Fairmont Retail: unified customer support, 3 languages, −58% in costs.

Context

In January 2025, Fairmont Retail found itself with a fragmented customer support operation: regional call centers spread across multiple geographies, with inconsistent training and quality, and a freelancer for English emails. NPS had collapsed to 12. Response times were out of control (average 28h on email, 14 min on chat).

Internal teams were spending 40% of their time mediating escalations between vendors. Costs were climbing: €1.2M/year for a service that was damaging the brand.

Engagement scoping

We proposed a full takeover over 3 months, structured in 4 deliverables:

• Audit of existing flows and measurement of volumes by language/channel
• Writing of 240 SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• Hiring & training of a team of 18 agents in Antananarivo (scalable to 28)
• Deployment of a unified stack: Zendesk + Intercom + WhatsApp Business

"The IHAENG pitch was simple: 'We take it all on, we deliver written SLAs, and if it doesn't work we refund the first 90 days.' No other vendor would commit that far." — Stéphane B., COO Fairmont Retail

Transition methodology

Phase 1: discovery (weeks 1-4)

Three IHAENG consultants embedded in Fairmont operations. Shadowing of existing agents, mapping of the most frequent cases (late delivery, defective assembly, out-of-warranty service, returns, exchanges), documentation of country-specific details.

Phase 2: setup & training (weeks 5-8)

Recruitment of 18 agents in Antananarivo (native FR, EN C2, ES C2). 3-week training: product (catalog of 4,200 SKUs), internal processes, tools, brand voice.

Stack set up: Zendesk as the central hub, Intercom on-site, WhatsApp Business for post-sale exchanges, SAP (ERP) integration for order data.

Phase 3: progressive ramp-up (weeks 9-16)

Staged cutover:

• Week 9: 10% of FR volume transferred, dual IHAENG + internal supervision
• Week 12: 50% FR, 10% ES, email only
• Week 14: 100% FR + ES, all channels
• Week 16: full handover of EN + DE (DE required local hiring in Casablanca)

Phase 4: stabilization & continuous improvement

Weekly QA on 5% of interactions, monthly reviews, macro optimization (average handling time cut from 9 min to 5 min 30 over the first 6 months).

Results

After 12 months:

• Total costs: €1.2M/year → €500k/year (−58%)
• First Response Time: 28h email / 14min chat → 4h email / <90s chat
• CSAT: 68% → 92%
• NPS: 12 → 43 (+31 points)
• First-contact resolution rate: 41% → 78%
• Volume handled: +35% (e-commerce expansion absorbed with no additional hiring)

What made the difference

1. Progressive migration: no big bang. Customers felt no disruption.
2. Obsessive documentation: 240 SOPs written and maintained as a "living wiki." Result: a new agent is autonomous in 3 weeks instead of 8.
3. Daily QA: a QA Lead reviews 50 random interactions per day. Weak signals are corrected before they become friction points.
4. SAP integration: agents see orders, deliveries, and stock in real time. No more "let me get back to you, I need to check" back-and-forth.

Extensions

Since then, Fairmont Retail has entrusted us with:

• Product review moderation (45,000 reviews/month)
• Returns back-office (RMA processing)
• Product catalog data entry across 3 new markets (NL, IT, PT)