FOR nearly a decade, insurance giant Colonial Group International, a Bermuda-based insurance conglomerate with global operations, has taken the terms disaster preparedness and customer service to a higher level with its temporary, portable, post-disaster business continuity office facility for its Bahamian clients.
The facility allows the insurance provider to open its doors to customers within 36 hours of a natural disaster with up to 30 agents ready and available to accept claims, process cheques and provide accessibility to funds.
Beneficiaries of the programme will be customers of the three insurance providers which fall under the CGI umbrella: Security & General Insurance, Atlantic Medical Insurance and Colonial Pension Services (Bahamas). On Monday, February 26 between the hours of 10am - 2pm, the general public is invited to an open-house business interruption exercise. The event will expose the facility in its fullest capacity with giveaways for attendees.
According to CGI'S vice-president of property and casualty for the Caribbean region, Marlon Graham, the idea for the facility was born to service clients in hurricane-prone countries.
"We call it a business interruption exercise," Mr Graham said. "In any event that our offices that are in trouble after an event - whether it be catastrophic hurricanes, fire, flood - our clients will be serviced from this facility within 36 hours of the disaster.
"It's a place where you can come and bring your claims and get your money to start rebuilding. We want to make sure that our clients are well taken care of immediately after a disaster."
The three-unit-facility is a stand-alone, self-sufficient unit with its own power generation equipment, along with an air handling and control system. Customers can be serviced in the comfort of a clean, cool environment, where there is a minimum of 12 fresh air changes per hour and an air conditioning system.
General manger of Security and General Insurance, Paulette Turner, said the event on February 26 will be one that the general public will find to be an interesting experience.
"Our business units will all be set up," Ms Turner said. "Anybody doing business with CGI on that day, can do their business in the facility. People will get a glimpse into how the facility will operate after an actual disaster. You will see a full office in terms of tables, desks, computers, laptops, phones and printers.
"Our clients will see that our phones and our systems will remain up and running in the time of disasters. People may think that information will be lost or that it will take time, but they will have access to everything because we have a backup system. Once our facility is set up, everything will be made available at their fingertips."
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