Risk Services of Arkansas - September 2019

Risk Services of Arkansas - September 2019

PAUL ROBERTS ON SERVING HIS CLIENTS AND HIS COMMUNITY

Running a small business means wearing many hats. More often than not, CEOs find themselves moonlighting as marketers, customer service specialists, human resources representatives, project managers, and just about any other job that needs doing. That’s why more and more entrepreneurs are exploring automation to free up their time and focus on growing their business rather than just keeping it afloat. Automation on Your Level In the past, automated systems were solely within the purview of big businesses. Applications for organization were either too expensive or too wide in scope to fit the needs of smaller companies, but those days are over. Plenty of tools have been developed to help you and your team reduce workloads and run more efficiently, no matter your company’s size. Reducing the Chaos Unless your business is large enough for several project managers, chances are that every employee is responsible for their own organization. This quickly leads to miscommunication, conflicting schedules, and roadblocked projects. Thankfully, many basic functions of a project manager have been automated thanks to applications like Apptivo. With features to track tasks and submit timesheets, this scalable tool allows everyone to stay up to date on the logistics of business and make coordination a breeze. Response Time Is Everything Many small businesses hesitate to bring “bots” into customer-facing operations because they don’t want to lose their human touch. But humans are busy, and an unanswered request for a quote or a delayed response to a question will quickly give current and potential customers a bad impression. That’s why software like Keap exists. Keap allows you to send automated email responses at the first point of contact. This message can be as simple as an acknowledgement that their message was received and will be answered soon. The important part is that your customers are reassured that they are being heard. Far from making your business more robotic, automated tools allow your team to focus on what they do best. That means more time for thoughtful customer service emails, personalized interactions with customers, and well-executed projects. That’s something you and your clients will appreciate. Let the Robots Do It Automation Has Come to Small Business

P aul Roberts might be new to Risk Services/Insurica, but he’s not new to the insurance business. For the last 11 years, Paul has been a commercial insurance broker in Salina, Kansas. He entered the field after making the switch from working sales and management for a large communication company. You could say that insurance runs in the Roberts family. Paul’s father owned his own insurance agency in Arkansas for 33 years, and his mother worked as an underwriter at a different company for 27 years. “When I was exploring the option of making a career change, I started asking people I knew who they would want to buy insurance from if they were going to buy insurance. Then I sought out that firm and started working for them a couple of months later. “I had some idea of what to expect after talking to my dad about insurance, but I didn’t expect to be building such meaningful relationships with my clients. That quickly became my favorite part of the job. I like being able to watch businesses grow because I was able to help my clients stay stable and become more profitable by analyzing their risk. Watching businesses survive long enough to go through generational handoffs, when parents who founded the business pass the company to their son or daughter, is really rewarding.” In addition to diligently serving his clients as their risk consultant, Paul is also dedicated to serving his community. Before coming to Little Rock, Paul served on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina, was president of the board for the Salina Area Home Builders Association, held various leadership roles with National AMBUCS, Inc., and was a board member for Salina Downtown, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to promoting economic growth in downtown Salina, Kansas. “Over the years, I’ve been intentional about being involved with the community I serve,” Paul says. “I enjoyed finding opportunities where my expertise could make a difference in Salina. It’s my hope that I will be able to continue to make a difference in my new community here in Little Rock.”

As a company dedicated to service, here at Risk Services/ Insurica, we are thrilled to have Paul joining our team.

2 • www.insurica.com • Specialized Insurance Programs for Specialized Industries.

From the Panama Canal to Yucca Mountain

THE WORST RISK MANAGEMENT MISTAKES IN HISTORY

in 1907. In 1914, the Cristobal would become the first ship to maneuver through the Panama Canal. Had de Lesseps practiced any sort of risk management, we might be calling the Panama Canal “La Grande Tranchée” (The Great Trench) today. Yucca Mountain In 1987, the United States government decided Nevada’s Yucca Mountain was the perfect site for a nuclear waste depository. Neither the politicians nor the citizens of Nevada were consulted before Congress approved the project. For the next two decades, the project was plagued with opposition and protests. These protests grew even more intense when it was discovered that the research falsified >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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