Know a Business Leader under 40 years old?

Name: Shield Insurance Agency
Address: 3214 Chicago Dr, Hudsonville, MI, 49426
Telephone: 616-896-4600

Posted on May 23, 2022April 25, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Business Leader | Business Insurance | Start A Quote Today!

As a business leader, it’s been a monumental year of change in everything from the way we work and travels to how we buy groceries and invest our savings. (Bitcoin, anyone?) Do you know a rising entrepreneur, influencer, creator, or executive that has shaped the global pandemic experience—and paving the way for what comes next? Nominate someone for the 2022 year here.

GRBJ’s 40 UNDER 40 Business Leader Nomination Form

Thank you for nominating an emerging business leader for GRBJ’s 40 Under 40 class of 2022! Once the nomination form below is submitted, nominees will be contacted to fill out an application form. Application forms must be submitted for nominees to be considered.

Nomination Deadline: June 13
Application Deadline: June 20

Click here to nominate someone!

About the Grand Rapids Business Journal

Since 1983, the Grand Rapids Business Journal has been West Michigan’s primary and most-trusted source of local business news. The biweekly print edition of the Business Journal, a must-read for the area’s top decision-makers, is known as the business newspaper of metro Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon and all of West Michigan.

grbj.com provides the same trusted and objective business reporting that the Business Journal is known for — plus real-time original content, timely e-newsletters/alerts, exclusive blogs and more. Business Journal subscribers receive the biweekly print edition, including bonus publications like the annual Book of Lists.

The Grand Rapids Business Journal is published by Gemini Media, LLC.

Check out more articles at the Shield Blog

Tips Following Northern Michigan Tornado

Posted on May 23, 2022May 23, 2022 by Shield Insurance Agency

FROM: Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services Offers Insurance Tips Following Northern Michigan Tornado

Media Contact: Laura Hall, (517) 290-3779, DIFS-press@michigan.gov
Consumer Hotline: 877-999-6442, Michigan.gov/DIFScomplaints

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2022

(LANSING, MICH) As residents across northern Michigan assess the damage and begin to recover from Friday afternoon’s tornado, the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) is providing tips to assist residents when working with insurance companies to file claims and repair damages.

“DIFS stands ready to assist the residents of northern Michigan as they begin to recover from the incredible devastation wrought by Friday’s tornado, hailstorm, and power outages,” said DIFS Director Anita Fox. “It is important that those who have experienced damage understand their rights and responsibilities when filing insurance claims. They should carefully review their policies and work with their agents and insurers to see what coverage is available to them. DIFS is available to answer questions and assist consumers 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 877-999-6442.”

Anyone impacted by storm damage should:

Contact their insurance company’s claims hotline and/or agent to report the claim. Have the policy number and other relevant information readily available. DIFS has prepared an Insurance Claims Tracking Sheet to make this process easier.
Take steps to protect the property and prevent further loss. Be sure to keep receipts for any purchases of supplies that are needed to protect the property.
Document the loss. Take pictures or videos of the damaged items and do not get rid of the items until instructed to do so by the insurance company.
Review insurance policies to understand their coverage and discuss with their agent or insurer if there are any questions.
If there is water damage to a home or other structure, consumers should tell their insurance company that there is water damage and they are looking to determine what coverage is available. Consumers should not simply state that the damage is due to a flood as there may be additional causes for water damage, such as storm-related rainwater intrusion, sewer backup, or failing sump pump, that may be covered under the policy.
If there is damage to a vehicle, consumers should contact their auto insurance company. They may have coverage for the damage if they carry comprehensive coverage on their auto policy.

More Information

Additional disaster recovery information is available on the DIFS website.

DIFS encourages consumers to first attempt to resolve any claim disputes directly with their insurance company. If a resolution cannot be reached, DIFS will help try to resolve disputes. To learn more and file a complaint, visit Michigan.gov/DIFScomplaints. Anyone with questions or concerns about their insurance coverage is asked to call the DIFS toll-free hotline 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at 877-999-6442.

