Product Recall Australia Case Study

Solution snapshot: 

43,000+ unit voluntary recall

In late 2010, one of our clients required support managing a
national voluntary rework on their essential domestic appliance.
The scale and onsite requirement was outside of the capability of
the existing service network.

Challenges faced included:

• How to manage the rework of 43,000 known units across
Australia with limited existing technicians?
• How to investigate and confirm up to 100,000 additional
units?
• How to manage the volume of expected enquiries once
announcements went public without burdening existing
internal operations?
• How to maintain existing high levels of customer service
and protect the brand reputation?

Datacom was approached due to their experience in
managing technical support and customer service, and
in partnership, designed a highly scalable, national,
multichannel solution, leveraging its existing partnership
with AWA and their network of service technicians.

The Datacom recall solution

Datacom utilised its technology background to build a bespoke
and interactive website for customers to learn about the recall,
validate their eligibility and register their details.

Behind the scenes, a permissions based CRM platform was built
from the ground up, through which B2B links provided seamless
communication between office and AWA field technicians,
whist providing the visibility of each case status for the client,
and automating authorisations for payment. Datacom’s recall
team handled registrations, enquiries and assured customers of
their safety. Procedures were established to provide immediate
escalation for any deemed high risk cases.

Managing the web

Through advanced social media monitoring tools, Datacom kept
the client abreast of online customer sentiment, supporting them
to reach out to customers, and limit any developing concerns.
Datacom was able to track the impact of the recall program
throughout its life-cycle, quickly identifying a positive reaction to
the proactive activities deployed.

Proactive and responsive throughout the life-cycle

Supporting our client to achieve to its goals, Datacom initiated a
customer mail out to affected customers who had not registered,
reducing ongoing costs and exposure. With initial peaks during the
regulated advertising, the team size was flexible dependent on call
volume and agreed service level targets.

Once targets for recall penetration were close to being reached,
Datacom wound down the recall solution, eventually handing this
over to internal operations once targets and manageable call
volumes were achieved.

The results

On handing back operations to the internal operations team, the
recall program had achieved:

• Target of over 80% of all potential units exceeded, with
locations identified and units reworked
• Multi-channel service delivery, including nearly 30,000 inbound
calls and 70,000 direct mails
• Datacom initiative of nearly 100,000 outbound calls to
proactively register customers limited the duration of the recall
program, saving the client time and money
• No bad press regarding the recall
• Zero cost for any additional public advertisement following the
mandatory public announcements at program launch

An experienced partner

Datacom has supported physical electronic recalls, from
domestic installed appliances, to returnable goods and software,
on a national and regional level. As one of Australasia’s largest
privately-owned IT services companies, with an overall vision to
provide enduring performance and fresh thinking, Datacom uses
its rich technology and service history to drive performance in its
customers’ businesses. Whether it’s cloud services, application
development, unified communications, managed print or Business
Process Outsourcing, we want your organisation to get the
customised approach it needs.