Page 31 - COVID-Proof-Your-Agency

Chapter 4 – Take Action | Blew, Caldwell, Masiello

with a desire to continue? Whatever course of action you take, being prepared will help assure

success.

What will your agency look like when the storm clouds recede? More than likely, your

agency, like most, did not have a disaster plan when this crisis erupted. If you did have a plan,

congratulations! You were very unusual. With the lessons learned in this disaster fresh in your

mind, now is the time to collect your experience and use it to prepare a plan in the likely event

that this happens to us again. Remember, the federal government in its planning is estimating

that the COVID-19 may continue to disrupt the United States national economy multiple times

over the next 18 months. Even as your new normal becomes reality, you may need to go back to

your disaster plan sooner than you might like.

Some things to think about in that disaster plan should include making a bigger

investment in laptops for all your staff, so that their essential work tool is more portable. Was

your phone system easily able to handle transferred calls or forwarded calls from your phone

system to all your employee’s cell phones? If not, perhaps this is something you should target for

replacement. If your agency automation system was not based in the cloud, now might be a good

time to make that change. If you haven't enrolled your small business clients and personal

insurance clients in self-service capabilities and insurance companies service centers, perhaps it

might make sense to do that now.

CONTINUALLY REVIEW YOUR PERFORMANCE TO TRANSFORM IT

As you think about how your team performed throughout the crisis, are you satisfied with

that performance, both individually and as a team? Do you have the right people on your bus?

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