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Delta Outage Spotlights Technology Risks

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Delta’s computer outage on Jan. 29 was over by midnight, but its effects have extended into the week, not only resulting in 170 cancelations on Sunday, but grounding more than 100 flights on Monday and causing many delays. Adding to the frustration was the fact that the company’s mobile apps were also not working.

This latest incident follows another computer outage for Delta in mid-August, when flights were canceled for two days, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Such outages can be costly. A Southwest Airlines outage in July caused more than 2,000 flights to be canceled and cost about $54 million. The August Delta outage, which involved a fire, resulted in cancellation of 2,300 flights over three days and cost the airline $150 million in lost revenue, according to USA Today.

Jim Corridore, an analyst at CFRA Research, told USA Today on Monday that Delta’s computer outage puts a “spotlight on risks of airline technology infrastructure, much of which is old and patched with differing systems.” He said that airlines build new programming over old software, especially after a merger, when computer languages may differ. Programmers’ assumptions about how software will work are sometimes wrong.

While large companies such as Delta would have fewer outages with more testing of their systems, this is an expensive proposition.

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According to USA Today:

Gil Hecht, CEO of Continuity Software, which tests computer systems for large banks and insurers, compared the construction of complex computer systems to a layer cake, with web servers, database software, storage and possibly interaction with other systems such as government computers that check whether passengers are allowed to fly.

“Testing should be done by every single layer and every single business service that participates in the critical infrastructure, and some of them are simply not under the airline’s control,” Hecht said.
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He compared one way of testing to running a car into a tree to see whether the airbags work, which isn’t possible while keeping a computer system working. Instead, testing for a large financial institution or airline must confirm that each layer is configured to work well with all the others, he said.

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“In order to do that, critical infrastructure operators must do much more testing, whether it’s manual by humans or by technology or by any means possible,” Hecht said. “Yes, it costs money. Quite a lot. But if more money and more effort will be driven into testing, we will have far less down time and data-loss events.”

Moving Employees Safely is Critical in Oil & Gas Industry

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oil-rigs
The oil, gas and marine industry has always teetered on the brink of unfortunate circumstances. Oil rigs and oil tankers, by the very nature of their massive size and exposure to the elements, are susceptible to myriad dangers. And when those risks materialize, the safety of the men and women operating these maritime behemoths must take top priority.

In the case of a hurricane, energy giant Shell Oil says it begins evacuating non-essential personnel from offshore platforms and drilling rigs, starting with sites closest to the hurricane’s anticipated path. Like Shell, most of the larger oil companies have evacuation down to a science, particularly during hurricane season. In many cases the evacuation from oil rigs or oil tankers is highly manageable, with no more than a few dozen people having to be transported at times. Thus, in most cases, the evacuees can simply grab a taxi, book themselves into a hotel room, or make other similar accommodations.

But what happens when the evacuation is so immense that you are suddenly relocating thousands of workers to the nearest mainland?

In October 2014, with the threat of a cyclone ready to batter the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, evacuated 15,000 workers from more than 60 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico—all with the need to be transported and lodged.

Anticipating worst case scenarios is a prerequisite. Although travel by executives at the C-suite level in these types of companies is handled with the highest priority, to deal with the constant movement of lower-level workers, many companies enlist the services of travel management companies to coordinate getting personnel from land to rigs, tankers, drills and pipelines and back. This massive orchestration includes coordinating accommodations, lodging, weather alerts, translation services and other types of ticketing.

Certain industries, such as oil and gas, need to send employees to work in the world’s “hot zones.” According to a USA Today report, three Americans were among 38 workers killed in the 2013 siege of an Algerian gas plant in which Islamic terrorists used hostages as human shields after their attempted mass kidnapping for ransom went awry. Seven U.S. citizens survived the attack. This illustrates that the need to move crews swiftly isn’t always at the mercy of weather conditions. This is where a real-time knowledge of the current political climate is necessary, including the best exit points, and how to travel safely within those countries should the need to evacuate a facility arise.

Other times the challenge includes getting workers from a major airport to a remote location—perhaps where a helicopter undertakes the last leg of the trip out to the site. Oil and gas industry travelers also need to realize that the flight on a major airline to get into a somewhat unstable country isn’t the problem; it’s traveling within the country, where options are often very limited.

Fortunately, the recent boom in technology has helped make personnel travel safer, as they can now receive electronic alerts regarding risks such as natural catastrophes, labor strikes, and changes in flight schedules.

