IT'S STILL only late spring, and already we're hearing warningsabout the upcoming hurricane season. As many as 15 hurricanes andnine other major storms are predicted in the months ahead. With somuch damage yet unrepaired from 2004, this comes as bad news tothose who live in the hurricane alley of the Southeastern U.S.

Surprisingly, many insurance agents–who provide critical serviceto clients when disasters strike–do not have their own disasterplans. An agency is always better off if it has one. If nothingelse, thinking through the recovery steps and available options inthe event of a disaster reduces some of the immediate shock andleads to a more effective response, should a disaster occur.

In addition to creating a response plan, an agency mustrecognize when to implement it. Wait too long before launching aresponse, and you may find yourself unable to execute the detailsbecause of the speed with which events unfold, especially in arapidly progressing storm.

Agency employees are a critical part of an effective disasterresponse. A good plan anticipates what employees' needs may be andaddresses them first. When their individual needs have beenaddressed, employees are more effective in helping the agencyrespond to its needs.

Hurricanes may be on our minds as their season approaches, butlesser events can have their own disastrous consequences. Forexample, our agency simply lost electrical power for 17 days duringa 1998 ice storm. Most of our clients had claims to file for theirdamage. Our office was intact and we had a disaster plan, but–likemost agencies–we had missed some key elements. For instance, ourplan included a gas-powered generator to provide the office withelectricity. Without electrical power, however, gas stations can'tpump gas–and when they did get the pumps running, long lines slowedaccess to the gas. We also failed to recognize the extent of ourpower needs in winter, such as the extra start-up power largefurnace motors need. Our plan worked well, but it could have workedbetter. We are better prepared for next time, having learned tofactor a wider variety of environmental conditions into our plan.Building more contingencies into our plan now means we are betterable to deal with the fewer unanticipated conditions later.

Creating a list of disastrous possibilities–e.g., hurricanes,fires, computer viruses and security breaches by computerhackers–is fairly easy. A recent personal experience taught me thatsmall incidents we can never anticipate can also cause anear-crisis.

A few weeks ago, my cell phone took a dive into a dishpan fullof water, having been accidentally bumped from its perch on a shelfnear the kitchen sink. It was underwater–in its protective vinylcase–for less than five seconds, and only a small amount of watermade it inside the case.

I set it aside to dry overnight, and in the morning it appearedto work–until I tried to dial a number, and watched as all thephone's functions began scrolling across the screen. By the time Imade the inevitable trip to the cell phone store several hourslater, the phone would no longer turn on. I figured the batterymight have failed. At my first stop, the store didn't have abattery in stock. Two aggravating stops later, I learned thebattery was fine, but the phone was DOA. The cost of my eventseemed to be my lost time and the purchase of a new phone.

More bad news awaited at the time of purchase. If you can't geta phone to turn on, you see, you lose all the information you'veput in it–and I had loaded a lot into mine. This lack of a databackup system is a potential problem with most cell phones. As atechnician explained why I could not access my data, the hours Ihad spent inputting the information flashed through my head. Ibegan frantically pressing the power button on the phone. Suddenly,it turned on. “No problem,” the technician said. “If the phoneturns on, even if none of the functions work, we can retrieve yourcontact data.” Sweet words to hear, and the end of a badexperience.

The phone I purchased had a new data backup feature, which isbecoming more widely available–typically using either an SD card orsynchronization to a base PC. My phone had many contacts that werenot anywhere else in our computer systems, so the loss would havebeen substantial.

Are you ready for this type of unanticipated disaster? If youhave a good deal of contact information on your cell phone,consider at least a paper backup of the data. You never know whenthe unexpected disaster may occur. Add your cell phone and mobileconnectivity device to your list of items to consider in the nextrevision of your disaster action plan. For more information ondisaster planning, visit the www.iiaba.org ACT Web site and selectAgency Improvement Tools for a practical guide to disasterplanning.