6 Big Business Insurance Risks (and How to Mitigate Them)
Every business comes with a certain amount of risk. Although pitfalls and challenges can't be avoided, they can be mitigated with the proper precautions, planning and insurance coverage.
Insurance and legal experts shared their thoughts on today's biggest insurance risks for business owners, and what you can do to protect yourself against them.
Data breaches
Businesses in all industries have seen a huge increase in cybersecurity problems in recent years. Chris Roach, managing director and national IT practice leader of CBIZ Risk & Advisory Services, said data hacks have hit fast-food retailers and e-commerce businesses particularly hard. However, he added that every business that accepts credit cards should be re-evaluating and standardizing its security practices to protect against fraudulent activity.
What to do: If you have a brick-and-mortar store, one of the most important things you can do is ensure that your credit card technology meets EMV standards, to prevent fraud liability from falling onto your shoulders, Roach said. Every business should also review its compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), he said.
"Complying with PCI DSS protects a merchant against digital data security breaches across their entire payment network, not just a single card," Roach said. "Failure to comply can result in penalties and fines if a data breach does occur on your end."
Cyberinsurance is also an important consideration for small businesses. Myles Gibbons, president of select accounts at Travelers, said that more than half of data breaches last year occurred in companies of 250 or fewer employees.
"Cybercoverage has grown increasingly important to all types of businesses and can help to protect them from the costs of data breach notification, remediation, card payment penalties, crisis management and public relations," he said. [See Related Story: Small Business Insurance: What Do You Need?]
Property damage
Hurricanes, snowstorms, floods, fires and other events that damage your business's physical property can throw a serious wrench in your business's ability to operate normally. While your storefront or office may not have been completely destroyed, chances are, you won't be able to run your business out of there while repairs are happening.
"Only 50 percent of small business owners have a written business-continuity plan, according to the Travelers Business Risk Index," said Scott Humphrey, second vice president of risk control at Travelers. "Between severe weather events and the increasing reliance on a complex network of technology and supply chains, the risks of business interruption are plenty."
What to do: Your first line of defense against the negative effects of property theft or damage is insurance coverage. Gibbons noted that some businesses aren't adequately insured to their true values.
"Ask yourself if you have enough coverage to rebuild a business after a total loss," Gibbons said. "Business owners should make sure their building and its contents — including shelving, displays, inventory and any new equipment — are properly insured. Properties should be insured to their full replacement value — not market value — including any recent improvements."
Michael Freed, a business litigation attorney at Gunster law firm, also urged business owners to consider business interruption insurance to keep their cash flow going, even if operations have been halted temporarily.
"Business interruption insurance provides coverage for lost revenues and profits arising from uncontrollable interruptions in business operations, such as those arising from natural disasters or a building fire," Freed said. "When that type of casualty strikes, business owners need not only to rebuild where there has been physical damage, but to offset for missing revenues while they do so. This is particularly critical for businesses with limited capital reserves."
Beyond that, Humphrey advised developing a disaster recovery plan so your business has a protocol to follow should such an interruption occur.
"To develop a plan, businesses should identify threats or risks most likely to occur based on historical, geographical, organizational and other factors, [and] conduct a business impact analysis [to] identify [what is] critical to the survival of your business," he said. Then, "adopt controls for mitigation and prevention, which can include emergency response, public relations, resource management and employee communications," he added.
Human capital costs
If you have employees, you have a significant amount of business risk. Whether an employee is performing a labor-intensive task, driving a company vehicle or interacting with the public, there is a risk to the company, said Bryan Robertson, equity partner at Sihle Insurance.
"The need for industry-specific training and internal loss controls are apparent now more than ever," he said. "The employe