The mission of the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services is to ensure access to safe and secure insurance and financial services fundamental for the opportunity, security, and success of Michigan residents while fostering economic growth and sustainability in both industries. In addition, the Department provides consumer protection, outreach, and financial literacy and education services to Michigan residents. For more information, visit Michigan.gov/DIFS or follow the Department on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

5 Key Commercial Insurance Considerations for 2022

Posted on January 24, 2022February 16, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Standard and Poor’s 2022 Commercial Insurance Industry Outlook is now available. Here are 5 takeaways.

RiskAndInsurance.com | By: Abi Potter Clough | December 13, 2021 | Commercial Insurance

2021 was a pivotal year in the risk and insurance industry, and 2022 will no doubt bring new risks to light.

The pandemic created supply chain issues that restricted the ability of many businesses to operate, and spurred the need for innovative technology solutions to allow workers to do their jobs from home. New concerns arose to accompany these changes — like the increased cybersecurity concerns from a newly minted work-from-home workforce.

Ransomware and phishing attacks struck companies and organizations from every industry, even insurance companies.

But opportunities also emerged for companies to work differently.

Innovations in technology allowed work to continue from home as people found new ways to collaborate. Virtual tools made it easier for claims adjusters to view damaged property remotely and to settle claims virtually. Telehealth visits allowed injured workers to see their providers safely without risking leaving their homes during the pandemic.

There is no going back to the way things used to be — the new normal following the pandemic means technological innovations are here to stay. Insurance companies are working differently, and the trend is expected to continue.

To better understand how this flurry of changes will affect the commercial insurance industry, S&P Global Market Intelligence released its report, “The Big Picture – 2022 Insurance Industry Outlook.”

The company’s short take on the industry outlook for 2022 is that insurers will continue to need to respond swiftly to changing market conditions and be willing to “shatter their status quo” to manage the challenges that arise from new and evolving risks in many areas.

In the report, S&P Global Market Intelligence identified five significant areas of focus for the risk and insurance industry next year.

1) Technology Continues to be Key for Commercial Insurance

Click here for the full story…

More great blogs from Shield Insurance

Ransomware Persists Even as High-Profile Attacks Have Slowed

Posted on January 12, 2022February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Claims Journal | By Eric Tucker and Alan Suderman | December 20, 2021 | Ransomware Attacks | Start A Quote Today!

WASHINGTON (AP)–In the months since President Joe Biden warned Russia’s Vladimir Putin that he needed to crack down on ransomware gangs in his country, there hasn’t been a massive attack like the one last May that resulted in gasoline shortages. But that’s small comfort to Ken Trzaska.

Trzaska is president of Lewis & Clark Community College, a small Illinois school that canceled classes for days after a ransomware attack last month that knocked critical computer systems offline.

“That first day,” Trzaska said, “I think all of us were probably up 20-plus hours, just moving through the process, trying to get our arms around what happened.”

Even if the United States isn’t currently enduring large-scale, front-page ransomware attacks on par with ones earlier this year that targeted the global meat supply or kept millions of Americans from filling their gas tanks, the problem hasn’t disappeared. In fact, the attack on Trzaska’s college was part of a barrage of lower-profile episodes that have upended the businesses, governments, schools and hospitals that were hit.

The college’s ordeal reflects the challenges the Biden administration faces in stamping out the threat _ and its uneven progress in doing so since ransomware became an urgent national security problem last spring.

U.S. officials have recaptured some ransom payments, cracked down on abuses of cryptocurrency, and made some arrests. Spy agencies have launched attacks against ransomware groups and the U.S. has pushed federal, state and local governments, as well as private industries, to boost protections.

Yet six months after Biden’s admonitions to Putin, it’s hard to tell whether hackers have eased up because of U.S. pressure. Smaller-scale attacks continue, with ransomware criminals continuing to operate from Russia with seeming impunity. Administration officials have given conflicting assessments about whether Russia’s behavior has changed since last summer. Further complicating matters, ransomware is no longer at the top of the U.S.-Russia agenda, with Washington focused on dissuading Putin from invading Ukraine.

Ransomware Attacks

Click here to see the rest of the story…

Have you seen the other articles shared by Shield Insurance Agency?

Shield Insurance is helping Roslyn & Maddox by donating $25 to the family for each non-client who gets a quote from Shield

Shield’s Referral Program is Changing Lives in the Local Community!

