As an insurance executive, you understand the importance of being prepared for unexpected events. However, even the most well-prepared companies can experience failures that have serious consequences. Telstra’s Triple Zero outage earlier this month is a prime example of this. Here are five things you can learn from this incident to help you better prepare for unexpected events.

1. Have a Backup Plan in Place Telstra’s Triple Zero team had to enact its backup process during the outage, which involved manually connecting callers to the relevant emergency service. While this process was successful for most calls, some had to go through a manual email transfer and callback process due to incorrect phone numbers in the backup database. As an insurance executive, it’s important to have a backup plan in place for when your primary systems fail. This can help minimize the impact of unexpected events on your customers.

2. Test Your Systems Regularly Telstra conducted an investigation to identify the cause of the Calling Line Identification (CLI) issue that caused the outage. They were able to reproduce the issue in their lab environment and are working on a software change to fix the fault in the CLI platform. Regular testing of your systems can help you identify potential issues before they cause serious problems.

3. Communication is Key During the outage, Telstra experienced a communication error that occurred in the heat of the moment. This error may have contributed to the failure of some calls to transfer. As an insurance executive, it’s important to ensure that your communication channels are reliable and that your employees are trained to communicate effectively during unexpected events.

4. Pay Attention to Details Some of the phone numbers for the relevant emergency services stored in Telstra’s backup database were incorrect, which caused some calls to go through a manual email transfer and callback process. This highlights the importance of paying attention to details and ensuring that your data is accurate and up-to-date.

5. Be Prepared to Apologize and Take Responsibility Telstra’s CEO, Vicki Brady, apologized to everyone who tried to call Triple Zero during the outage and took responsibility for the failures that occurred. As an insurance executive, it’s important to be prepared to apologize and take responsibility for unexpected events that have serious consequences for your customers.

In conclusion, the Telstra Triple Zero outage is a reminder that even the most well-prepared companies can experience unexpected failures. By having a backup plan in place, testing your systems regularly, communicating effectively, paying attention to details, and being prepared to apologize and take responsibility, you can better prepare for unexpected events and minimize their impact on your customers. If you want to learn more about how to turn real-time data into insurance, get in touch with Riskwolf to develop parametric insurance for your specific case. With Riskwolf, you can build and operate parametric insurance at scale, quickly and reliably.

(Source: Data Center Dynamics)