As the peak of hurricane season approaches, the insurancecommunity is holding its breath, wondering what the coming monthswill bring. Everyone seems to agree that the best protectionagainst disaster is an effective preparedness plan–one that iswell-thought-out and quickly implemented when an event is imminent.The AMS Users Group recently recognized Gulfshore Insurance inNaples, Fla., with its Automation Excellence Award for using atechnology-based disaster plan earlier this year to restore agencyoperations and resume customer service within 24 hours after beingstruck by a category 3 hurricane.

Our agency is located on the St. Lawrence River, a largewaterway that violent windstorms can turn into a churning torrent.In February ice chunks the size of cars and buses, driven by strongwinds, slammed against our town's docks and waterfront buildings.Afterward, many of our customers called us to report resultingdamage, but only one person believed he had insurance coverage forwind-related loss.

Last month, the New York State Insurance Department issued acircular letter advising agents to educate their customers aboutflood insurance and to emphasize that standard homeowners andbusiness policies do not cover flood-related losses. In July,central New York state–a region not normally prone toflooding–received almost 11 inches of rain in less than two days,resulting in widespread and severe flooding. Most homeowners andbusinesses that sustained flood damage had no coverage for it.

What do windstorms and floods have to do with agency technology?Technology can help us better prepare ourselves and our insuredsfor natural disasters. Most homeowners assume that flood loss iscovered under their homeowners policies because nobody has evertold them that it wasn't–and their agents probably never asked themto sign acknowledgments to that effect, either. Why not? Becausethe agents were too busy filling out paperwork and performing othernecessary, but time-consuming, administrative tasks.

Sometimes the most difficult thing for an agent to do in thewake of a major loss event is explain to clients that they have nocoverage for it. To avoid that scenario, an agency, as part of itsdisaster preparedness plan, should explain to personal- andcommercial-lines insureds that they will be covered for flood (orearthquake or windstorm) only if they buy a separate policy for it.The agents should then offer such coverage, answer the insureds'questions and document the conversations. Then, if a catastropheoccurs, customers who have purchased coverage will expect to beindemnified and will file claims, while customers who have not willknow they're not covered because they chose not to be, and will beless inclined to file E&O claims against their insuranceagents.

How can agents find time to meet with all their clients anddiscuss coverage for floods and other natural disasters? Agencyowners can help producers and CSRs free up more time for clientcontact by providing them with technology that allows them toperform administrative tasks faster and more efficiently–and makingsure they use it. One way your staff can whittle hours off theirworkload, often with a single mouse click on an icon, is by usingyour agency management system's real-time inquiry feature.

If you've tried unsuccessfully to implement real-time inquirywith a carrier, don't give up. It took us three months, with helpfrom our management system vendor, to work out some of the bugs inour real-time inquiry from a remote office. With patience andperseverance, though, we finally discovered that one file wasn't inthe correct Windows folder on the terminal server–a problem easilysolved. Now our agency enjoys real-time billing inquiry with ourtop four companies, representing over 80% of our total agencyvolume. Verifying the status of a claim, submitting a billing orpolicy coverage inquiry, or obtaining a complete set of loss runstakes less than 15 seconds. Find out how often these tasks areperformed in your agency and how long each takes, then calculatehow much time your staff could save if each action took only 15seconds.

Once you start using real-time inquiry and see how it improvesworkflow, you'll want all your company partners to offer thecapability. As we told one national carrier, ease of doingbusiness, which real-time inquiry fosters, is an important part ofour relationships with both our carriers and our customers.

For years, agent volunteers have worked with vendors andcarriers through the IIABA's Agents Council on Technology (ACT) toturn technological possibilities into realities. Many companies noware focusing more on technology development, but they still needincentive to spend the money required. They want to see agentstaking advantage of the tools already available to them.

By adding real-time inquiry to your agency's repertoire, yousave time not only for your staff but for your companies' employeesas well, and your agents can use that extra time to educateinsureds about flood insurance. Doing so can help you shine thenext time you and your clients face a disaster. It can also helpyou provide better service overall and reduce E&Oexposures.

There are lots of reasons to embrace real-time inquiry. Pickwhichever one you like best and just do it!