Truly Global Complaint Tracking: Consolidating Into A Single Streamlined System

Being the global leader in cleaning, sanitizing, food safety and infection control products and services carries a lot of responsibility—and that's not lost on the more than 24,000 dedicated Ecolab associates worldwide. Listed among "The World's Most Ethical Companies" in May 2007 by Ethisphere Magazine (a global publication dedicated to providing insight regarding the important correlation between ethics and profit), Ecolab is a company with a strong moral compass and high standards.

Ecolab's business units focus on a wide array of cleaning and sanitation solutions for customers all over the world—across divisional markets and geographic boundaries—and they understand that the quality of their products is serious business. Effective handling of customer issues and feedback is critical to their success.

"We know what we do is important for many people and we believe strongly in our mission," says Karl Kriger, VP of Quality.

With operations in over 160 countries, with over 14,000 sales and service associates spread across these countries, effectively managing customer feedback and complaints worldwide had become burdensome and ineffective. The existing system of paper-based processes and application silos had reached its limits and was unable to support growth.

In North America alone, Ecolab had 17 individual systems tracking customer complaints and feedback in a variety of ways using Excel spreadsheets and Access databases, Kriger says. "There was no communication, no transparency, nothing was connected," he recalls of the situation just a few years ago.