On Tuesday, a Singtel landline outage disrupted calls to emergency services, healthcare institutions, banks, and businesses across Singapore. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said calls to 995 and 999 were affected, adding that they were working closely with the service provider to resolve the matter. Singtel alerted customers to the issue in a Facebook post at about 3.40 pm. At around 3.50 pm, more than 2,700 reports relating to the telco had been filed on outage tracking website Downdetector. In an update at about 5.05 pm, Singtel said its engineers have isolated the problem.

As an insurance executive, you know that disruptions like this can have a significant impact on businesses and individuals. In this post, we’ll explore some of the lessons we can learn from the Singtel outage and what you can do to protect your clients.

Lesson 1: Have a Backup Plan

The Singtel outage disrupted emergency services, healthcare institutions, banks, and businesses. It’s a reminder that even the most reliable systems can fail. As an insurance executive, you need to ensure that your clients have a backup plan in place. This could include backup power supplies, alternative communication channels, and contingency plans for business operations.

Lesson 2: Communication is Key

During the Singtel outage, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF) advised the public to SMS them instead of calling. This is an excellent example of how communication can help mitigate the impact of an outage. As an insurance executive, you need to ensure that your clients have clear communication channels in place, both internally and externally.

Lesson 3: Real-Time Data is Essential

The Singtel outage highlights the importance of real-time data. With real-time data, businesses and emergency services can quickly identify and respond to issues. As an insurance executive, you need to ensure that your clients have access to real-time data and analytics to help them make informed decisions.

Lesson 4: Parametric Insurance Can Help

Parametric insurance is a type of insurance that pays out when specific conditions are met. For example, if a business experiences a power outage that lasts for more than a certain amount of time, they could receive a payout from their parametric insurance policy. Parametric insurance can help businesses and individuals mitigate the financial impact of disruptions like the Singtel outage.

In conclusion, the Singtel outage serves as a reminder that disruptions can happen at any time. As an insurance executive, it’s your job to help your clients prepare for these disruptions and mitigate their impact. With Riskwolf, you can turn real-time data into insurance. Using unique real-time data and dynamic risk modelling, we enable insurers to build and operate parametric insurance at scale. Simple. Reliable. Fast. Contact us today to learn more.

Source: Singtel outage disrupts emergency calls and banking services across Singapore