Every business, no matter their industry, will say they care about their clients. But how many truly have a customer-first outlook shared by every team member?

Caring about our partners and insureds is truly at the heart of everything guard.me does. It’s more than a values statement; it’s who we are. So, when we decided to create a new model for customer care, it had to be anything but ordinary. That’s where Tony Searle, Director of our Customer Care Centre came in.

“When I joined guard.me, our contact centre was very focused on claims and assistance,” Tony explains. “Though we have always been driven to provide top-notch service, we also knew there was even more we could do to transform and elevate it. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic really sped up our timeline. Suddenly all our staff was working remotely, and we needed to quickly create a true Customer Care Centre that could be a single point of contact for any caller, with any question, by connecting them with a live agent who could provide the help they needed.”

In just a few short months, that’s exactly what Tony’s team has achieved. They’ve built a one-stop solution for insureds to get personalized expert help seven days a week, whether they’re dealing with an illness or accident, have questions about coverage, or need help submitting a claim or booking a mobileDOCTOR appointment.

Technology plays a key role in the new contact centre. With a brand-new phone system, web chat platform, and email management process linked together for better tracking of inbound requests and services provided, the result is better overall care. Soon we’ll be adding the option to connect live with a Customer Care Centre agent directly from the most popular social media channels including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Twitter. While the technology alone makes our service unique in the industry, it’s the personal care our agents provide that really sets guard.me apart.

“Our number-one message to our callers is that we’re here to help,” says Tony. “That means creating a knowledge library so that every agent has access to the latest information ensuring we provide clients with the same consistent answers. It also means recognizing that insureds are often contacting us during very stressful times. The students we serve come from all around the globe and may not be familiar with medical or insurance terms in English. So, we hired a diverse team of agents that can provide help in a variety of languages. And if an agent who speaks a particular language isn’t available, we offer real-time translation services so that insureds can always get help in the language of their choice.”

Continually expanding our level of care to meet challenges means more than the evolution of our Customer Care Centre. It means adding valuable and timely services like our Crisis Response Services, guard.meCARES’ travel assistance program.

Our Crisis Response Services program not only provides helpful services for students abroad like safety check-in, GPS and itinerary-based traveler tracking, it also includes advisory support for lost travel documents or other essential items, in-country translation services, legal assistance and emergency relocation.

Our specially-trained Crisis Response Services agents are available 24/7 to help with any unexpected travel risk emergencies that might arise. It’s just part of our commitment to make sure our partners have industry-leading coverage others simply cannot offer and the benefits that help keep students from harm while protecting the reputation of our partner schools.