Small and Medium Business Insurance
Ninety-seven per cent of businesses in New Zealand are small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), employing fewer than 20 employees. This means SMEs are key to New Zealand’s productivity and prosperity. Importantly, small businesses are integral to supporting the families of their employees so, as an SME owner, it’s crucial for you to protect your business and your employees. Alongside risk management, you need to insure your business. But do you know what types and levels of coverage are right for you, and what insurance policies may be compulsory? A NZbrokers member can help.
SME insurance broker
As a SME, people are counting on you, whether it’s your own family or your employees, or both. Keeping the business running smoothly is therefore a key focus. To do this effectively, you need to identify and manage all the risks in your business.
Some risks are obvious and relatively easy to mitigate. If your business depends on heavy machinery, then you can minimise the risk of injury or damage by ensuring employees are properly trained and authorised to operate the equipment, and by keeping equipment well maintained. You can also conduct regular safety briefings and updates to make sure everyone knows how to stay safe around machinery.
However, some risks are harder to identify, which makes them more difficult to mitigate. And some things are simply out of your hands, like an extreme weather event or earthquake, burglary, fire, or other incident that damages or interrupts your business.
This is where insurance comes in. While it’s your responsibility to reduce risk throughout your business, it’s equally important to make sure you have the right security cover in place for when unfortunate events do happen.
But with so many different types of insurance out there, and so many different providers, it can be hard to know what’s right for your business. To get the right coverage, you need to talk to the experts in SME insurance.
NZbrokers is a network of independent brokers with extensive experience in SME insurance, and we have a broker close to you.
NZbrokers can help you:
- find the best insurance cover for your business’s needs
- review cover from the broadest range of insurers
- understand premiums and risk management
- manage insurance claims to save you time and get better outcomes.
*Talk to one of our independent brokers today to find out more. Click here to find the broker closest to you
Getting the right SME insurance for your business
As an SME owner, no one works harder in your business than you do. It can be heartbreaking if your business suffers a loss. Being adequately insured can provide the funds to get you up and running sooner.
Too many small business owners have contacted their insurance provider after an event only to find that they’re not covered for that specific event, or that their insurance benefit is limited and doesn’t provide adequate cover.
Working with an insurance broker can prevent that from happening. The right broker can help you understand exactly what policy is right for your needs. They’ve read all the fine print and can let you know if you’re likely to be left out of pocket. And they can help you balance your insurance needs with your available budget.
Importantly, a broker can become invaluable if you have to claim. Your insurance broker will shepherd your claim through the process, including making sure it’s worded correctly to maximise your chances of being successful. Often, businesses who make their own claims miss out on payable benefits simply because they haven’t described the event or the damage according to the insurer’s preferences. Or they simply don’t know the benefit exists in the policy.
When it comes to choosing the right insurance, are you confident that you’re completely covered?
Here are seven of the key things you need to cover:
| 1 | Your premises | It goes without saying that you need insurance cover on your physical premises, as well as the contents. If you don’t own your premises, you still need to make sure your landlord has adequate insurance. |
| 2 | Equipment | From expensive computers to high-end machinery, if your equipment isn’t working then neither are you. Make sure you’re covered for damage or theft of your equipment. |
| 3 | Employee dishonesty | Employee theft and fraud are major causes of loss for SMEs, so it’s important to make sure you’re covered if your employees steal from you or conduct fraudulent activities in your name. |
| 4 | Cyber | Cyberattacks are getting more frequent and more severe, and they can put your company out of business. Cyber insurance can mitigate the losses caused by a cyberattack. |
| 5 | Key person | Your business might be unable to operate if a key person became incapacitated, then it could be worth considering a key person policy. This is essentially life insurance on the key person where the company is the beneficiary. |
| 6 | Business interruption | Sometimes the highest cost of an incident isn’t the repairs, it’s the inability to generate revenue as usual. Business interruption insurance can cover you for the profits you would have made and wages your employees would have received if the incident hadn’t occurred. |
| 7 | Liability | Product and public liability insurance protects you if you or your product damages property owned by another person. Some policies will even protect you if you damage the property you’re working on. |
Choosing the right SME insurance broker for your business’s needs depends on a broad range of factors. Working with an independent, transparent insurance broker like a member of NZbrokers means you don’t have to spend time and resources investigating all the options and hoping you don’t miss something. Your broker will be able to find the right policy for you and you may even end up paying less than you think for your preferred policy.
Contact one of our independent brokers today to find out more.
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