News Matrix Insurance Group

Month: August 2021


How To Properly Secure Your Business From Unexpected Risks
How To Properly Secure Your Business From Unexpected Risks

Posted on August 30, 2021 | by | Posted in Uncategorized

There are a slew of unavoidable obstacles that your company must learn to overcome.  Business risks are referred to the dangers companies face to meet their objectives. Furthermore, risk in business involves the possibility that a company’s or organisation’s plans may not come out as anticipated, that it will miss its target, or that it will fail to fulfil its overall goals.

It is difficult to shield your business from risks entirely. However, these problems may overwhelm your firm if you do not have the appropriate plan, strategy, and tools in place.

Therefore, as business owners, it is your responsibility to create plans that will help you face and manage potential business risks in the future. 

Identify your potential business risks

An insurance broker’s expertise, a business mentor’s experience, or your business networks’ wisdom might be beneficial for this particular purpose. Other than that, you can also seek guidance from online resources published by the government. However, to give you a brief overview, here are some risks you have to look after: 

  1. Reputational risks:  Reputational risk can manifest itself in a variety of ways. The first is direct, which is a result of the company’s conduct. For indirect risks, these are the activities of one or more employees. 
  2. Economic risks: Exchange rate changes, a shift in government policy or legislation, political instability, or the imposition of financial penalties are all possible economic risks.
  3. Competitive risks: Competitive risk relates to the competing firms on the market, each of which strives to acquire the top position and consumer ratings in order to reap the most advantages.
  4. Compliance risks:  Compliance risk is those of breaches of laws, rules, codes of conduct, or organisational standards of behaviour posed to a company’s financial, organisational, or reputational standing.
  5. Market demand risks: Demand predictions are commonly used to guide capital investments, marketing, sales, and supply chain choices. The danger of losing money due to a mismatch between anticipated and actual demand is market demand risk. 
  6. Technology risks: Information security events, cyberattacks, password theft, service failures are all possible technological business risks. Each form of technological risk carries the danger of financial, reputational, regulatory, and strategic consequences.

Conduct proper risk analysis

Upon identifying your risk, you will need to analyse and then plan your strategies. This will include determining who will work on the plan, how much you plan on spending, and more. 

Consult with your stakeholders 

If you are a relatively new business, you will need to consult with your investors for valuable risk advice. This is the same if you have been in the industry for quite a while. Your stakeholders have surely gone through your quarterly reports in detail, and some will know your figures like the back of their hands. Thus, they can help in giving their thoughts on possible or potential risks. 

Managing business risks

Risk management has always been a crucial component of every organisation, especially when the market goes through a slump. Below are some steps you should take when attempting to manage the risks that come your way: 

  1. Sort your priorities: You can scale your risks based on the chances they can occur to your business, considering how well you are performing. Of course, a risk that falls into those that will most likely happen should take precedence over the others, and a strategy should be put in place to minimise or at the very least reduce these risks.
  2. Acquire insurance: You may also get insurance to protect yourself from a variety of company dangers. Some insurances, such as workers’ compensation for injuries to your employees or professional indemnity for specific vocations, are required by law. Others, such as management responsibility, are common sense. For more guidance, speak with your insurance broker.
  3.  Liability management: If you are the sole owner of your business, consider forming a corporation or limited liability company. This will make you less personally accountable for the company’s debts or other liabilities. 
  4. Set a feasible timeline: Once you have properly identified the risks, you must determine when you want it done. If a project is completed too quickly, something may be overlooked; if it takes too long, the team may lose trust in the system or get frustrated. Thus, you must do a lot of planning and proper predictions to achieve this.

Ensure that you have covered all of your bases

Most businesses are aware of the need to insure their company assets, such as buildings, goods, and cars, against calamities such as fire, theft, or damage. This helps compensate for any revenue loss if you are unable to trade due to an unforeseeable occurrence. It also covers you if you are unable to enter your premises owing to damage to neighbouring properties. 

Insuring your business

Businesses can choose from a variety of insurance options to protect themselves from these threats. Below are just a few forms of insurance that a company should put in place: 

  1. Property insurance: Property insurance financially helps business owners in the event of damage or theft. These insurances also offer assistance to those who have been harmed on the property.
  2. Professional liability insurance: On the other hand, professional liability insurance covers professionals such as accountants, attorneys, and physicians from claims brought by their clients for negligence or other reasons.
  3. Workers’ compensation insurance: This is a government-mandated system that provides monetary compensation to workers who are injured or handicapped while on the job.

Product liability insurance: Finally, product liability insurance protects your company from lawsuits alleging bodily injury or property damage as a result of the items it sells. Its primary goal is to pay for legal fees and damages.

