Area of application

Complaints Management

Handling customer complaints often falls under the purview of long-term employees who are adept at the necessary procedures for returns and complaints and are considered experts in their field by their colleagues.

However, this approach has a significant drawback: when these colleagues are on vacation or absent due to illness, the remaining team members often lack sufficient knowledge of the complaint process and are therefore unable to provide customers with specific information about their complaints.

But this doesn't have to be the case – with AvERP, all colleagues can access all information and processes related to specific complaints and returns under a single complaint number (abbreviated RMA number). This ensures that all colleagues can stay independently informed at all times. With integrated complaint management software, all necessary processes are defined within the system and can be analyzed accordingly.

What is complaint management?

Complaint management encompasses all measures taken to handle a customer or supplier complaint. This includes, among other things, the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the corresponding measures.

Difference to complaint management

While complaint management primarily deals with defective products, grievance management also addresses any complaints concerning the service sector. Grievance management can alternatively be referred to as feedback management.

Both complaint management and claims management aim to restore customer satisfaction after a problem, thereby securing customer loyalty. Consequently, these two management systems can sustainably lead to the identification and optimization of errors in a company’s internal processes and project execution.

Objectives of a complaint management software

Early detection of quality problems and initiation of countermeasures
Root cause analysis and continuous
Process improvement process
Reduction of internal process costs
Clear management and tracking of supplier and customer complaints
Long-term improvement in customer satisfaction

Complaint management with ERP

Choosing an ERP software system offers your company a number of advantages. One of the biggest advantages is the simplification of internal processes within the company.

For example, you can transfer existing data into your software system and easily use it for further complaint processing. This way, all important complaint data is always available to you in one central location.

The licence-free ERP system for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Advantages of a complaint management system

According to experts, a digital complaint management system offers a multitude of advantages. The most important benefits are summarized below.

Efficiency and overview

Standardized recording and structuring of all complaints generally reduces their processing time.
Complaint management software therefore enables timely processing in customer service, as faster responses can be provided.

Optimization

Generally speaking, an efficient complaint management tool also helps to highlight problems within your internal processes. In this way, digital complaint management leads to continuous improvements within your company in the long run.

Common functions of complaint management software

8D report functions

Complaint management software accompanies you continuously throughout the entire 8D process, ensuring that every detail is considered. An 8D reporting function enables efficient analysis of your complaint data, leading to a significant improvement in your quality assurance. Furthermore, some software systems allow you to use different types of deviations, which you can then document with individual supporting evidence.

Identification of cost factors

Modern software features various freely configurable analysis tools that regularly monitor and analyze all costs related to troubleshooting, replacements, and process optimizations. This allows you to quickly and easily make well-founded and clear statements about the costs of all complaint-related matters using software analysis and evaluation.

Automatic customer data matching

In addition to standard functions such as master data import and export of complaint costs and expenses, order data, including batch information, can also be imported using complaint management software. This ensures that the corresponding orders and serial or material numbers are always assigned to each complaint. Combining all systems ensures maximum efficiency.

Task and action management

The software system's online assistants securely and systematically capture all software data, allowing all users immediate access. This ensures a networked system that integrates all responsible parties. Additionally, the system provides a scalable task management tool.

Which software system is most suitable for my company?

In recent years, a multitude of different software systems have been developed, each offering different functions and advantages. As a result, many companies often don’t know which aspects to consider when choosing a software solution.

The following questions and measures can help you with your software decision:

Recherche

Before choosing complaint management software, you should conduct thorough market research. This way, you can gather all the necessary information about the functions and capabilities of the various software programs in advance.

Questionnaires

Before you begin, find out whether your chosen software system allows you to create paper-based or web-based questionnaires for active complaint management.

Reminder and warning system

A good management system should have a so-called warning system that keeps you informed about the status of processes at all times and reminds you of deadlines in good time.

Data protection function

In today’s world, data protection regulations are becoming increasingly important for companies. Therefore, inquire beforehand whether your preferred software can be used in compliance with data protection regulations. Does it offer automatic search functions for personal data records? Can retention periods be easily specified?

Depending on your industry and the size of your business, there are numerous other criteria to consider when choosing your complaint management system. At Synerpy, our ERP system AvERP can help you with your complaint management. We would be happy to advise you in detail.