Guest Post : Casey Fenton
You’ve started your new business. Now you’re probably asking yourself, what insurance do small businesses need?
Are you working your toosh off so you can live your ideal life + secure your future? Unfortunately things do go wrong when you're running a business. Even a small mistake or something completely out of your control could potentially risk all of your hard work. Insurance is a risk management tool you can use to protect your lifestyle and future. Depending on whether your business is product and/or service based, you should have at least two if not all three of the insurance policies below. Here’s our answer to what insurance do small businesses need.
What Insurance Do Small Businesses Need?
| Product + Public Liability
Public Liability
If an accident causes injury to someone or damages their property (other than your employees), you may be found legally liable to cover the costs. Accidents can be unpredictable which makes them hard to prevent. And the costs of being sued can be extraordinarily high.
Public liability insurance can help to protect your business from the financial risk of liability claims – helping you operate with confidence. It will pay the costs of investigating, defending and settling claims, as well as any compensation payment you are found liable to pay.
Product Liability
Product liability insurance is designed to protect your business if you’re sued because a product you sell, assemble or supply has caused harm to a person or to their property.
Product liability is a part of a public liability policy. It can help cover you against the cost of investigating and defending your business against a claim. It can also cover the cost of any damages awarded to a third party if your business is found to be at fault.
| Professional Indemnity
Professional indemnity insurance is mandatory in some industries, such as medicine, accounting, law and financial advisers. Each state will have their own requirements. But even in cases where it’s not required by law, it’s recommended for anyone who is providing professional services or advice in exchange for a fee. This includes engineers, graphic designers and consultants.
Professional indemnity offers broad coverage and may include anything from accidents to errors and omissions.
| Cyber Event & Liability
Every business that has a website or electronic records is vulnerable to cybercrime or an accidental data breach. And the consequences of these can be very expensive. Depending on the incident, you may be up for the cost of ransoms or IT solutions to unlock and repair your systems. You could also be liable for the costs of reporting the breach, legal claim, and remediating any losses suffered by your customers or clients.
A cyber-attack or data breach may cost your business more than just money. It could threaten your intellectual property, put your customers’ personal information at risk and cause major damage to the reputation of your business.
Cyber insurance can help cover financial losses to your business, your customers and other parties following a cyber security breach. This might include costs associated with:
- Loss of revenue due to interrupted business
- Hiring negotiators and paying ransom
- Recovering or replacing your records or data
- Liability and loss of third party data
- Defence of legal claims
- Investigation by a government regulator
- Copyright infringement
- Misuse of intellectual property online
- Crisis management and monitoring
- Prevention of further attacks
There is no one-size-fits-all-approach when it comes to insurance. Each business is unique, so insurance should be individually tailored accordingly to ensure you’re protected correctly. Insurance provides you with peace of mind knowing your lifestyle and future is protected.
It’s my job to eliminate the stress and confusion insurance tends to bring. Which ultimately allows you to focus on growing and nurturing your business.
If you have any questions or would like some help with understanding what insurance your small business needs, please get in touch. I’d absolutely love to help!
Get in touch with Casey for more information:
Casey Fenton | Account Executive
Integra Insurance Brokers
0403 254 151
(08) 9535 5211
In no way are we providing any advice in this blog. In order to adequately protect and insure your business please speak to a trusted advisor or broker to seek advice on your individual business and circumstances.
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