We can’t predict the future, but we can prepare for it. Disasters of many kinds can strike at your independent insurance agency, and it’s your job to be ready to jump into action. This means not only taking care of the physical needs of your property and staff, but also ensuring you can quickly get back to business as usual.
You can begin by thinking about the types of disasters your agency may face. A few of the most common are:
- Severe weather: Tornado, hurricane, flood, snowstorm, etc.
- Electrical failure: As a result of severe weather, downed lines, or faulty wiring
- Fire: Caused by human error, but also linked with severe weather
- Evacuation: Due to chemical spills, intruders/break-ins, severe weather
- Break-in/intruder: May be a physical break-in or hack in to data/software
In order to be ready when disaster strikes, your agency needs to plan accordingly for each type of disaster so you can address the two most important aspects of your business – your people and your information. Begin by setting up an evacuation plan, adjusting for each instance. Come up with alert systems to help inform employees and their families. Finally, create a contingency plan to help keep your agency running after disaster strikes.
The next most important area is your agency information. It is important to ensure your agency’s data and software are safe and available to continue to support your clients. Make use of cloud-based systems and software providers that ensure proper protection of your data. With a cloud-based system, your agency can be up immediately in the event of a disaster so that your clients never knew it happened.
Our Partner XE clients receive such protection from SIS through our secure servers operating with redundant backups and “always on” security. Read more about our data protection here or contact is today at [email protected].