Insurance Renewal: Questions You Need To Have Answers For
Insurance Renewal: Questions You Need To Have Answers For

Posted on August 30, 2021 | by | Posted in Uncategorized

Businesses require insurance to assist cover the expenses of property damage and liability claims. Without it, a company’s owners may be forced to pay for costly losses and legal claims out of pocket.

Every year, insurers change their offers and pricing. In return, it has become the responsibility of business owners to determine whether to retain the current policies, make changes to the plan to reduce costs or switch if a more cost-effective alternative is available. 

Your insurance provider will examine your policies on an annual basis to verify that they continue to fulfil your firm’s demands. This evaluation should be done a few weeks before your current policies expire. A leading insurance broker in Perth such as Matrix Insurance would advise getting in touch as soon as you can.

Furthermore, below are some questions you will most likely be asked when renewing your insurance: 

Has the ownership of the business changed?

There are several considerations to be made when a firm loses or obtains a new owner. One key factor to examine is who is responsible for the company’s retroactive coverage. It is also critical to double-check that the persons and businesses mentioned on all insurance policies are still correct so that their insurable interests are covered.

Has the value of your property increased or decreased?

Typically, the worth of your property and the amount of insurance coverage do not directly correlate to each other. A home’s insurance should cover the expense of rebuilding it. The majority of small firms insure their assets at replacement cost. If construction expenses in your region have risen in the previous year, you may need to increase the building limits on your property insurance policy. 

Have you remodelled your property or done any major repairs?

Property improvements are a fantastic way to add value to your home while also personalizing it. However, you may become so preoccupied with repairs and day-to-day life that you forget to notify your insurance provider, which might have significant consequences. Expansions are also considered a company’s long-term strategy. All new offices should be revealed to evaluate whether any modifications to present policies are necessary.

Do you expect your revenue to rise or fall in the coming year?

Business insurance protects companies from financial losses caused by incidents that occur in the usual course of business. Your business can be at bigger risk the more business you conduct, the more interactions you have, and the more income you generate. Thus, you come up with an accurate estimate of your future revenue.

Is your business engaged in the same activities as it was a year ago? 

If you have changed the services or products you have initially served, it may change the entire coverage of your insurance plan. Specifically, professional liability insurance coverage may need to be adjusted as a result of changes in service offerings, and firms that update product lines should review their general liability policy’s product liability coverage.

Has your company purchased any new property, such as automobiles, in the previous year?

If you have purchased assets such as property and automobiles, you need to employ additional insurance policies for more coverage. Firms may need to add hired and non-owned auto insurance if workers use personal vehicles for company reasons. However, keep in mind that work-related driving is generally not covered by personal vehicle insurance coverage. 

Is vital client information kept on file at your company?

Much like the different factors on our list, holding critical client information increases the risk of your business. If the security of this data is breached, your organization may be subject to legal action. Furthermore, as consumer and market data and business intelligence become increasingly complex and important to corporate success, any damage to it, or the systems that store or modify it, might have significant financial and operational consequences.

Have your internal systems evolved in the previous 12 months?

Approving new vendors and workers, storing important inventory and checking stock in secure places are some functions of internal systems. These systems could ultimately make your business more vulnerable to cyber liability concerns. In return, you will need to acquire cyber liability insurance or at the very least have a strategy in place to deal with the many types of assaults that might occur. You would also have to consider your accounting systems and these employees since any modifications might expose your firm to employee theft losses.

Other factors to think about: 

  1. New potential business plans
  2. Change of location 
  3. New equipment and machinery 
  4. Change in business structure
  5. Increase or decrease of workforce
  6. Variation in business income prepared to previous years 
  7. Changes in inventory
  8. Installation of security equipment 

Reviewing your insurance renewal: 

When renewing insurance policies, some owners fail to review them properly. Moreover, renewing your plans without first examining them might end up costing you money in the short and long run. 

If the modified conditions on the old plan are not acceptable, businesses will need to search for a new provider or plan that better suits their needs and budget. Thus, it is imperative to properly examine all pertinent data, such as monthly premiums, deductibles, and more.

Furthermore, other coverage types you should be aware of include: 

  1. Commercial property and liability
  2. Cyber liability insurance
  3. Workers’ compensation
  4. Commercial auto 
  5. Professional liability

What you should do before you renew your business insurance: 

All changes, from minor to major, must be taken into account during the policy’s coverage duration and at renewal. Thus, you will need to examine insurance requirements and rates in light of seasonal fluctuations in operations and inventories. Also, make sure to look for policies that relate to cyber liability. This is because of the kind, quantity, and privacy requirements of financial and other private records, data protection coverage that addresses third-party liability is critical.

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