Technology Boosts Agent Response To Storm

But we also learned something else. Regardless of the specific predicted track of the storm, it is critically important for businesses and individuals to appropriately prepare for the worst in an effort to reduce risks. In the hurricane's aftermath, we learned that technology can play an increasingly vital role in speeding and easing recovery for agencies, as well as the clients and claimants they serve.

First-Hand Account

As Hurricane Charley was bearing down on Florida, I was in a meeting in Orlando with fellow executive committee members of our agency management system user group. Initial reports led us to believe we'd see modest impact, but as Friday morning rolled around, it became increasingly apparent that we were in line to feel the brunt of the storm's force.

While we attempted to work through user group strategy issues, our thoughts increasingly turned to disaster preparedness personally and for those in the storm's path. My thoughts, as an independent agent, were with fellow agency professionals in various parts of what would be the affected area, who I know through our national trade association and user group. I hoped they were ready for the hurricane.

I recalled an article a fellow user group board member wrote for this magazine just a couple of months ago that discussed disaster preparedness from an agency perspective. (See "Agencies Beware: 'Missing Link' Can Doom Disaster Planning," Aug. 23/30, page 24.)

One of the key points was that agencies should make sure their system backup is available and useable. The article noted that these backups could be done locally or remotely, using firms that specialize in creating, storing, then making these backups available when the need arises. It also stressed the importance of keeping phone numbers handy especially those of agency software providers.

As the storm passed and word started coming in from agencies about their experiences, I was gratified to read a note from one of our system users who was prepared.

Getting Back To Business

The agency has an office in Charlotte County, Fla., about 10 miles from Punta Gorda where the storm made its surprise landfall and where a tremendous amount of damage was done and another just north, near Port Charlotte, another area devastated by Charley.

The office manager wrote to our user group headquarters, noting that several agencies she was aware of in the cities and towns most heavily hit were up and running with backup generators or were operating out of remote locations in neighboring communities. Having generators on hand and being prepared to reopen shop in unaffected areas also are key elements of a good disaster readiness plan.

The user's agency closed up shop on Thursday afternoon, when it seemed likely the offices would be right in the path of the storm's fiercest winds to the east of the eye. On Friday, the storm veered east, and the office was spared physical damage, but power was lost until crews arrived from neighboring states to restore it. On Friday evening, after the hurricane passed, the office manager took out her flashlight, her list of vendor numbers and her cell phone, and started calling.

She contacted her agency's disaster recovery services firm, which backs up the agency's customer data to a facility in Massachusetts. That company conducts automatic data backups continuously and transparently via the Internet, and stores them at a secure location. The service provides another level of protection to augment the manual backups done regularly at the agency itself.

The recovery firm got in touch with the agency management system vendor company and, in the wee hours of Saturday morning, a download began that would allow agency staff to work using remotely-hosted data accessed from any Internet connection. The office manager wrote that it was a great relief to get a call at 8 a.m. Saturday, letting her know the agency was live on the ASP-based system. At 8:05 a.m., the first claim walked through the agency's front door a man whose home was a total lossand the agency was ready to respond.

Technology Supports Claims

Response to Hurricane Charley claims has been bolstered by other technologies, as well. Regional property-casualty carriers could deploy Internet-based mapping technology to speed service to Hurricane Charley victims. The carriers could use the technology to provide a visual representation of then-current claims, and identify areas with the highest concentration, so it could deploy adjusters and establish temporary claims offices where they were most needed. The technology allows the carriers to streamline the claims process and more quickly assist victims and the independent agents who serve them.

The technology also helps carriers analyze the storm's track and damaging wind fields in the context of its insureds' locations, which had been geo-coded. This let insurers actually predict the number of claims, then plot the locations of losses as they are reported. This helps claims managers assign resources, and helps individual adjusters organize their day so they can cover losses that are close to each other.

Many carriers deployed technology in ways not previously used after a major hurricane. Some set up satellite-equipped units that operated as miniature versions of full-fledged claims offices. They came equipped with phones, fax capabilities, Internet access and more.

Technology allowed much of the work done in these offices and land-based ones, as well to be completed without using paper. Customers could get policies verified on the spot, have claims numbers created instantly, get adjusters assigned in a matter of minutes, not days, and start the settlement process rolling much more quickly.

Hurricanes aren't the only disasters that face our businesses. It's always appropriate for agencies to pull out their disaster plans and make sure they address the latest technologies those they use in the office and those that can help with response. It's important that we, who are on the front line, set the example, and are best prepared. Our communities are depending on us.

Stu Durland (sdurland@seely-durland.com) is vice president and co-owner of the Warwick, N.Y.-based Seely & Durland Inc. insurance agency and president of Altamonte Springs, Fla-based Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet), the international user group of Applied Systems technology.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, October 1, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.