Figuring Out the Best Way to Get Your Business Insured

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Figuring Out the Best Way to Get Your Business Insured

40 percent of businesses don’t reopen after a disaster. That’s the bad news.

The worst news? We’re in the middle of a disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking the economy to the cleaners and leaving many small businesses on their death bed.

The good news? As a business owner, there are steps you can take to protect your business from foreseen and unforeseen disasters. One such step is to purchase adequate commercial insurance.

This sounds easy and straightforward, but it’s not. You must find out the best way to get your business insured; otherwise, you could end up underinsuring or even over-insuring your company.

Continue reading to learn how to go about insuring your business.

Identify and Assess Your Risks

Every business faces a wide range of risks.

Some risks affect all kinds of businesses regardless of their industry or niche, and others only affect certain types of businesses. For example, owners of medical practices face malpractice risk. Restaurants don’t face this kind of risk.

However, both businesses do face a fire risk. An electric fault can result in a fire that razes down the buildings that house both businesses.

As such, the first step to insuring your business adequately is to identify all the risks it faces. You can do this on your own or you can hire a risk assessment professional to help you.

If you’re hiring a professional, ensure they’ve got enough industry-specific experience. If you own a logging business, for example, an industry risk specialist is in a better position to identify logging insurance risks than a risk pro who specializes in the retail industry.

After identifying all your risks, assess their threat-level. Which risks pose a more imminent threat? Which ones are less likely to affect your business?

Next, what amount of damage is every risk likely to cause?

With a proper risk assessment, you’ll know the amount of coverage you need to protect your business.

Determine the Kind of Insurance Policies You Need

Wouldn’t it be awesome if insurance policies offered a blanket policy that covers all the risks your business faces?

Well, some large insurance companies offer customized policies, but it would rarely be a blanket policy. Also, there’s the general liability insurance policy that covers most of the risks your business faces, but it’s barely adequate on its own.

Yet, a common mistake small business owners make is purchasing general liability insurance and stopping there. Don’t make this mistake.

There are several other types of business insurance policies you should buy, depending on the nature of your business. Here are some of those policies:

Property Insurance

If you run a brick and mortar store and you own the building, purchase property insurance.

Your building faces a number of risks that can result in extensive damage. Fires and natural disasters, such as floods and windstorms, can destroy the building, forcing you to abandon it until repairs are made.

A property insurance cover will compensate you for the damage and other losses.

If you run a home-based business, you might want to add on to your homeowners’ insurance policy, so that it covers your commercial activities as well.

Business Interruption Insurance

You don’t need to look beyond the coronavirus to see how a disaster can disrupt your business operations.

During such times, business interruption insurance is your ally. Depending on the terms of coverage, the insurer should compensate you for the losses you make during the interruption period.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Do you have more than 3 employees?

In most states, that’s the requirement for purchasing workers’ compensation insurance. When an employee gets injured on the job, you won’t worry about compensating them for their medical expenses and other losses. Your workers’ comp provider will do that.

Cybersecurity Insurance

If your business has digitized some or all of its operations, it’s imperative to buy cybersecurity insurance.

43 percent of online attacks now target small businesses like yours, which means your risk level is high. A cybersecurity insurance policy will protect your business from the effects of an attack, including business interruption and data loss.

Other types of insurance you might need include product liability insurance and commercial vehicle insurance.

Find the Best Insurance Provider

You’ve probably heard horror stories of insurance companies that refuse to settle claims. If you don’t do your homework when looking for an insurance provider, you might end up telling such stories.

You want to work with a legitimate, reputable insurance company.

Read up online reviews about a specific insurance carrier before giving them your money. What are past and current clients saying about their service quality? Do they take forever to settle valid claims?

Also, you want to work with an insurance company that provides most, if not all, of the insurance policies your business needs. This way, you’ll be in a better position to negotiate for discounts when renewing your policies.

Consider Self-Insurance

Large corporations don’t typically purchase insurance from other companies. They self-insure, simply because they can afford to cover their risks from their deep wallets.

Self-insurance isn’t just for big companies, though. Even small businesses can develop a self-insurance plan, as long as you know how to go about it.

One effective way is to set up a captive insurance company. This is just like any other insurance firm, only that it is wholly owned by your parent business. You have complete control over its operations.

Get Your Business Insured the Right Way

Getting your business insured adequately can be a costly task, especially if you’re a small business running on a tight budget. However, it’s the right thing to do. Even a minor disaster can bring your business to its knees when you don’t have insurance.

With this guide, you now have the information you need to insure your business the right way.

Keep reading our blog for more business tips and advice.

Is hiring an attorney is necessary after a car accident?

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Car Accident|Is hiring an attorney is necessary after a car accident?Car accidents are the most distressing thing that could happen to a person. A minor mistake can cause severe injuries and irreparable harm. It may also cause various damages and inconveniences. In case of a car accident, you might think that it’s not a big problem and you can deal with it by yourself, or you can go now to an expert’s website and see the many reasons to hire an expert attorney who could help you in solving the issues related to the car accident.

