October 2024 update

Awards and winter preparations

The weather forecasters are predicting a tough winter so we have been preparing for the worst, and this month we have issued an article detailing how we manage surge which is well worth a read. This month we also bring news on the latest winners of the quarterly supplier awards and details of another award winner amongst our talented team of Revival technicians.

La Niña is coming

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting that La Niña is coming this winter. There is a 71% chance of it emerging from September to November and it is expected to persist through January to March.

La Niña brings stronger than normal winds and an especially cold winter and previously it has brought us:

• 2021 – Winter weather and Storm Darcy – one week in February saw strong winds, bitterly cold airflow and heavy snow.
• 2018 – Beast from the East – two days in February/March saw daytime temperatures widely below freezing with strong winds and significant snow.
• 2010 – The Big Freeze – late November to Boxing Day saw two spells of very low temperatures and significant snowfalls: the coldest December in the last 100 years and the coldest across central England since 1890.

Preparation and capability to handle surge periods is the difference between effective action and prolonged disaster, and MA Group already has effective action plans in place. To discover how MA Group is surging ahead of the competition on this front please read our article on our website by CLICKING HERE. Or please contact Haley Elsden, Client Development Director, to find out how we can help your customers this winter and beyond.

Supplier Awards quarter ended September 2024

We are delighted to announce our latest winners of the supplier awards for the quarter ended September 2024.

Virtus Surveyor of the Quarter

an Lancaster is our latest winner of Virtus Surveyor of the Quarter. Ian has maintained regular contact over the summer despite demand being lower. Ian has attended and contributed to the training sessions we have been running and has been available for all claims assigned to him. With the recent spike in claims during September, Ian was ready to travel out of area to assist Virtus and continue to deliver his claims in his positive and helpful manner. Ian takes care to ensure customers are contacted and updated on his travel plans. Claim reports are returned within SLAs, with detailed scope of works included.

Revival Branch of the Quarter

Well done to Revival Sunderland, this quarter’s winner of Revival Branch of the Quarter.  Sunderland is a five-star branch consistently delivering high return rates on CSQs and consistently getting 100% customer satisfaction scores. We receive very few incidents or issues for Sunderland, Paul and the team just get on with it and keep good notes in Pulse on conversations held.

MA Assist Supplier of the Quarter

McAdam Property Group are the winners of MA Assist Supplier of the Quarter this quarter. Tony always has a huge amount of pride in his work, as does his team, and they always try to do the best job possible.  Nothing is too much trouble for them and Tony continually motivates his team to excel in everything they do. McAdam are fairly new to the network, but have made such a good impression so far and are just exceptional.

Events and networking

We have been out and about networking again over the last month.

Some of our Revival team were at the CII event in Wetherby on 8th October, where the theme was A.I. Revival Managing Director, Melissa Bridges, was a speaker at the event and talked about the Symbiosis of People and Technology.

Melissa explained how MA Group uses integrated systems, TREVOR and the psychometry of drying, capacity planning and forecasting, claim profiling and intelligent claim allocation to support our people to deliver a better claims journey and higher levels of customer satisfaction. Our strong combination of data analysis, algorithms and A.I. alongside amazing staff with the human touch have ensured a 116% improvement in start date lead times and a 6-point increase in NPS. To find out more, please contact Melissa Bridges.

A.I. was also the theme at the CILA Claims Professionals Conference in Bath on 27th September. Our David Shimwell was there learning about all aspects of A.I. from the legal ramifications through to how it will practically impact the work of loss adjusting.

The modern topics were a real contrast with the historic venue, especially the drinks reception at the Roman Baths.

More awards for Revival technicians

Not only do we have the BDMA Young Achiever of the Year 2024 in our midst (Jack Gibson of Revival Huddersfield – see August newsletter), but we also have the winner of the BDMA’s Dr Barry White Award for Examination Excellence 2023. We are thrilled that the 2023 winner of the award is Gareth Gwenlan from Revival Belfast!

The award is presented annually in honour of Dr Barry White, a highly qualified BDMA Senior Technician and Honorary Fellow of BDMA who passed away in January 2020. It is awarded to the candidate who has achieved the highest examination scores across all of the BDMA categories in the previous year.

Gareth achieved an outstanding score in the Senior Technician examination and it is an incredible achievement to win such a prestigious award. Congratulations Gareth, an amazing achievement.

MA Group Annual Awards lunch

Our next Annual Awards lunch will be held on 23rd January 2025 at our regular venue, the gorgeous Chartered Accountants Hall in London. As usual, we will be recognising our top performing suppliers and staff and will be laying on a slap up lunch.

This year we are thrilled that Mary Portas OBE will be our guest speaker. Mary is a businesswoman, broadcaster, author and activist who has made her name by creating change.  She is considered the UK’s foremost authority on retail, brand communication and company culture and is probably best known as Mary “Queen of Shops” following her BBC series which premiered in 2007.

In 2009 Mary partnered with Save the Children to reinvent charity shops and to date Mary’s Living & Giving shops have raised more than £30 million for charity.  She continues to be an advocate for sustainability.

Mary was a key note speaker at the 2024 ABI Conference where she talked about the importance of customer service and the positive experience she had during her recent property insurance claims experience.

MA Group MAD awards

Our September winner was Lisa Nelson, Operations Director based in Aylesbury. Lisa has worked really hard building relationships with the in-house loss adjusters at our largest client. One particular adjuster has taken some persuading to use us due to some historic issues from several years ago, but has now appointed us on several claims and is keen to work with us even more in the future. Well done Lisa!