Posted on

Technology Insurance – Liability Coverage In The Digital Age

Article by Madison Lockwood









Any young occupant of a corporate workplace who has had their PC crash knows the feeling of dread when the IT expert emerges from the basement, rambles into the cubicle and says “Alright. What did you do?” It seems, however, that has IT has absorbed the science of networking and has also grown increasingly complex, liability for software firms, IT firms and internet businesses has become an issue that transcends the cubicle occupant.

Technology insurance is in essence liability insurance. It is designed to protect software and IT companies whose programming errors result in business setbacks for corporations using their products and services. Further, technology insurance refers to policies that protect internet businesses from unauthorized release of private information held on their servers. There are some principal categories of technology insurance that mirror, to some degree, the general categories of business liability.

* Technology errors and omissions insurance provides protection if your software or programming fails to perform as promised, or if errors in programming or product structure result in major client problems. “Cyber liability” in general addresses first- and third-party risks associated with e-business, the Internet, networks and informational assets

* Directors and Officers liability insurance is now available to those functioning in the startup and IPO arena. This insurance covers the principal players not in established firms so much as in those that fail to deliver the commercial success that early investors anticipated.

More specific forms of technology insurance include specific policies relating to:

* Network management* Computer consulting* Online transactional business* Disaster recovery* Data processing/programming services* Intellectual property insurance

With any liability insurance policy, the question of how much you need is directly related to how much you are protecting in the way of assets. One of the important components of liability insurance in any of these fields is coverage for legal expenses. Businesses attempting to quantify damage to their functionality and put a price to their losses as a result of digital malfunction are going to be faced with a complicated burden of proof. Obscure issues generally mean longer periods of deliberation and higher legal bills.

In the case of protection from online theft from hackers, the liability parameters for those sorts of incidents remain largely undefined. There have been no major cases where awards were made in class actions due to the release of thousands of individual’s private records.

Websites that provide a platform for online business transactions usually have a policy agreement that users must read and check off before they can utilize the site. That probably cuts down on frivolous lawsuits over sour transactions, but it does not provide anything like complete protection for the site operator.

This is “first person and third person” coverage that is somewhat different from standard product liability insurance because the only product the site provides is the transaction platform itself. Nevertheless, insurance covers the inevitable legal activity that any business involved in any fashion with a high volume of transactions is going to encounter.

The answer to “how much should I have?” is “consult your broker.” Liability insurance hasn’t changed; only the tools for mismanagement and the types of errors have changed. A good insurance broker can assess what coverage is necessary and clauses are “window dressing” provided by the underwriter.



About the Author

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate, specializing in small business development, for Apollo Hosting. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.










Posted on

Why Your Business Needs Public Liability Insurance

Article by Dawie Bester









If you are a tradesperson or someone who operates a business where customers or visitors either enter your premises or you have to travel to your customers’ locations to execute your work, then you would need to have a public liability insurance policy. As the name implies, public liability insurance is an insurance policy that a tradesperson or business owner would purchase to protect a business from liability for injury or damage that could occur to other people or property, such as those occurring on your business property, or at the client’s establishment where you are conducting business. Basically, where clients and businesspeople are interacting, public liability insurance covers any possible damage or injury that can occur to people or property during the conducting of business or work.

If you own, or plan on owning a business in the future, one thing that will be extremely important is public liability insurance. What this means is that, if your business is responsible for injuring a third party, or is responsible for some type of damage to their surroundings wherever they may be, public liability insurance will protect them and cover them from any type of legal prosecution that they may be faced with. Without this insurance there as a safety net to handle any financial losses due to damages, you may be faced with paying out more then you can afford, at which point you’re basically out of business. If you want to avoid that from happening then you should make sure you have this very important insurance.

A number of businesses today are opting for public liability schemes despite the presence of some other type of business cover. However, you might already be covered by the public liability scheme as part of your existing business insurance. If you already have a public liability cover or you are planning to get one for your business, there are certain factors that you should keep in mind.

First and foremost, you should make sure that the public liability insurance you have opted for cater well to your business needs, depending upon the nature of business. You also need to estimate whether the existing cover is sufficient for your needs or if you need an extra coverage for protecting your business against other odds. You should also make sure that you are well aware of the terms and conditions of the insurance, so that you know what is covered under the policy and what is not. This would not only save you hassles later, but also ensure that you get an insurance cover for the aspects that were not covered in your earlier policy.

For any kind of business, you should make sure that you have all the insurance that is required. Firstly, you should understand the key points for the different types of insurance, and make sure that you have adequate public liability insurance, so that you can cover all the insurance required, if the business undergoes financial losses, or accidents that occur as a result of injury to a person or damage of the property.



About the Author

Discover how you can get cheap public liability insurance in South Africa by visiting business insurance South Africa.










Posted on

What Does Public Liability Insurance Cover?

Article by Oliver Kyle









For any business, whether you are working in the building trade, retail sector or any other area that deals directly with members of the public, having sufficient insurance cover in place is a must. Public liability insurance will protect your business should you be at the centre of a claim from a member of the public who deems that you have caused injury to them or damage to their property. One insurance provider is determined to ensure that you are adequately protected to combat any such claim.

Public liability insurance will cover you if you find yourself needing to pay out a large compensation package to a third party due to an incident being caused by you or your business. Without cover in place, you will be liable to pay the full amount which could result in your business being put at severe financial risk.

By using this particular insurance specialist, you can compare policies from a number of the leading insurers until you find the one best suited to you and your business needs. They give you the option of shopping around for your public liability insurance but remove the hassle of having to move from one website to the next in search of the best terms and cheapest policies.

Even if you work from a home office, public liability insurance is still necessary to cover you should any clients visit your property. If they were to injure themselves whilst on your premises, you could be seen as responsible if any form of negligence is apparent. With an adequate insurance policy in place you can make sure that you are financially covered should the worst occur.

A further area where public liability insurance can cover you is through your tools. Incorporating tools cover into your policy will make sure that the most expensive items that you rely upon to conduct your day to day work are covered against a wide variety of possible eventualities. With many tools being expensive purchases, having sufficient cover will remove any extra costs that you could do without further down the line.

Public liability insurance should be an essential purchase for any business working closely with members of the public. Injury to a third party or damage to their property can occur at any time so you are strongly urged to purchase a policy through a provider such as this to guarantee you are always covered.



About the Author

Written by Oliver Kyle, on behalf of Insure My Liability – expert providers of public liability insurance.