Posted on December 23, 2021August 9, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Shield Referral Program Supports Local Sparta, Michigan Family

Your referral can make a difference for Roslyn and Maddox who both have a form of Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenital. Shield Insurance is helping this Sparta, MI family by donating $25 for each non-client who gets a quote from us.

No purchase is necessary!

CLICK HERE to get a quote and we’ll donate $25 to them! (Be sure to mention Roslyn and Maddox in the comment section!) You can also call or text the office (616) 896-4600 and one of our agents will take a few minutes of your time to offer up a quote. Don’t forget to mention Ros and Maddox

Your Referrals to Shield Insurance Agency Help a Local Family in Need

“The highest compliment we can receive is the referral of your friends, family & business associates. Thank you for your trust!”

Meet Roslyn — Roslyn and Shield Insurance Agency Referral Program

Have you seen the Shield Insurance Agency Blog Articles? It’s some great stuff!

9 Things You MUST Do Today to Grow Your Small Business

Posted on December 22, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

SmallBizTrends.com | Published: Apr 29, 2018 Last Updated: Jan 22, 2021 | by Jeff Charles In Startup 19

Growing a small business isn’t easy. It is one of the toughest challenges many face when they are looking to get out of the 9 – 5 daily grind.

The success of your small business depends on your efforts to grow profits using various methods. From employee training to marketing, every aspect of your business deserves attention.

Rapid growth doesn’t happen overnight, but there are several steps you must take to keep your business moving forward. It takes time and effort. However, when you start reaping the benefits, you will see that your effort is worth it. Here are some tips to consider if you wish to see your business grow.

How to Grow Your Small Business

Understand Your Customers

You can only develop products and services that will be a huge hit if you are attentive to the needs of your customers and prospects. One way to understand exactly what your customers want is through research and surveys.

You should be constantly inviting them to provide honest, even brutal feedback. Reviews and surveys are the best ways to get inside the mind of your customers. This makes it easier for you to develop products and services that are suitable to the current demands of the market. Moreover, it helps you understand the areas in which your company needs to improve.

Improve Customer Service

Click here for the rest of the story…

Check out other great articles!

Five Essentials to Include in Your Holiday Wellness Baskets

Posted on December 21, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Creating a favor kit stocked with COVID-19 must-haves, from masks to hand sanitizer, is a thoughtful touch if you’re hosting a handful of guests this season.

MarthaStewart.com | By Blythe Copeland | November 24, 2020 | Holiday Wellness Baskets

Hosting a smaller-than-usual holiday gathering frees up time (and money) for extra-special touches you might not have been able to organize in past years—and there’s no better favor for 2020 than individual wellness baskets. They’re beneficial from a health perspective, says Dr. Stephen Kissler of the Harvard School of Public Health: “This is classic public health prevention stuff,” he says. “Empowering people to prevent illness in themselves and from spreading it to others is great. It’s exactly what we should be doing—and I think wellness baskets are a really good approach to that.”

And when stocked with handy essentials and wrapped in festive packaging, wellness baskets make your guests not just healthy, but happy, too. “Guests will immediately feel special on an individual level and will remember your party for months and even years to come,” says Jamie Kutchman Wynne, founder and CEO of custom gift box curators Marigold and Grey. “2020 hasn’t been the kindest and so it’s more important than ever to let people know that they matter to you. This one simple gesture of thoughtfulness will go a long way and could be just the expression of kindness and generosity they need for their spirits to be lifted.” Ahead, several essentials to include in your kits.

Holiday Wellness Baskets

Hand Sanitizer

Click here for more Holiday Wellness Basket ideas

The Great Resignation is hitting these industries hardest

Posted on December 20, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Fortune.com | MEGAN LEONHARDT | November 16, 2021 2:39 PM EST

The so-called Great Resignation picked up steam last week as quit rates reached record highs of 4.4 million in September alone, a whopping 3% of all Americans. But the trend of workers walking off the job isn’t consistent across all sectors.

Quitting rates are especially high for in-person roles in traditionally lower-paying industries, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

The industries hit hardest by quits in September are leisure and hospitality—including those who work in the arts and entertainment, as well as in restaurants and hotels—trade, transportation and utilities, professional services, and retail.