There is the potential for a number of problems to arise when operating these marine locations, both weather-related and man-made. And the cost of finding solutions to these situations can often be crippling and costly to a business, both in terms of valuable staff time wasted as well as the difficulty in finding the time or the resources to source viable, inexpensive travel alternatives.

Protecting Key Executives in Global Hot Spots

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The recent suicide bombing in Istanbul and the Paris bombing last November killed and injured innocent bystanders and sent shockwaves around the globe. Such attacks also cause organizations to question international travel out of fear of putting their key executives and employees in harm’s way.global travel

As the risk profile changes in some locations that were once considered safe, it is critical to reassess and more deeply examine company programs to protect business travelers abroad.

First of all, for companies and their insurance advisors, there is no substitute for great advance planning. If a company is contemplating overseas travel and can establish well in advance that there exists a need for key person insurance, the coverage is easier to obtain and more cost effective. The reality is that the heightened awareness around a dangerous trip often results in an insurance need being developed or uncovered with little notice. When this need arises, the underwriting process migrates from the traditional life and disability insurance market to the playing field of high limit or specialized risk underwriters.

In one notable example, a large U.S. company recently made a significant investment in a defense contractor. Shortly after the investment closed, the company named a new chief executive officer and sought to acquire $50,000,000 of key person life and disability insurance.

As of the day of the request, their insurance advisor had eight business days to secure the insurance before the CEO departed for the Middle East, with stops in such international hot spots as Iraq and Afghanistan. Because of the abbreviated time frame, traditional life and disability insurance was not an option. The advisor needed to turn to a specialty underwriter that deals with exceptionally large and complex human capital risks.

Armed with the CEO’s itinerary (see below) and details of the executive’s compensation and equity incentive agreement, the advisor had enough information to present the submission to the underwriters.

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Within 72 hours, a policy was issued that covered the private equity firm’s loss of the CEO directly due to an accidental death or disability, as well as a result of acts of war or terrorism.

Few domestic life and disability carriers possess the ability to underwrite large risks when there is high-risk exposure in the world’s hot zones. Instead, companies and their brokers must work with large international insurers that are willing to deploy meaningful capacity.

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The easiest way for advisors to access these markets is through an experienced U.S.-based correspondent who is skilled at designing and underwriting coverage in these volatile locations. Local correspondents or managing general underwriters also serve to guide brokers through the regulatory complexities that go along with underwriting risks through surplus lines carriers—something most life and health producers have little experience with.

The best brokers are masters at uncovering details from their clients, documenting them and communicating them effectively to underwriters. A well-written cover memo will often be the basis for offering coverage and can be the primary source for pricing consideration. A complete itinerary coupled with security details are the underwriter’s key points of interest, so make sure the information is gathered and communicated as early as possible.

Frequently, specific plans will be classified when working with international defense contractors, but one way or the other, the basic information must be made available. When underwriting coverage in highly hostile areas, rates can vary based on multiple factors, such as security arrangements, travel vendors, length of stay and, in highly hostile areas, rates even vary down to specific latitude and longitude coordinates, often within a single city or locale.

No detail is too small for spelling out the need for the insurance and financial justification, including the purpose of the trip and the client’s specific duties and objectives. This is the information that sets apart a submission and makes it more likely for an underwriter to go out on a limb with preferential pricing and terms.

Keep in mind, when underwriting risks in highly volatile areas—with the propensity for rapid deterioration—it may not be possible to negotiate coverage or a rate guarantee for the entire duration of the client’s journey. It is essential to keep in mind that the best underwriting offers go to advisors who deliver the most detailed and accurate information.

Example of a CEO’s itinerary:

Day 1 – Depart Commercial Air for Dubai

Day 3 – Arrive in Baghdad, Iraq – Transport to Camp Butler

Day 4 – Depart Baghdad and arrive in Dubai

Day 5 – Depart Dubai arrive Kabul, Afghanistan – Transport to Camp Gibson

Day 6 – Fly to Kandahar, Afghanistan

Day 7 – Depart Kandahar, Afghanistan – fly to Abu Dhabi

Day 12 – Depart Abu Dhabi for U.S.

It is important that we don’t allow acts of terrorism to knock the wheels off our economy. Business travel and face-to-face meetings are key elements in making us what we are, so it’s imperative that we mitigate the associated risk whenever possible.

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