Richard Thorne NoneCallum will send it.
- Callum Reid NoneI will. Same Friday.
- Priya Raman NoneSo just to land it: Callum sends the connector list and the security questionnaire by Friday; I come back with a one-page proposal and a slot for you both to meet Daniel; and the target for the decision is Monday 17 June 2024. Have I missed anything?
- Callum Reid NoneNo. That's it. Don't pad it.
- Richard Thorne NoneThank you. That was useful.
- Priya Raman NoneThank you both, really. Speak soon. Best, Priya – I'll put the recap in an email this evening.
- Callum Reid NoneGood. Bye.
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