UK: Are your Office clients really prepared for a disaster?

Businesses can’t choose what kind of crisis they may face. They may feel resilient and capable of managing a disaster in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, this is often a false sense of security.

The pandemic was a specific type of crisis. While workers had to transition from office to home during lockdowns, their offices were still standing. No flood or fire destroyed their servers, preventing them from accessing business-critical information. Their offices didn’t sustain physical damage, making it impossible to retrieve documents stored onsite.

“We’ve found that 80-90% of office policyholders aren’t thinking about disaster recovery – especially in the current economic climate,” says Dan Edge, Portfolio Manager at Travelers Europe. “Their focus is on running their business in the face of high inflation, supply chain snags, geopolitical conflicts and other post-pandemic challenges. They can’t take time to contemplate the what-ifs.

“But without a comprehensive and stress-tested disaster recovery plan – or access to support from a company that provides one – a company stands a large chance of having business disrupted for a period of days or weeks (at best) or going out of business altogether should a serious incident occur at their premises.”

That’s why Travelers provides support from First Recovery, a disaster recovery and continuity service for businesses, as an added benefit in our Office cover for SME and mid-market businesses.

“First Recovery makes it possible for a business to continue operations without missing a beat following a disaster,” continues Dan Edge. “Travelers is one of the only insurers in the market offering this benefit, which is included as standard as part of our Office product at no extra charge. It’s an easy win for both brokers and policyholders.”

First Recovery in action – a case study

On arriving at their central Birmingham office one morning in March 2024, a Travelers Office policyholder was startled to discover significant water damage to their office, due to an issue with the large water tank in the roof of the building.

With the help of Travelers, the customer made contact with First Recovery and within two hours was offered a choice of nearby locations to accommodate their staff, enabling key business activities to continue with minimal disruption. The very next day, the business was up and running from the offsite emergency accommodation location which was conveniently less than 10 minutes’ walk from their flooded offices. Whilst Travelers got on with reinstating the main office location and fixing the significant water damage, the affected company was able to resume their business.

For many companies, having entire workforces working from home is not practical. Not all office-based businesses can automatically transition to a ‘work from home’ position in the face of a large escape of water loss like this one. In this particular case, the policyholder wanted to keep as many of their staff in the office as possible, for reasons of collaboration and also for file management which was key to their activities. Thankfully, Travelers’ Office proposition, including First Recovery, enabled them to achieve this.

Protection when clients need it most

Your clients may not want to think of needing this kind of protection, but it can sometimes mean the difference between staying in business and not. Because First Recovery is included in both Travelers SME and mid-market Office policies as standard, your clients can enjoy peace of mind, no matter their size, whilst also benefitting from the high levels of protection offered by our core Office covers.

For Travelers Office policyholders, the key elements of the First Recovery benefit include:

• Temporary relocation of the insured’s business and up to 12 employees to one of 500 recovery locations around the UK
• IT network, broadband, reception and printing facilities provided, so your client can get on with running their business with minimal impact to staff and customers
• Reinstatement of email domain and redirection of phone calls
• An event manager who attends the relocation and oversees service delivery on site
• A free online tool to help your clients write a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan.

Full details of the cover can be viewed here (please note, the same cover is applicable to mid-market policyholders). This additional benefit can provide your clients with confidence that they will be able to protect their business, no matter what happens.

To find out more about Travelers SME Office and First Recovery cover, visit https://www.travelers.co.uk/products/etrade-office.

For mid-market Office clients, visit https://www.travelers.co.uk/industry-solutions/office-insurance.

The option to invoke First Recovery at claim stage is at the sole discretion of Travelers.

This document is provided for general informational purposes only. It does not, and it is not intended to, provide legal, technical or other professional advice, nor does it amend, or otherwise affect, the provisions or coverages of any insurance policy issued by Travelers. Travelers does not warrant that adherence to, or compliance with, any recommendations, best practices, checklists, or guidelines will result in a particular outcome. Furthermore, laws, regulations, standards, guidance and codes may change from time to time and you should always refer to the most current requirements and take specific advice when dealing with specific situations. In no event will Travelers be liable in tort, contract or otherwise to anyone who has access to or uses this information.

Travelers operates through several underwriting entities in the UK and Europe. Please consult your policy documentation or visit the websites below for full information.

travelers.co.uk                                             travelers.ie