Mackay Insurance Blog
8 Ways to Know You Need to Purchase Business Insurance
As of this year, there are an estimated 1.15 million small businesses scattered throughout Canada. Half of these are located in Ontario.
But if we fast-forward 10 years, statistics tell us nearly half of these businesses will have disappeared.
A variety of factors contribute to business survival, including number of employees, industry, economic fluctuations and leadership succession plans.
Often overlooked, however, is a business’s risk management strategy. This includes the strategic purchase of business insurance to protect the growing company from the inside out and the outside in.
In this post, we highlight eight key ways to know it is time to take out a business insurance policy for your small business.
Business Insurance Defined
The Government of Canada defines business insurance as “peace of mind.”
This definition may sound simplistic at first, but at its most fundamental level, this is precisely the role business insurance plays in safeguarding your company’s future.
There are many different types of business insurance to offer protection for various key aspects of your company. Business insurance can protect you and your employees, your materials and products, your company vehicles, your online activities and much more.
Different businesses need different types of business insurance. What type you acquire depends on the industry you work in, the size and scope of your operations, your net worth and even your local weather!
As a general rule of thumb, your business insurance policy should match your current needs, with a bit of room to grow.
8 Signs You Need Business Insurance
If you find yourself nodding while you read any of these 8 signs, please give one of our friendly and knowledgeable insurance brokers a call (contact information at the end of this post).
1. You set up a business website
Your business website is essentially your virtual workplace. This is especially the case if you have an online store (more about that in number 6 here), but even your blog and social media feed function as outgrowths of your business operations.
General business liability insurance will protect you in the event someone takes issue with content you post, images you use and advertising and marketing activities.
2. You hire someone to do work for you
Once you take on an employee, you open yourself up to a whole new level of risk. That employee may have an accident on the job or say or do something while working for you that harms someone or damages something.
For the former, workers’ compensation insurance provides protection for you and your employee. For the latter, professional liability insurance covers you for an employee’s (or your own) on-the-job errors that cause damage or harm.
3. You use your vehicle for your business
This is an area far too many business owners overlook to their personal peril.
What many small business owners don’t realize is that a personal auto insurance policy does not cover you if you have an auto accident while driving for work. Some insurers will even drop you if they discover you have filed a claim for a work-related incident under your personal auto policy.
For this, what you need is a commercial vehicle insurance policy. This way, you are protected when driving for work whether you use a personal vehicle or a business vehicle.
4. You carry raw materials or product inventory
Theft, vandalism and even natural disasters can wreak havoc with the raw materials or finished inventory you rely on to keep your business’s doors open. The same holds true for the basic equipment and supplies you use to do business, from your desk and office chair to your phones and computer equipment.
The type of business insurance you need to protect the premises can vary based on whether you are operating your business out of your home or out of a leased or owned commercial space. Commercial property insurance will protect the contents of that space, including raw materials, office supplies, equipment, furniture and finished goods.
5. You receive a new major order
Every business owner dreams of the day they receive their first large order that really solidifies their company’s place in their industry.
But in the glow of success, it is easy to forget this is also a time when you need to already have an active certificate of liability insurance in place to secure that new client.
6. You store confidential or personal customer data
If your website also functions as an online store, chances are good you are accepting and perhaps storing very sensitive customer data, including credit card or bank account information.
With the amount of online fraud activity today, it is smart to include a cyber insurance rider in your business insurance policy to protect you in the event of a data breach.
7. You have visitors to your business
Whether your company operates out of your basement or the office building down the street, you open yourself up to risk with each visitor that enters your space.
From trips and falls to property theft, you will want to have general liability business coverage in place to protect you if someone is injured or their property is damaged while they are visiting your business.
8. You act as an expert in your industry
Finally, in the litigious society we live and work in today, there is nothing to say someone won’t take issue with what you say or do, or your credentials to say or do it.
Errors and omissions insurance plus a professional liability insurance rider will protect you here.
Get in Touch
Contact us online or give us a call at 888-853-5552.
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