When a Storm Kicks You Out of the Office, Keep Business Moving

Storm season reminds us that business continuity plans need to support remote operations. By preparing employees to work remotely, organizations can better position themselves for disruptions to their in-person workforce. The goal is to provide producers and adjusters with the support they need to continue meeting deadlines and completing compliance tasks when working remotely by establishing a clear action plan before the unexpected occurs.

Start With Critical Work

A storm can change an organization’s workday in a matter of hours. The disruption can affect licensing, compliance, claims operations, and the people responsible for keeping vital processes moving.

Severe storms can keep employees from reaching the office and power or internet service may be interrupted. An employee who normally handles licensing or compliance requests may only be able to work from home.

A good continuity plan starts by identifying the business processes that cannot be placed on hold. Licensing and compliance may also be part of these processes and should be considered in continuity planning.

Knowing What Needs Attention

During normal operations, it is easy to rely on informal communication. Someone can walk down the hall, check a spreadsheet, send an email, or ask a coworker for an update.

When employees are scattered and working under unusual circumstances, they need access to centralized information that they can access during a disruption.

A strong process gives the team a clear view of outstanding tasks and deadlines without relying on one person’s inbox, desk, or memory.

Priority rules should be established before an emergency. For example, the team may address deadlines within the next five business days first, followed by compliance exceptions, incomplete applications, and routine administrative work.

Keep Work Going

Operational resilience requires that employees be able to perform their work during weather disruptions. Consider access to the systems, information, documentation, and workflows employees use every day.

For licensing and compliance teams, data access is critical. A producer or adjuster may be ready to conduct business while a licensing or appointment issue is still being resolved. Waiting several days for someone to return to the office can create an unnecessary delay.

Cloud-based systems can help reduce reliance on the physical office. Authorized employees can access the information they need from another location, continue working on outstanding items, and maintain visibility into the status of requests.

Build Accountability into the Process

Disruptions can make it difficult to determine who is responsible for certain tasks.

A request sent to someone unavailable may be sitting in an inbox unread. Two people may unknowingly be working on the same issue, or another item may receive no attention at all.

Clear task ownership can help prevent accountability gaps.

Assigning responsibilities, establishing deadlines, and tracking completion gives teams a common understanding of each task. Simultaneously, if another employee needs to step in for someone, they can easily identify which responsibilities require attention.

Not only does task ownership matter during a storm, but it is also a good everyday business practice.

Summary

No insurance organization can control when a storm, power outage, flood, or other disruption will affect operations. However, companies can control how well-prepared their continuity processes are.

Allowing licensing and compliance to depend entirely on access to a physical office or a single person is an invitation for business disruptions.

However, centralizing information, assigning clear task ownership, and creating remote access can help organizations maintain continuity when normal routines are disrupted.

Agenzee provides cloud-based access to licensing and compliance information, along with task and workflow visibility, giving authorized teams another way to stay connected when employees are working outside the office.

The storm may change where the work happens. A strong process helps make sure the work can keep moving.

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