Complaint management requires your organisation to focus on internal and external communications - your customers give comments on services and products using a variety of channels and your organisation conducts a variety of internal communicates to produce a satisfactory response that can be given to the customer. All of this produces data about customer interactions that you can measure and analyse - and utilise to drive improvements based on what customers are telling you about your products and services. Therefore, technology is capable of providing a strong supporting platform to your organisation's complaint handling process - but, given the human nature of complaint management, is unlikely to provide the complete solution.
Most organisations will need to design, implement or provide access to a complaint handling system that will allow complaint handlers (the system users) to capture details of any customer feedback received. Traditionally, complaint handling systems have been utilised by organisations to allow a select group of users (often the 'complaints team' or contact centre) to input details of complaints received into a database or spreadsheet and analyse the data that has been collected using a variety of charting and reporting tools. These systems have evolved over the years and often deliver a rich variety of features that allow users to use the system to draft and post responses to complaints, complete process flow actions, trigger escalations, upload additional documentation and much more.
But complaint handling has evolved dramatically over the last few years and organisations are looking at challenges that require them to engage and collaborate across multiple channels whilst protecting the privacy and confidentiality of those involved.
My latest free-to-download guide finds that technology is often a consideration when an organisation takes a look at its complaint management practices and complaint handling processes and can have a positive impact on an organisation's ability to rapidly address customer concerns - across a wide range of channels - and also act on those concerns, comply with industry regulations, identify emerging issues, share learning and reduce the costs of complaint handling.
However, if implemented incorrectly, technology can also become a burden to your staff - and customers - and add to the cost of complaint handling - hindering your attempts learn from your customer's daily experiences of your products and services.