As Hurricane Idalia swept through the greater Tallahassee, Florida region on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, and the pressure of opening dove hunting seasons in a majority of its states, Brandt’s operations faced a significant test of its operational resilience. Despite power outages, personal safety, and logistical challenges posed by this natural disaster, Brandt’s service to its state agency partners remained strong. Thanks in part to comprehensive preparation and robust continuity plans, public users and state agency personnel continued to receive uninterrupted, high-quality service.
With every state’s licensing and reservations solution supported by redundant cloud hosting located across the United States, Brandt’s online solutions maintained its 99.99% uptime average.
Brandt’s remote workforce has expanded over the past few years with recent adoption by the contact center for remote contact center agents answering phone calls. Even with backup generators at their headquarters to offer respite for employees in need, contact center agents had the ability to dial in from their remote location when their shifts began throughout the day. “Our contact center agents geographical spread, and diligent planning of the managerial staff with staged shift starts made Wednesday, like every day, a success in the contact center,” said Tariq Mirza, Vice President of Service Operations at Brandt. Staffing and caller data are closely monitored to ensure quick times to answer and time to resolution. “Wednesday was just another day in the office with a little more pep in our step as the storm went by.”
Remote contact center agents played a crucial role in ensuring the continued operation of essential services, even during power outages in the wake of the hurricane. On Wednesday alone, 2,138 calls were handled and 483 card documents were printed for mailings.
Service, stability, and security are critical to Brandt’s state agency partners and their public users. “Our clients are at the forefront of every business decision we make, and it is times like these, that validate the positive impact we can make as an organization by staying miles ahead of today’s concerns” exclaimed Mirza.
Brandt has consistently organized donations and supplies support to those impacted by Hurricanes and other natural disasters for many years including those in Louisiana and Florida. Our thoughts go out to those impacted in our area, particularly the Perry, Florida community just east of Tallahassee as well as the path up Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.