Whether it is a localised incident or national event, Polygon have the expertise to help customers affected by major flooding.

A storm surge can be one of the most damaging weather events that can take place, which can occur as a result of low and high pressure, leading to heavy rain, snow, flooding and even lightning. When a surge takes place, the damage management industry sees a sudden increase in the amount of weather related claims. Although a surge event may not be one of your greatest concerns right now, it is worth considering that a surge event can transpire at any time.

When dealing with a major flood event, it doesn’t just take skilled expertise from technicians attending policyholders’ properties; there is also a whole team delivering back office support, which can often make or break a situation. In today’s world, customers expect the highest level of customer service. At Polygon, we have developed a ‘Claims Handling Philosophy’ aimed at delivering excellent service on every claim, this is further adapted for our dedicated surge team to deliver exceptional service during a major flood. Their role is to be the guiding voice at the end of the phone during these devastating weather events.

Behind the faces of surge: Q&A with Louise Sevilla

For the last few weeks, Polygon has been highlighting members of the dedicated surge team, so you can get to know the people that are working hard for you behind the scenes, to help support policyholders after a major weather event. Our last chapter in the surge Q&A series, focuses on Louise Sevilla, from the Major and Complex Claims team, who joined Polygon in 2016...

Explain your role and the part you play in the surge process

The projects we handle in Major & Complex Claims (or MCC as it’s known) differ from BAU (business as usual), as they are more complicated, larger and focus on more commercial settings, such as factories, offices, warehouses and churches. A key part of what we do, is establishing the size of the incident and how many workers will be needed in order to get the business back to normal.

My role is to work with my team to ensure the correct resources are in the right area at the right time. Sometimes hotel bookings are needed as well. We ultimately ensure that field managers have all the relevant information they need to make informed decisions to progress the project.

Explain what it’s like to work during a surge

Hectic for everybody and normal working hours go out of the window. Although the processes are pretty much the same, there is a significant increase in the claims we have to handle at the same time. We work with technicians over the weekends to support them, as they are usually working away from home and still need work to be arranged on the go.  

During a surge, you have to be flexible, and be willing to do whatever needs to be done to help and support everybody.

What is the biggest misconception around your role?

Sometimes it could be seen that we have an easy office-based role; when actually the job comes with its own set of pressures. We have to be quick, to the point and not miss any details, on a large volume of claims all at the same time. Otherwise we waste people’s time and money.   

Tell us one fact about the surge process that not many others will be aware of?

When surge happens, it can impact the technicians and us directly for quite some time. Once the technicians have finished the allotted work, the office continues to provide administrative support for a considerable length of time. The news headlines will have moved on but people still need our skills and support to get them back into business.

Any additional insights?

The surge process can be a positive opportunity to learn; as during a surge, we start to get ideas on how we can improve the process further. We learn and improve our service after every surge event and will continue to adapt our processes.  I’ve learnt so much from this role, they say you learn one new thing every day. I believe I learn around 10 new things a day!

Louise’s Q&A brings our surge series to an end. We hope the series has given you some real insight into the Polygon UK response to surge. If you’ve enjoyed the series, then please do share on social and tag us.