"Working round-the-clock over one weekend, Confero set up a fully-staffed Crisis Management Helpline to field calls from 110,000 affected customers."

Who are KPMG?

KPMG are one of the ‘Big Four’ alongside Deloitte, EY and PwC. They are the largest international professional services network in the world and they handle a significant percentage of financial audits for the world’s largest publicly-traded companies. KPMG employ 227,000 people with annual revenues totalling approximately $30bn.

KPMG and Confero

KPMG were appointed as administrators when a major UK retailer with over 400 stores and 11,000 staff nationwide entered Administration.

The brief from KPMG was to establish a call centre helpline facility as quickly as possible because when the news broke, irate yet justifiably aggrieved in-store and online customers would start to call immediately for information on lost deposits and undelivered products.

Over 110,000 customers were potentially affected by the Administration but KPMG couldn’t have foreseen the levels of adverse publicity and angry customers that needed to be pacified quickly and satisfactorily.

The Confero Solution

Over one weekend, the crisis management helpline was set up and an 0800 freephone number was provided. Telephone lines were programmed, the IVR system was set up and messages were recorded.

The initial team of 40 contact centre agents were selected based on their customer service experience. Ongoing and specialised individual and group training at Confero gave our agents the confidence and the knowledge to handle every kind of enquiry and to deal professionally and courteously with disappointed, angry and occasionally abusive callers.

Results

In the first two days, Confero fielded 65,000 calls and subsequently, all of the 110,000 affected customers that called were provided with updates on the Administration as well as bespoke advice appropriate to each individual situation. The helpline operated seven days a week.

The project was deemed a success due to the set-up speed, the close working relationship that was established between Confero and KPMG and the short physical distance between our offices and KPMG in central London. Additionally vital to the project’s success was the availability of high quality, experienced agents at very short notice, their continuous training and the qualities of Confero’s management team.