January 2021 Newsletter by mliappis

Tech Talk Newsletter

JanuaryÂ 2021 Edition

Right Team Right Technology Simplify

Trending Now Want to know what's new around BTS and Berkley? Grab a cup of coffee and check out some of the things that are top of our minds and hopefully yours!

New Year/New Look We've gotten a facelift! This is the first edition of our Tech Talk newsletter. Take a look through and tell us what you think.

Keeping You in the Loop Have an issue you reported? Keep a look out for emails from BTS keeping you informed as we resolve your issue. No more black holes for tickets.

Microsoft Teams Many of you have asked, and we heard you. We've included a Teams page in this newsletter with lots of information and training around how to use this new collaboration tool.

New Hires - No Problem It's been a pain in the neck for as long as we can remember. Making a smooth onboarding for a new hire is incredibly important -

Simplify for You We're working on making it easier to get what you need - starting with the things you've told us are the biggest headaches.

Customer Experience Projects New Hire Onboarding

Incident Communication

What: Our #1 customer pain point. During 2nd half of 2020, we put together focus groups across Berkley to provide feedback on this process. We've taken your feedback and will be implementing an improved and streamlined process. When: February for pilot companies. Everyone should be up by April.

ALMOST THERE!

What: We need to communicate better with you! We are putting new processes in place to make sure that we are transparent and keeping you in the loop whenever you report an issue. You will know who is working on your ticket, and be in contact with that person throughout the process. We're also going to reach out to you to confirm that your issue is resolved before a ticket is closed. When: We are in pilot now with a few BTS teams. Expanding shortly!

Customer Pain Points These projects are just a start - here are what you've told us we need to work on. New Hire Process Incident/Request closed without being resolved Lack of communication Resolution took too long Difficult to find what you need in ServiceNow

No follow up conducted by BTS Equipment requests Application failures Issues go into a black hole Lack of clarity on what is an Incident and what is a Request

Meet the BTS Experience and Support Team

Service Desk Support Desktop Support ServiceNow Support

Teams

What we do: Single point of contact for all your IT needs Live troubleshooting to get it fixed Fulfills access requests When something goes wrong - we get the right people together Supports US, Canada and Latin America

Desktop Support

What we do: Support and develop ServiceNow tool Develops and maintains the Service Catalog Responsible for weekly Change Management calls

Service Desk

What we do: You've probably seen us in your offices - we're located all over the US in Berkley offices Resolve hardware and software issues - including laptop failures Partner with the Service Desk team to resolve escalated issues and get your new hires set up

ITSM

Get to Know More: Microsoft TEAMS Microsoft Teams is available globally via Desktop application as well as browser as long as you are on the network.

Berkley and MS Teams is a collaborative application based in the cloud for enhancing group productivity. A Team is designed to bring together a group of people that work closely to get things done. Teams can be dynamic for project-based work, as well as ongoing, to reflect the internal structure of the organization (E.g. departments and office locations).Conversations, files and notes across team channels are only visible to members of the team.

Click here for a quick video on what MS Teams is best used for.

Learn about MS Teams Once you have logged into the Teams application you will automatically be part of a "Standards" team that includes the following information: Acceptable Use Information Best Practices Standards

All users can access MS Teams via Chrome browser at the URL: https://teams.microsoft.com from devices on the network.

Training

Interesting Usage Stats Teams Created: 333 Active Users: 3,200+ Meetings Participated in: 4,900+ 1:1 Calls: 10,900+

Want to Learn More?

Check out these courses for Teams on Brainier: Microsoft Teams: Communicating via the App Microsoft Teams: Creating, Joining and Managing Meetings Microsoft Teams: Creating, Finding and Organizing Files

Company Spotlight: Intrepid Direct Insurance We're Intrepidacious...not sure what that means? Click HERE.

The Intrepid team thought starting 2020 with a Super Bowl win (GO CHIEFS!) could only mean it would be the greatest year yet. Our hoops and hollers filled the office as we celebrated with party trays, ping pong, egg races and football-themed charades. Like everyone else, we had no idea our most joyous start would quickly pivot to navigating a global pandemic and social unrest. Just 17 weeks into our most successful year to date, we loaded our arms with monitors, laptops, and notebooks and said "see you in two weeks." We began our journey working from home. Two weeks came and went, then four, then 16â&#x20AC;Śbut in true Intrepidacious fashion, we have created unprecedented wins when confronted with unprecedented challenges. We wrapped the year by crushing an ambitious goal (even without a pandemic), allowing Intrepid to turn a profit for the first time, on schedule. We dug in, elevated our exceptional customer service, hired new talent, reached our most impressive turn-around times yet, and landed some down-right amazing deals in the franchise world - all while over 60% of our team worked from their couch, kitchen table, or while locked in a small closet to escape their kids and pets for just 5 minutes. Ironically, during a year that has forced people apart, we have learned just how close we are. We've managed to find ways to organize socially-distant events where we can connect with each other, our clients, and our community. We've picked up curbside meals from restaurants our clients own, played virtual trivia, and broke out of virtual escape rooms. We kicked off our first social and cultural awareness-driven E-Team ("E" is for empathy) initiative by interviewing an insured about his personal evolution from pizza delivery associate to multi-unit, multi-state Domino's owner/operator. We collaborated with clients to deliver meals to the Ronald McDonald House of Kansas City and employees (all 50 of us) donated over $20,000 to Operation Breakthrough. We learned that with intention and creativity, funny stories, important life moments, innovation, and collaboration can still happen, even if they don't happen in person. Five years ago, we had a dream to redefine the insurance experience for the franchise community. Today, we proudly insure over 6,500 franchise location across the country. Our direct model has saved clients an estimated $24M+ in commission costs alone, and we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be more thankful to our WRB family and team. We can't wait to share what's in store for 2021. From our family to yours, we wish you a prosperous and healthy year.