When
you make an investment in technology or other equipment, don’t
forget the insurance. Your business will soon become dependent on
these tools as they allow your practices to adapt. If something
happened to make them unusable, or if they were stolen, how would you
cope? With adequate insurance, they can quickly be replaced – but
are they fully covered? It’s true that business contents insurance
is yet another cost, but is it something you can afford to do
without?
Cover
Both on and off the Premises
When
you add new items, or update old ones, the value of your business
contents usually rises, so you need to be sure that your policy will
cover it. Electronic equipment is also becoming increasingly mobile
and business people travel with smart phones, laptops, iPads and
other tablets. You need insurance that will these items even when
they are off the premises, and you should impress upon your staff the
importance of compliance with the rules on exclusions that apply to
the policy.
If
you own your premises the responsibility for insuring the building
clearly lies with you. If you rent, it may be the landlord who holds
this cover. But whether or not you have buildings insurance, you need
business contents cover in case of fire, lightning, explosion, storm,
riot, malicious damage, theft etc., as insurance policies will state.
Some insurers even offer cover for yours and your employees’,
personal items while on the business property. Your policy will cover
the cost of repair or replacement as necessary, but only if the value
of what is lost has been properly estimated.
Get
Help to Value your Contents
If
you buy high value items, you should contact your insurers and find
out if you need to arrange more cover. Meanwhile, it could be time to
get your outsourced
bookkeepers
to help you conduct an inventory to get a proper valuation of all
your contents, so that you can be confident about your level of
cover. The only things you might be able to leave out of the
valuation are those little luxuries that make working life easier but
are not absolutely necessary for the running of the business. Think
hard before you exclude anything though; you could regret it.
When
you undertake this inventory, you may find old equipment that is now
obsolete for your purposes. It can be disposed of and perhaps you can
sell it. Your outsourced
bookkeepers
may know someone in a start-up situation who might be glad of it. You
could put the money you make on it towards your business contents
premium.
