Is Your Business Resilient Enough To Weather The Weather?
One of the first questions a Business should ask themselves is; What will break the bank?
That is, how much financial stress can your business take, and work upwards from there?
You might be able to handle a $10,000 impact to your business, then look to protect what you can above that ‘Break the Bank’ line .
Most of us will insure items that we can touch, feel and that make us feel good.
We insure our buildings, our sports cars and our laptops & drones – they’re important right?
Protecting your assets is not easy, you can’t rely totally on Insurance, you should ask yourself the following questions;
- Where can I situate my office (away from flood zones or bush) locality
- who are my neighbours (am I located next door to a fire hazard)
- What alternative access is there to my office (more than one road in/out)
- Can I work from home
- What’s my Disaster Recovery Plan (how to get my office back up and running, a list of key personnel (IT, Phones, Alarms, Mobile services & Passwords)
- What Fire or Storm protection do I have
All these things can assist to lower the risk, and in turn lower the premium cost of insuring your buildings and their contents
Lets look at the blue section – those items that you can touch or feel, those items that people don’t have an emotional connection to;
- Loss of Reputation
- Loss of a Customer
- Loss of income or increased costs
Risk management is also important for these items – but they are often left out because they are not ‘feel good’ items.
You should ask yourself the following questions;
- where your customers, suppliers, located. what if they can’t operate?
- A loss of a quality supplier can affect your reputation, and your ability to generate an income (and subsequently a loss of reputation with your customers)
Either of the 2 scenarios above will impact your ability to generate an income for your business.
Once you have your Risk Management plan in place contact your Insurance Broker and investigate options for Business Interruption Insurance.
Business Interruption Insurance should pay for a loss, or downturn, of your Business Income or Increased Costs.
There is a wide variety of items you can cover, although don’t just look on your own doorstep. Some policies will include a loss of income due to an incident to one of your Suppliers or Customers
as well as their and your access to your Business area.
Consider if there is a limitation on radius, or types of suppliers
There are many Insurers who can provide an online tool that Business Owners can use to work out what their biggest risks are for their occupation. Similarly, many Insurance Brokers have access to these tools, and other more specialised tools to help you work out ‘What will break the bank’?
