CQ Guide: Don’t Just ‘Manage’ Complaints, But Derive Insights from Complaints Data

At ComplianceQuest, we recently published a Whitepaper titled “Complaint Handling Made Easy for Large Med Device Enterprise Companies with a Next-Generation EQMS”. The paper highlighted the following topics related to quality management:

  • Automation of the process of handling complaints
  • Why a well-designed process for handling complaints is critical to improve quality performance
  • In a number of sectors like pharma and medical devices, there are regulatory requirements associated with complaints. The paper covered how some of these regulatory submissions can be automated with a modern EQMS solution like ComplianceQuest

To download the full paper, visit: https://www.compliancequest.com/whitepaper/complaint-handling-made-easy-with-next-gen-eqms/

In this CQ Guide, we talk about how medical device companies must do whatever it takes to not only “manage” complaints but derive insights from complaints data. A data-driven process for analyzing complaints – with the right analytical capabilities – will definitely enhance quality performance.

Looking for a modern EQMS solution for better complaints handling? Wouldn’t it be wonderful of your EQMS solution can automatically analyze complaints data and prioritize corrective actions by risk level or priority?

With CQ EQMS, all of this is possible. Request a demo here:
https://www.compliancequest.com/online-demo/

complaints-data

Complaints Data: A Gold Mine

“Ugh! That’s yet another complaint we need to deal with. This is really bad.”

“Ah! The data from this complaint is extremely valuable. Yes, I agree we should have avoided it. But this data point is going to help us build a much better product over the long run.”

These were very different reactions from two medical device manufacturing leaders at the same company. One of them looked at the complaint with a negative mindset. He was justified. The product defect should have been caught before it reached the customer, and more importantly, before it affected the end-user. In the short-term, a complaint is certainly bad news. It affects the reputation and trust a company has built through several years of dispatching quality products into the market.

Yet, sometimes, mistakes happen. And they have to be handled with the right frame of mind. That is where the approach adopted by the second quality leader comes in. Okay, the problem has happened. But, what next? How do we capture data, facts and information about the complaint and put it through a well-designed CAPA and RCA process? Using complaint data the right way – with a positive mindset of long-term, continuous improvement – will certainly help with overall quality performance.

Better Complaint Handling: Direct Impact on Customer Experience

For business leaders and marketers, the phrase “customer delight” is not new. But, customer obsession is slightly more. It refers to how each and every aspect of what a customer is saying and experiencing about your product or service makes a big difference to your internal operations. It needs to be captured and acted upon.

The loyalty of customers lies with those who not only provide them with a quality offering but also with the ones who respond very quickly when things go wrong.

While enterprises are certainly aware of this need to deliver high-quality customer service at all times, for some reason they are unable to operationalize this. Specifically, companies often struggle to do the following:

  • Act swiftly to resolve a complaint and deliver a solution to the customer.
  • Prevent repeat occurrences of the same mistakes.
  • Using complaint data for risk management.
  • Take corrective and/or preventive actions with agility.
  • Collaborate with key stakeholders -- across teams -- to resolve complaints.
  • Derive insights for the future from complaints data.
  • Collaborate with a supplier, when resolving a complaint requires their support.
  • In regulated sectors, handling regulatory submissions around complaints is also a challenge.

The only way to do this right is to embrace automation and digital transformation. A well-designed complaint management workflow, coupled with a flexible, scalable, and cloud-based complaint management solution is a no-brainer in today’s context.

12-Steps to Better Complaints Handling

Businesses can manage their complaints workflow from intake to remediation and continuous improvement using ComplianceQuest’s Complaints Management solution, part of the EQMS solution built on the robust and scalable Salesforce platform:

1. Businesses receive customer complaints and feedback from various touch points such as website, mobile app or phone call, which is recorded and routed for further triaging using ComplianceQuest’s In-take feature.

2. Complaints are automatically queued and the relevant complaint coordinator/manager notified for further action using Triaging and Initiation.

3. Businesses can identify reportable adverse events as well as the type of report leveraging the embedded Regulatory Submissions and Decision Tree functionality.

4. Manage regulatory assessments and timelines for regulatory submissions using the Regulatory Assessments and Submissions feature.

5. Gain a better understanding of performance and stability of components and access valuable inputs for root cause analysis in Product History Review.

6. Complaint handlers from multiple sites and subject matter experts from the supply chain can collaborate for Investigation and Root Cause Analysis.

7. Systematically evaluate complaints against CAPA requirements and access CAPA results such as investigations, CAPA actions, effectiveness plans and verifications with CAPA Evaluations.

8. Collaborate using an online portal, a central repository for information, chatter for in-house social networking, and a transaction-based communication approach using the Communication and Collaboration feature.

9. Seamlessly integrate with the CRM to provide end-to-end visibility and timely response to customer complaints using CRM Integration.

10. Access customer complaints on the go and initiate appropriate responses without delays with this Mobile-Ready solution.

11. Like and follow relevant records in the system and be notified via email, dashboard, and mobile to stay abreast of developments as the solution is enabled for Social Like and Follow.

12. Utilize pre-developed best-practice-based reports or customize reports and dashboards for faster decision-making with Reporting and Analytics.

As most of our customers will vouch for, the ComplianceQuest EQMS workflow is future-proof. It is scalable, flexible and customizable, making it the choice keeping both short-term and long-term plans for your business in mind. For instance, you could start by implementing Document Management and Complaint Management to solve a problem today. Overtime, it can be extended to include Supplier Management and Training Management, among others. 

CQ Checklist: Complaint Insights

  • Have a single source of truth to capture complaints data
  • Push complaints data to your Risk Management Process
  • Prioritize handling of complaints by risk level
  • Use predictive analytics to predict future risks and take preventive action
  • Track agility and effectiveness of corrective/preventive actions taken
  • Don’t always look at complaints data in a silo; Look at it in tandem with audit findings, risk levels, training status, etc.

To request a demo of CQ EQMS solution, visit: https://www.compliancequest.com/online-demo/

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