When it comes to leisure and hospitality specifically, the industry logged nearly a million quits—987,000—with most coming from accommodation and food services workers.

Industries with highest percentages of workers quitting

The number of quits rose to a record high of 4.4 million in September 2021.

Click here for the entire story…

4 hidden ways erodes your culture (and how to avoid them)

Posted on December 6, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

The Business Journal
By Heinan Landa – Contributing Writer | Aug 12, 2021, 4:05am EDT

More than a year after the pandemic turned much of the workforce virtual, fewer than 1 in 5 business owners intends to return to pre-pandemic office conditions, and the majority of U.S. workers want to maintain some regular telework schedule going forward.

Ultimately, most of us will settle into hybrid work where some employees are in the office and some are working remotely on any given day.

While hybrid work offers many benefits to our teams — and by extension our businesses — it also opens the door to a number of subtle culture killers that can do serious damage to engagement and retention.

Top 4 unexpected culture killers

1. Meetings

As tired as we may be of all-virtual meetings on Zoom or Teams, in this format each participant takes up the same amount of space, has the same means of contributing, and experiences that meeting the same way.

Now, consider a meeting where half the participants are in the office and half are at home. Can the remote participants distinguish who is speaking when? Do they have the same access to whiteboarding or visuals? How hard will it be for them to interject and be heard?

A return to the office also means a return to spontaneous chit-chat that snowballs into breakthrough ideas. Do you have a way to quickly pull more people into a conversation on the fly? Is collaborative note-taking an option?

2. Team-building

BizJournal.com

3 ways ransomware attacks can amplify liability risk for healthcare systems

Posted on December 2, 2021February 14, 2025 by Shield Insurance Agency

Liberty Mutual Insurance > Business Insurance > Insights > 3 ways ransomware attacks can amplify liability risk for healthcare systems

In 2020, more than a third of healthcare organizations in America experienced a ransomware attack. These events often fly under the radar, but that doesn’t make them any less devastating than incidents that make headlines, like the recent attack on the Colonial Pipeline. According to a study by Sophos, the average ransomware attack on a healthcare organization costs more than $1 million — but ransomware attacks have more than just a financial impact.

“Hospitals, medical facilities, and their physicians have sensitive patient information on their systems,” says Monica DiCesare, chief underwriting officer at IronHealth^®, a division of Ironshore. “That information is critical to protect, because it’s critical to ensure patient safety.” A cyberattack could put patient lives at risk and open the hospital to even more costly medical malpractice and liability claims. Here are three interconnected risks that healthcare organizations might face in the wake of a ransomware attack — and how they can help mitigate their exposure.

1. Encrypted data and medical malpractice suits

Doctors and nurses rely on technology to do their jobs — so when those systems go down, hospitals are at an increased risk of medical malpractice suits. “We’ve become so reliant on technology. When we don’t have that technology and data, we become inhibited. The physician can’t practice medicine to its fullest, which can later be construed as negligence, because they weren’t able to provide adequate or appropriate care,” says Dennis Cook, president of IronHealth.

Lack of access to patient data is a major problem for healthcare providers. When bad actors encrypt critical patient data, like drug allergies or prescription information, healthcare workers are more likely to make a mistake that may harm a patient. Delayed lab reports and other critical information may cause hold-ups in treatment, which can have dangerous consequences. On top of that, ransomware attacks can also lock intake systems. That means that ambulances carrying patients in critical condition may be rerouted to facilities miles away — costing precious time that many patients can’t spare.

“We’ve become so reliant on technology. When we don’t have that technology and data, we become inhibited. The physician can’t practice medicine to its fullest, which can later be construed as negligence, because they weren’t able to provide adequate or appropriate care.” – Dennis Cook, president of IronHealth

In fact, the first medical malpractice suit for a ransomware-related death is already on its way to the courts. In July 2019, ransomware paralyzed the systems at the Springfield Medical Center in Mobile, Alabama. Computers across the hospital failed, including data from fetal heartbeat monitors in 12 delivery rooms. The suit alleges this outage led to the death of a newborn baby. The outcome of the case won’t be known for some time, but the human cost of ransomware is undeniable.