CSC’s BPO Operations Weather Florida Hurricanes

The 2004 hurricane season was one of the worst on record, racking up more than $20 billion in insured losses from the four storms that slammed into Florida.

Serving several Florida-based property and casualty insurance companies, CSC’s business process outsourcing operations (BPO) in Sarasota experienced an 80 percent increase in the volume of customer service calls during the four hurricanes. Despite a mandatory evacuation of the Sarasota area, CSC was able to shift work to another operations center and maintain services without interruption.

While hurricane-force winds were pummeling the Florida panhandle, CSC’s BPO customer service staff in South Carolina kept back-office services functions running seamlessly to insurance customers. CSC customer service representatives maintained a 97 percent call answer rate – exceeding contractual obligations of a 95 percent answer rate. Calls were handled seven days a week throughout the storm period by balancing the workload between CSC’s operations in Florida and South Carolina.

“CSC’s BPO team supported our clients through extraordinarily difficult times and delivered outstanding results,” said CSC’s Jane Smith, senior vice president, Property and Casualty Outsourcing Solutions. “We prepare for a wide range of catastrophic events from hurricanes to power outages, and that extra planning certainly pays off.”

In advance of the 2004 hurricane season, CSC’s BPO operations moved into preparation and planning mode. CSC updated and tested its business resumption plan and held joint catastrophe planning meetings with customers and third-party administrators for claims to review all system or process changes. As the first storms approached Florida, CSC provided support for additional telephones and system connections. The team also executed the customers' business controls, such as placing restrictions on agents’ authority to bind new business. Agents are notified immediately with CSC’s Web-based services.

During the hurricanes, CSC’s commercial lines BPO clients in Sarasota experienced no interruption in service. CSC used in intranet portal for storage and common access of business resumption plans and process documentation. When the Sarasota operation closed during the Hurricane Charley evacuation, calls were routed to the Columbia, South Carolina operations center – a process that was transparent to customers.