Great Lakes Insurance Services Group
On March 19th, 2020 like most businesses we were ordered to shut down our offices and send everyone home. We were faced with circumstances we had never experienced and were left scrambling for ways to stay open and continue to provide the level of customer service our clientele has become accustomed to expect.
In the weeks leading up to the shutdown our upper management team, more specifically Nik Zaphiris, began to assess our situation and determine what we would need to do to be able to “go remote”. Since the shutdown we have implemented 50 new desktop computers that allow all our employees to take their desktop computers and monitors home so they can operate and use our systems.
We instituted at temporary call flow at midnight on March 19th that allowed us to take calls and distribute them to our customer service representatives. Our website is now equipped with a chat feature that allows our clients to talk directly to a representative 24/7, if a representative is not online we follow up with them via email the next day.
This past April and May we have successfully launched a new phone system that incorporate “soft phones” on each individual desktop. These soft phones allow our remote employees to take calls as if they are sitting at their desk.
Just weeks before the shutdown we added a new location under the Great Lakes Insurance umbrella, formerly known as Stephen M. Lawley & Assoc., LLC. This will now be the new Great Lakes Insurance location in Batavia, NY.
Along with all of this we were able to partner with our friends at Red Letter Hospitality, Teresa’s Deli Lakeshore, New Beginning’s Family Restaurant, and Augie’s Pizza Corry, PA to deliver hundreds of meals to first responders and health care professionals throughout the tri-state area. Below is a video we put together showing photos taken along the way.
If this virus has taught us anything it is the strength of community and we are truly grateful to be able to serve our community. As Pete would say; we at Great Lakes Insurance are an agency built on relationships and if this epidemic has made clear that you value your relationship with us as much as we value ours with you. So, it is from the bottom of our heart we would like to thank our many clients for your continued support, we hope you all are safe out there.