Category: News

insurance review

When should you get an insurance review? Addressing your economic and pandemic concerns

A global pandemic, an economic downturn – it sure may not seem like it, but why is NOW the perfect time to get an insurance review? The short answer is that there’s never been a better time. Read on to learn more.

What are the benefits of getting an insurance review?

As a matter of best practice, you should be getting your business insurance reviewed annually. A lot can change throughout the year with your business, and it’s easy to forget to notify your insurance broker about changes to your business that might impact your insurance solution, or worse, leave you unknowingly exposed to additional risk. A review with an insurance expert will help to ask you the right questions and gain a firm understanding of your current business and insurance needs.

There can also be external factors to consider when it comes to your insurance solution. Some examples include:

  • Emerging risks – cyber is a good example of an emerging risk – we have known about the increasing risk of cyber attacks and data protection for some time, but it’s also a continuously evolving risk with new requirements and changing types of cyber attacks.
  • Changes within the insurance industry itself – there can be new insurers and underwriters entering the market, some may exit a market, policy innovations are introduced and policy wordings changed regularly.
  • Global incidents – things like political unrest, terrorism and, you guessed it, pandemics, can have a significant impact on your business and your insurance solution. And given the ongoing prevalence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll spend a bit more time explaining why.

Understand and protect your business following the impact of COVID-19

There’s no doubt the global pandemic has impacted us all, both personally and professionally over the past year. Some business struggled and had to close their doors, others pivoted into new ways of doing business or started to offer new services. Business in some industries thrived (think mask and hand sanitiser manufacturers, food delivery services, home improvement suppliers), and others are still facing a significant amount of uncertainty about their future.

Regardless of what category your business would consider itself for now, it’s likely that your business is different today than it was pre-pandemic. Even if it’s just a more flexible working environment, or perhaps your employees worked remotely for the first time ever in the past year. Believe it or not, all of these changes can have an impact on your risk profile and may have potential implications to your insurance solution.

Some key questions* for business leaders to ask themselves to determine if it’s time for an insurance review include:

  • Do we have insurance cover or are we subject to a pandemic exclusion?
  • Is the organisation complying with policy requirements, such as notifying any potential claims?
  • Has cyber insurance cover been reviewed to make sure it will respond to the increased risk of exposure in the current environment?
  • When are our policy renewals due and how will the crisis impact them? What forms of cover do we need going forward?
  • Can the organisation access the special arrangements put in place by insurers for small business?

[*Source: The Australian Institute of Company Directors]

Book your insurance review now

We would be happy to discuss your needs, assess your current insurance solution and provide you with a quote. Just give us a call on (03) 9290 9260 or contact us here.


This article provides information rather than financial product or other advice. The content of this article, including any information contained in it, has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider the appropriateness of the information, taking these matters into account, before you act on any information. In particular, you should review the product disclosure statement for any product that the information relates to it before acquiring the product.  

insurance trends

Insurance trends for 2021 – what do you need to know about emerging trends and risks?

Clearly the global COVID-19 pandemic is the most outstanding impact on insurance trends for both last year and this year. But there are a number of trends that were already underway, and some clear themes that have shown through.

Top insurance trends

The work from home revolution

Working from home (WFH) or remote working has a very different set of risks to those facing an office-based workforce. For one thing, it’s harder to ensure adequate health and safety (even just ergonomics) measures are in place for each individual’s home workspace compared to looking after one combined office space. And there’s been a significant increase of cyber risk, both in cyber attacks but also just maintaining proper data security and cyber hygiene with (sometimes previously untested) remote working systems and a variety of different at home internet set ups.

The rise of online businesses

The innovation we’ve seen thorughout the pandemic has been incredible. Businesses that provided in-person services or had traditional bricks and mortar had to close their physical doors in many cases, but some found ways to continue their business services online instead. Services like hair styling, makeup, photography, etc., looked to provide online tutorials and classes instead of the services themselves. High end restaurants offered takeaway and food delivery as well as cooking classes and at-home experiences. Consider yoga and pilates studios and gyms that previously only attracted customers from a small radius around their physical location who are now offering online or live streamed classes to people in their homes, anywhere! The entrepreneurial spirit is awe-inspiring, but it’s also important to keep in mind that fundamentally changing the purpose and activities of your business

Risk management

They say prevention is better than a cure, and the insurance industry agrees, with a noticeable shift from providing customers with an insurance policy to protect against a loss, to risk management and mitigation. Technology and automation (think of dashboard cams and driver-assist technology for the transport industry, for example) are helping to provide more information and education about risks as well as increase safety and improve decision making to avoid an incident happening in the first place.

