Establishing complaint management – guidelines for companies and administration

Complaints are great. They show unvarnishedly where processes, communication or services are not working. And even if they initially seem stressful for everyone involved, those who know how to deal with them professionally gain one of the most valuable resources for the further development of an organization.

Complaints are therefore not a nuisance, but highly relevant. They reveal where there is potential and serve as a strategic tool for managing quality, risks and reputation. However, the decisive factor is how organizations deal with this feedback. Regulated industries and the public sector are under particular pressure here. However, companies in other areas also benefit from clear structures and reliable processes. Experience shows: More and more people expect their concerns to be dealt with professionally, transparently and swiftly.

Many organizations are therefore faced with the task of creating structures that are legally compliant, scalable and user-oriented, while at the same time freeing up their own resources. The following section describes how organizations can professionalize their complaints management step by step, from clear governance and structured processes to high-quality reporting and continuous improvement.

Why now? Duty and pressure of expectation

The establishment of structured complaints procedures is no longer optional in many sectors. Legal bases such as the Energy Industry Act, the Telecommunications Act and relevant EU regulations require comprehensible processing procedures, defined response times, accessibility and documented reports. These requirements apply to energy suppliers, telecommunications companies and transport companies as well as public bodies.

At the same time, people’s expectations are rising noticeably: they expect transparent processes, binding communication and prompt processing. Studies show that dissatisfaction and a lack of response often lead directly to churn.

Companies and authorities therefore have to deal with growing numbers of cases, more complex issues and increased pressure for transparency.

Effect instead of minimum standard

Modern complaint management not only processes complaints, but also generates strategic added value. Complaints serve as an early indicator of weaknesses in processes, products and communication. They provide usable data on causes, recurring patterns and the need for improvement. Without central control, clear processes and uniform documentation, a patchwork of solutions is created that prevents transparency, increases risks and quickly pushes organizations to their limits. This is one of the main reasons why existing systems are often overloaded and compliance risks arise.

Professional complaints procedures create traceability for customers and supervisory authorities, reduce escalation risks and strengthen reputation. Transparent processes, reliable response times, scalable systems and precise, near-real-time reporting that enables well-founded decisions and identifies potential for improvement at an early stage are crucial.

The path to effective complaint management

Effective complaint management does not happen by chance, but through clearly defined structures, clean processes and coordinated interaction between all parties involved. It is crucial to systematically establish and interlink the central building blocks – from governance and process management to data quality and reporting. The following guide shows how organizations can set this up step by step and which factors make complaint management really effective.

Clearly define governance and responsibilities

Effective complaints management starts with robust governance. It is crucial that responsibilities are clearly defined and that operational management, quality assurance and escalation channels are clearly interlinked.

A clear allocation of roles creates transparency:

• Strategic responsibility defines the basic direction of complaints management, prioritizes issues and decides on higher-level escalation cases.
• Operational responsibility controls day-to-day operations, coordinates the areas involved and ensures that procedures, guidelines and processes are coherent.
• Method and structure support accompanies the introduction and further development of the processes and tools used, ensures consistent standards in documentation and control and supports specialist departments during implementation.

Design processes consistently and document them comprehensibly

A complaint management system will only be fully effective if processes are thought through end-to-end, technologically supported and professionally validated.

Central elements of a functioning process design are:

• Service desk structure with clearly defined input channels and a consistent intake process that structures, prioritizes and classifies requests.
• User-centered processes – developed with a focus on comprehensibility, efficiency and regulatory requirements. Usability tests help to avoid media disruptions and keep processing paths lean.
• Legal and technical review, which is involved at an early stage in order to take legal requirements into account, avoid risks and ensure consistent decision-making practices.

Set up interfaces cleanly and work in compliance with data protection regulations

Complaints often affect several organizational units – from customer service and specialist departments to legal and IT functions. For information to flow reliably, clearly defined interfaces and a consistent data protection concept are required.

Key aspects are:

• Legal and data protection interfaces, for example when processing sensitive personal data or reviewing individual decisions.
• Technical integration through stable IT services that enable secure data exchange, guarantee system availability and support interfaces to existing systems.
• Coordination mechanisms that ensure that responsibilities are clearly assigned along the process chain and that information is not lost.