What is the right time to hire an attorney?

If you got a car accident in Texas or any other State, don’t feel that you are unlucky because there are several car accidents reported. According to research in 2015, more than 151,000 car accidents happened in Texas, resulting in about 23,000 injured and more than 600 people lost their lives. Some of the car accidents were more worsen as compared to others but most of the victims think that their insurance company will help them and pay for the valid claim. Unluckily, this doesn’t happen in all cases.

The insurance company would try to find conflict because they are working for making money. The main motive of the insurance company and its representatives is to solve the issue at a minimum amount of compensation. You can consider their motive improper or contradictory. If they pay a huge compensation amount to every victim, they can’t do their business in profit. The insurance company doesn’t take your interest into their priority list, therefore it doesn’t offer a fair and full settlement amount unless you have an expert lawyer for your case who will protect your right vigorously. All the help you need on your Truck accident case is here at bendominguez.com

The insurance company can do two things to undermine your claim. Firstly, their representative will try to make you plead guilty to the accident so that they can reject or lessen your claim. This is one of the main reasons to avoid insurance agents or testify without consulting your attorney. Another thing is that the insurance company will try to make you agree on a quick settlement amount which is less than your case costs.

Why it is best to hire a Texas Car Accident Attorney?

Although Texas is a state where the ratio of car accidents is very low, if you don’t understand the State laws about compensation, a car accident could be a difficult case for you. There are various deadlines for filing a personal injury and property damage claims, as well as rules for guilt. The Texas Department of Insurance says that you can file a health or personal injury claim under the following conditions:

  • Medical expenses more than $1000 due to the injuries
  • Any bone fractured
  • Permanent injury or permanent disfigurement
  • Death

When you face a car accident, the period after the incident is probably full of anger and uncertainty. You not only need medical care, but you also suffer the loss of work and you have to pay the cost of repairing your vehicle. Here are some other reasons to hire a Houston car accident lawyer, San Antonio car accident lawyer, or Kansas City car accident lawyer earlier:

  • An expert attorney has complete knowledge of the law. Your car accident lawyer will have the intimate knowledge of the Texas laws and rules that pertain to your case. This is the main advantage of hiring an attorney because this is the reason your insurance company uses to undermine your claim.
  • An attorney will help you with your work. Filing a lawsuit and settling an insurance claim needs a lot of work to be done, particularly if you have been injured. Your attorney’s legal team can help you in collecting all the necessary documents for your case as well as file the proper paperwork for any necessary court appearance.
  • A professional Lawyer. If a lawsuit becomes compulsory, your lawyer will negotiate with the insurance company and will also represent you before the judge and jury.

Look at a personal injury attorney whom you can trust

However, choosing a personal injury car accident lawyer is a personal choice, although, a small accident can result in a serious financial loss that will all the conditions to file a lawsuit, and you cannot depend on the insurance company to do something for you. Hiring an expert attorney will give you relaxation from a stressful situation.

Ways To Protect Your Intellectual Property

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Protect your Intellectual Property|Ways To Protect Your Intellectual PropertyProtecting your intellectual property can be harder now more than ever, especially since the avid use of the internet. Intellectual property includes anything from your original ideas, designs, discoveries, inventions and creative work produced by you or a group of people with you in it. Protecting those kinds of things are crucial to the success of your business because it allows you to confidently share your intellectual property without the fear that it will be copied or stolen. Here are some tips you to protect your intellectual property, whether you want to implement a consulting firm like GHB intellect or you want to do it yourself.

Avoid Filing Patents

Patents may seem like the smart idea, but you could actually be setting yourself up. Your patent gives a step-by-step breakdown of how your product or service can be created. When you file something like that, it is published for the public to see. All they need to do is some research. Someone can easily create a homogeneous product with some really clever ways to ensure they are not violating your intellectual property rights.

Register Your Copyrights And Trade

Copyrights are extremely important as they apply to the protection of tangible and intangible creative works. It is something that you own instantaneously. As soon as you create something, no matter what it is, you own the copyright even if you do not register it. Registering your copyright is highly recommended because it will be easier to prove that you own that creative work in court. Keep in mind that copyrights expire 70 years after the death of its creator, but it ultimately depends on the nature of the intellectual property.

Trademarks are slightly different than copyrights. These are things like symbols, designs, logos, catchphrases. Trademarks are typically used in marketing strategies and identifying a brand. These have to be protected at all costs because those are the first things your customers connect with. Be sure to register your trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, though it is recommended that you hire a trademark lawyer. You want to make sure nothing slips through the cracks when it comes to the paperwork. Unlike copyrights, trademarks do not have expiration dates. You own the rights to your logos, symbols and other branding identities in perpetuity.

Implement A Confidentiality, Non-Disclosure or Licensing Contracts

There is nothing wrong with asking employees to sign a confidentiality, non-disclosure or licensing contract as these are imperative to making sure your business does not fall prey to leaking intellectual property. Keep in mind confidentiality agreements have to be prepared by lawyers. They bound your employees to comply with your demand to keep intellectual property private. On the other hand, licensing agreements allow for third-party partners to use your products for branding and distribution.

