How can you determine the right insurance for your business’s unique needs?
Every business aims to find the balance between minimising risk and maximising profit. This is easier to achieve with a tailored insurance package that helps small and medium-sized enterprises mitigate threats, offers financial support, and paves the way to sustainability. Moreover, having the right insurance builds business credibility in the eyes of customers, contractors, suppliers, and other external stakeholders.
While finding your way around insurance coverage can be challenging, the Government’s website is a great starting point as it contains a few helpful pieces of information.
Also engaging a business insurance broker in Melbourne is a smart move since they are experts in understanding business insurance, and an insurance broker will help recommend the ideal coverage for your business.
Reliant Business Insurance works with sole traders and SME companies to arrange various personalised insurance coverage, like commercial property insurance, professional indemnity insurance in Melbourne, and more. Continue reading the article to discover the most common policy coverage required by business owners. Let’s get started!
Today’s Business Risks to Look Out For
Whether universal or relative, the risk that threatens businesses can be tackled with a risk management plan that is up-to-date. That said, the insurance policies a company chooses indeed play a vital role in the previously mentioned plan.
Below is a list of the top issues many businesses encounter in the present based on recent studies by Forbes survey range from the insurable to uninsurable:
⦁ Data breaches
⦁ Staff shortages
⦁ Natural disasters, including those due to climate change
⦁ Post-pandemic issues
⦁ Poor inventory stock
⦁ Burnout of staff, management, and leaders
⦁ Navigating changes in laws and regulations
⦁ Inflation
⦁ Financial crisis
⦁ Failure to innovate
An Overview of the Different Types of Essential Business Insurance
1. General Liability Insurance
General Liability Insurance offers public and product liability coverage for claims of third parties of injury or property damage due to business activities. This policy can also cover copyright infringement and reputation harm.
2. Professional Liability Insurance
This type of policy provides professional indemnity insurance. It is beneficial for legal causes, like contract breaches and negligence of businesses on their legal obligations, such as improper company account audits or medical malpractice.
3. Product Liability Insurance
Product Liability Insurance protects a business if its products cause property damage, injury, death, or nervous shock to a third party. The coverage includes selling, supplying, or delivering goods, repairs, or services. Moreover, Product Liability Insurance is generally a part of a General Liability Policy. Learn more about this policy type from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.
4. Directors and Officers Insurance (D&O insurance)
D&O Insurance is designed to protect directors and officers of a private and/or public company for allegedly committing wrongdoings, including but not limited to mismanagement resulting in a break of a company’s fiduciary duties.
5. Commercial Property Insurance
This insurance is the most common policy. It covers loss of or damage to your premises, technology, equipment, and inventory. Suppose an individual or business leases their commercial property. In that case, Commercial Property Insurance may be a requirement when engaging in a rental agreement. This policy is also called Business Property or Commercial Building Insurance.
For small and medium-sized businesses, Commercial Property Insurance is often included in a Small Business Insurance package policy, covering several different events and contingencies. Bigger corporations usually take out Industrial Special Risk (ISR) Insurance, which offers a comprehensive business insurance policy providing a broad range of protection for loss scenarios or damage to high-value physical assets, such as property, buildings, materials and machinery.
6. Motor Vehicle and Fleet Insurance
Designed to cover business vehicles, the Motor Vehicles and Fleet Insurance is ideal for businesses with more than fifteen commercial vehicles. This insurance type offers coverage options to suit a wide range of needs. Options may include comprehensive coverage for damages due to fire, theft, vandalism, and flood, to name a few.
Furthermore, Motor Vehicle and Fleet Insurance provide compulsory Workers’ compensation in case of work-related injuries or illnesses. Learning more about the law in your state or territory’s Fair Work Ombudsman would be helpful.
7. Business Interruption Insurance
Also known as Business Income Insurance, Business Interruption Insurance aims to protect a business against financial losses because of disrupted operations brought by insured perils. In this case, meeting costs, such as repayments of business loans, staff salaries, rent or mortgage of your business premises, and taxes, is essential. Business Interruption Insurance is often included as a Section in a Business Property Insurance policy.
8. Cyber Insurance
Lastly, Cyber Insurance is made to provide the policyholder with considerable peace of mind come cyber incidents that can cause financial losses. Applicants may opt for first-party and/or third-party coverage for Cyber Insurance.
What Is Your Next Step?
While there are many business insurance types to consider, Reliant Business Insurance’s advice is to consider a customised package. Most of the time, it is cheaper than taking our separate insurance policies. Reach us for insights into policy inclusions and exclusions. Our business insurance brokers in Melbourne will help you get the right business insurance to accommodate your business’s unique needs and requirements.
Call 03 8905 4753 or email info@reliantbbi.com.au. You may also head to our website at www.reliantbusinessinsurance.com.au.