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New world, new risks

The nature of risk has changed in the digital age. Larger and increasingly malicious cyberattacks can not only steal or corrupt vital intellectual property, they can also render your systems inoperable and leave you incapable of running your business. There are plenty of options available for backup and disaster recovery, but further mitigating this risk with insurance cover should be a priority.

At the same time, so-called ‘one-in-100-year’ natural catastrophes such as extreme floods and bushfires are becoming more common, and this brings your location into play as a potential business risk, especially if you’re located in an area prone to such events. Having a power back-up plan or even a relocation plan in place can go some way to protecting against this risk.

Then there’s all the other concerns such as fire, theft, personal health and that of your closest work colleagues, risks of suppliers going out of business and so on. In other words, there’s no shortage of things that could go wrong, so a good starting point, even if you’re an established business, is to do a checklist of what you could not function without and frame your personal and professional cover around those elements.

Create a risk-management plan

It’s obviously impossible to be fully covered against every eventuality, but knowing what you need goes a long way to saving you from excessive and potentially unnecessary insurance fees. Having a good risk-management plan in place will also help you make better decisions and to change your approach if your circumstances change.

Putting such a plan together will also help you identify the most urgent risks, and to see what you already have in place. Standard cover for fire and property damage should be a no-brainer, while personal cover in the form of disability and income insurance can provide for immediate loss of income for a certain period if you’re unable to work.

When it comes to unforeseen events, however, your risk-management plan should reflect the levels of personal and professional risk cover that you’re comfortable with. Business disruption insurance covers bills and relocation to different business premises if need be and will go a long way to helping you survive a shock event, especially if you have some data backup and emergency power-generation plans in place.

Get the help you need

If you're unsure about you really need in terms of managing business risks and devising risk-management plans, we can help as a first point of contact to offer you assistance. By managing risk properly, you can not only reduce the impact of unexpected events, but also improve employee confidence through proper health and safety measures and boost customer relationships, given they know you can still provide at least some of what they need following an unforeseen event.