When extreme weather events strike, property/casualty insurance providers can count on a deluge of customer service calls from policyholders with high personal and financial stakes.
Executive Summary
With tornado activity already at record levels in 2025, the demand on insurer call centers is rising, and the human employees tasked with delivering calm, confident service are under stress. Here, Jennifer Lee, Co-CEO of Intradiem outlines how AI-powered solutions can support these agents by providing real-time assistance. Among other benefits, the article reviews how AI can analyze call patterns to identify common issues and anticipate customer needs, gauge customer sentiment and prompt agents to deal with expression of frustration, and also help agents automatically locate needed policy information.Each weather emergency tests the ability of insurance provider call centers to handle that surge, which can be a critical differentiator for any brand.
Customers expect service with speed, precision, and empathy. It’s a real challenge, even for the best customer service agents. But it is just the sort of context in which artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can make a real difference by making it easier for agents to do their best work when it really counts.
Enabling Responsive, Compassionate Service
There were almost 1,800 tornadoes in the U.S. in 2024—the second highest number for any year on record (behind 2004), according to NOAA. That generates a lot of work for call centers. Most storms come with at least some advanced warning, but even if centers add staff to handle the expected wave of calls, it’s impossible to foresee the timing of that wave or the form and extent of the damage. That uncertainty makes real-time visibility an essential capability. Only real-time automation can track call queue metrics as they happen, allowing centers to identify and manage spikes in volume, increases in wait times, and fluctuating rates of abandonment as they occur.
