LAS VEGAS--Insurers can't ever count on a year of small disaster losses and need to be continuously prepared for a major catastrophic event to ensure customer satisfaction, an insurance executive said.

Juan Andrade, executive vice president property and casualty claims for Hartford, Conn.-based The Hartford, gave that advice today at the conclusion of the National Underwriter Company's 11th annual ACE (America's Claims Event) conference here.

He said a major lesson learned from recent catastrophes is there is no off-season for these events and insurers need to be prepared to respond quickly or risk damage to both reputation and customer loyalty.

"We can all hope for a light season, but to service our customers, we must be prepared for [catastrophes] year after year," said Mr. Andrade.

Even though last year was viewed as a light season, he said there were a significant number of catastrophe events. So far this year there have been 204,000 catastrophe claims filed, he noted. The number of catastrophe claims averages 2.6 million per year, he added.

Population growth in catastrophe-prone areas translates into the need for insurers to concentrate on providing services rapidly and efficiently in the future to more victims, he counseled.

Failure to be prepared and to be properly staffed for these events will lead to poor service, which damages the brand of both the industry and the carriers, he observed.

Events such as Hurricane Katrina have led to negative publicity and a feeling that "we are getting beat up by people outside of the industry" with numerous cases of litigation and attempts to pass onerous legislation, he said. "We are defined by the worst-case scenario," Mr. Andrade remarked.

To meet these ongoing challenges he said it is essential for insurers to meet the expectations of customers, agents and employees by improving communication and service. The industry, he continued, must perform "more reviews and learn from mistakes to improve the process."

For The Hartford, the company learned it needed to communicate better with customers both before and after a catastrophe event. Communication before the event entails e-mails and phone calls assuring customers the company is ready to respond and informing the customer what they need to do both before and after a disaster strikes.

Mr. Andrade explained the company realized after 9/11 that it needed a designated catastrophe unit and enlargement of its staff of in-house adjusters. He said some executives argued that such a unit was a waste of money because the staff would have little to do when there were no events. Contrary to this, he said, the teams are continuously working to prepare for catastrophes, assisting with claims overflow from different regions of the country and clearing up remaining claims from prior catastrophe events.

The company has invested in technology and facility planning that allows it to function if offices are caught in a catastrophe event. He stressed the need for redundancy and resiliency in planning to this end.

"You are no good if you are out of business yourself," Mr. Andrade pointed out.

As a result of lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, he said, adjusters in the field now have GPS systems to locate policyholders' properties and satellite phones to communicate with offices when the communication infrastructure is destroyed.

A major concern for the customer is quick payment of the claim. Mr. Andrade said the Hartford has adopted the use of a debit card that is activated the following business day for customers to begin using to get back on their feet--something that is easy to use, easily replaced if lost or stolen, and without credit risks.

After an event, the Hartford takes surveys from those involved in the event to measure how well it has performed and to identify areas of improvement, he said.

"We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our companies and, more importantly, we owe it to our customers to be the very best in the worst of times," said Mr. Andrade. "And when we are at our best, our customers win also."

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