Travel

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention travel, or, in many cases, lack thereof. It’s been a horrible impact to our tourism and hospitality industries, as well as keeping international friends and families apart. But it’s not all bad news, many businesses have found savings with meetings that previously would have required employees to travel are now being held via phone or video conferencing. In fact, some have even won new clients that previously might not have considered doing business remotely but now that it’s just our new way of life/new way of working it opens up a whole different pipeline of customers. Maybe we will begin to travel more frequently again, though not likely the same as we did before. When we do, make sure you understand what your travel insurance (if you can get travel insurance) does and does not include. Most covers that we’ve seen specifically excludes the pandemic, so you’ll need to keep that in mind when making any plans for yourself or your employees.

Get a business insurance quote

We hope you found some of our top insurance trends interesting. Make sure to contact us if you’d like to find out more or get a quote for your business.


This article provides information rather than financial product or other advice. The content of this article, including any information contained in it, has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider the appropriateness of the information, taking these matters into account, before you act on any information. In particular, you should review the product disclosure statement for any product that the information relates to it before acquiring the product.

insurance adviser

The value of your insurance adviser – corporate service model versus authorised reps

There are a lot of misconceptions around the value of an insurance adviser, and why your business might consider using one for your insurance needs versus going to a global broker that uses a corporate model. We’ve identified a few points of differences and things to take into consideration when selecting who you go to for your insurance needs.

The difference between an insurance adviser and a corporate insurance service model

So what exactly are the differences between an insurance adviser and a corporate insurance model?

  • An insurance adviser is often a small family business, perhaps part of a wider network to provide the same advantages in regards to policy wordings and clout with insurers, but at the end of they day it’s their business and they have skin in the game and a vested interest to looking after their clients.
  • A corporate insurance model is typically found at a national or international brokerage, where there are different functions to look after your needs at various points of the insurance lifecycle (i.e. a business development manager to win your business, an account manager or their assistant to deal with renewals and queries, a claims manager or outsourced/offshore claims team to manage your claims).

A piece of paper (or PDF) and a promise

There’s an old saying that insurance is really just a ‘piece of paper and a promise’ (or these days often more accurately, ‘a PDF and a promise’). When that promise is brought to fruition and tested is in the event of a claim. But there are a lot of steps that happen with insurance before the claims step, such as:

  • Discovery – this is the first step your insurance adviser or insurance broker should take when putting together your insurance solution and again at renewal. It involves a deep dive into your business and business activities, to make sure we have a strong understanding of your risks.
  • Risk assessment and mitigation – a good adviser or broker will also work with you to help you understand which risks might be better to manage instead of just insure. Some examples might be improved safety practices, education for your employees, and avoiding some risks altogether (such as deciding not to offer a particular service or product if the risk is deemed not worthwhile).
  • Marketing/placement – the benefit of going with either an insurance advisor or a corporate insurance service model is that they both should go to bat for you with the insurers and underwriters, to put together a tailored insurance solution that is competitively priced and covers your needs.
  • Claims management – a-ha, so here is the step that really matters. When it comes to managing your claim, you’ll want your insurance adviser or broker to be your #1 advocate, making sure that you’re paid anything that you’re owed, as soon as possible. You’ll want them to have your best interests at heart, and to truly care about the outcome for you and your business.

So should you use a corporate team or an insurance adviser?

There’s no ‘right’ answer to this question, but you should take some time to really consider what you expect from your insurance intermediary. Often businesses go with global brokers because of brand familiarity or pressure from the board to select an established brokerage. But will that deliver the results that you’re after? Consider whether an insurance adviser might provide you with an end-to-end service, with one key contact that knows your business inside and out. You’re not just a number when it comes to a claim, you’re a valued client that often becomes a friend. If a trusted relationship and a high care factor is important to you, then perhaps there’s no harm in getting an insurance review or an insurance quote from an insurance adviser for your business.


Get a quote from an insurance adviser

Remember that every business is different and you’ll have your own set of opportunities and challenges. Contact us if you’d like a complimentary review of your current insurance solution, or a quote.


This article provides information rather than financial product or other advice. The content of this article, including any information contained in it, has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider the appropriateness of the information, taking these matters into account, before you act on any information. In particular, you should review the product disclosure statement for any product that the information relates to it before acquiring the product.