These few tips will put you in the right direction to protecting your creative intellectual property. Following these tips will reduce your chances of having your IP stolen.

Why Workplace Security is More Important Than Ever

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Workplace Security|Why Workplace Security is More Important Than EverRegardless of whether you run a small start-up business or a huge company, you must understand the importance of workplace security. Having a comprehensive security policy will not only protect you and your staff, but it will also protect your equipment, products and sensitive data. By knowing which aspects of your business are at risk, and the security options available to you, you can establish a solid security policy to keep you protected.

Why does your workplace need security?

You may not even realize all the ways that your business is at risk, or what you have that someone might want to compromise. Here are some of the reasons that your workplace needs security.

1. Physical assets and valuables

If you base your business in an office, then chances are that you have expensive equipment on site. Even your home office will likely house valuable items that you’d rather not lose. You may also have physical records that contain sensitive client and business information that you don’t want to fall into the wrong hands. Protection from theft is important externally, but also internally. Staff are just as capable of robbery as an outsider, so you need proper measures in place to protect yourself.

2. Cybersecurity

Beyond physical theft, you also need to protect yourself from a data breach or cybercrime. Your business likely stores a lot of sensitive data on computers and cloud-based software. Information includes business credit card and bank details and a bank of client and staff records. A data breach can have devastating consequences for a business, so the more protection you have, the better.

3. How can you make your workplace secure?

As technology continues to advance, there are new and effective security software and equipment that can protect your business. Here are some of the best investments you can make to protect you, your staff, and your data.

4. Access control

First and foremost, you need to implement access control into your workplace. Access control will allow you to monitor who comes in and out of your office and keep out people who should not be there. Remsdaq offers a ton of different Remsdaq access control options from keycard access to coded access and even biometric access. Implementing access control will be the best line of defence for protecting anything within your workplace.

5. Data protection

Your office may have physical protection with access control, but it’s also essential to protect your documents and data. Invest in a quality data protection system with secure access to documents and files. Ensure that only the necessary staff members receive access to the relevant documentation, and everything is password protected. Data protection will help prevent cybercriminals from hacking into your system and destroying your data.

6. End of day procedures

Create solid end-of-day practices which all your staff need to follow to ensure everything is secure overnight. Make sure that each staff member logs out of all windows in their workspace and shuts down their computer. Whoever is the last person on site should be in charge of setting the appropriate alarms when they exit the office. It’s a good idea to assign two people to this task to double-check that it is properly done.

The Most Dangerous Things for Businesses

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | The Most Dangerous Things for Businesses | Business RiskIf you are in control of a business, no matter how large or how small it is, you likely have problems that keep you up at night. There will always be inherent risks to any business-owner, which typically runs proportionally to rewards; everybody knows that entrepreneurs take big risks by not being employees, but they do so because they anticipate a payoff. In business, you should be looking for ways to minimize inherent risk at every opportunity. Here are some of the most dangerous things for businesses.

Non-Paying Customers

The world of commerce is relatively simple: a customer buys a product by giving you money and leaves with a product in a simple exchange. Unfortunately, this is not how most business operates. Many business transactions involve large sums of money, and as a result, customers become more likely to complete a transaction over several payments instead of one lump sum.

Not everybody pays on time, however, and this isn’t an unusual encounter in the business world. However, problems arise when non-paying customers build up or when customers try to avoid paying altogether, as Donald Trump’s power asymmetry negotiation style is famous for. This can have a major impact on cash flow, which can decimate most businesses. When activist investors take over a company, one of the first things they do is call in any remaining debts to the company with the help of a good legal team.

Fires

A wise man once said that the rich should fear two things: gambling and fire. Fire has the potential to destroy any business, even one which isn’t physical — a fire in a server room can wipe out an entire online enterprise if the servers do not have backups. A glance at a list of businesses that were destroyed during a town’s fire in Tennessee in 2016 would send shivers down a small-business owner’s spine. Fires are impossible to completely prevent, but with regular fire protection inspections and, of course, good preventative measures like working carbon monoxide detectors can mitigate the risk massively.

Legal Action

A lawsuit can be an exceptionally damaging thing for a company to deal with, especially if the business is small. In America, lawsuits have become a very common part of dealing with competition, especially when a larger company is fending off a smaller competitor. In these business skirmishes, whoever is willing to spend the most money can often bankrupt their competitor, causing many small companies to pay special warning to cease and desists from larger businesses.

Legal action can also be completely justified if you have, through negligence, committed a fault that can put an employee or customer in harm’s way. This is especially dangerous for companies that do not have a good vetting process for their managerial employees, as a bad mistake from a managerial representative of a small business could cause a lawsuit that could bankrupt the business completely.

Preventative measures hence become incredibly important. They ensure that all employees and business operations adhere strictly to legal guidelines; also, health and safety procedures can be the difference between a healthy, long-lasting business and a business with good prospects that made a mistake and went bust.