Qualify employees and provide targeted support for operations

People are the key to a functioning complaints management system. This is why a systematic qualification and deployment concept is needed that supports both the start and ongoing development.

These include:

• Capacity and deployment planning that ensures that sufficiently trained employees are available and that workload peaks can be reliably absorbed.
• Targeted training that teaches conversation management, de-escalation, documentation logic and professional criteria and thus enables consistent processing.
• Accompanied introduction and stabilization phases in which quality assurance, close monitoring and short feedback cycles help to refine processes, establish routines and strengthen employees in their day-to-day handling of complaints – regardless of whether the launch takes place in one big step or in iterative adjustments.

Anchoring reporting and systematically managing improvement

Complaint management only fully unfolds its value when data is not only recorded, but also available in high quality and intelligently evaluated. Effective reporting creates transparency, provides a reliable basis for decision-making and shows at an early stage where adjustments need to be made.

Important building blocks are:

• Clean data collection and reliable data quality, for example through uniform classifications, clear documentation standards and automated validation mechanisms. Only precise, consistent data allows well-founded analyses.
• Regular, real-time reports on volumes, throughput times, categories, trends and escalations – tailored to management, specialist departments and regulatory requirements.
• Modern analysis and visualization tools that enable both quantitative and qualitative evaluations, make patterns visible, present causes in an understandable way and identify opportunities for process optimization.
• Continuous improvement cycles that bring together operational experience, data analysis and feedback from the organization and thus contribute to better decisions and more stable processes.

Industry-specific challenges

The burden is particularly high in some sectors. An overview from the specialist analysis:

Public sector

The federal, state and local authorities have to process official and technical supervisory complaints, are subject to high reporting obligations and at the same time are under pressure from political and social expectations. Different IT systems and a shortage of resources make uniform processing and transparency difficult.

Energy supply

Energy suppliers are exposed to high volumes of complaints, particularly when it comes to price changes. At the same time, they have to meet strict requirements from the Energy Industry Act and EU regulations. Scalable systems and a high level of deadline control are crucial.

Telecommunications

The Telecommunications Act obliges providers to ensure barrier-free access and timely processing. Typical reasons for complaints are network quality, contract terms and faults. Heterogeneous systems often make consistency difficult here.

Banks, insurance companies and financial service providers

Incorrect bookings, benefit decisions or contractual disputes create high escalation risks. Regulatory requirements demand transparency and consistent documentation, which can quickly overwhelm manual or isolated processes.

Post, logistics and e-commerce

Increasing expectations of delivery speed and service quality are leading to growing pressure to complain. Automated workflows and fast response processes are becoming a competitive factor.

Travel industry

Cancellations, refunds and delays generate high volatility in the complaints situation. Scalability and transparent communication are particularly important here.

Limits of traditional systems

Despite regulation, there are deficits in many places. Common problems are

• Fragmented, non-integrated system landscapes
• High processing times during peak loads
• Insufficient evaluation of complaint data
• Lack of documentation
• Lack of scaling options

Such structures prevent uniform control and increase the risk of errors, inconsistencies and compliance violations.

Effective complaint management strengthens quality and trust

Today, modern complaint management is much more than the structured processing of individual concerns. It forms the basis for systematically using customer feedback, identifying quality risks at an early stage and making your own organization more resilient. The importance of clearly defined processes, transparent communication and reliable documentation is particularly evident in industries with high regulatory requirements or highly fluctuating complaint volumes.

Whether companies or public bodies: Those who not only respond to complaints, but actively use them as a source of information, create the conditions for better services, more stable processes and a higher level of trust. A professionally designed complaints management system not only contributes to compliance with legal requirements, but also strengthens relationships with customer groups and citizens in the long term.

Co-author: Dr. Doris Reisinger, Expert for Reporting & Analytics, Advisory, KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft

KPMG Law and KPMG support companies and public institutions in complaint management processes. Further information on our Complaint Management as a Service services can be found here.