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6 Tips for Business to avoid Underinsurance
Cybersecurity Trends in 2020
This year, cybersecurity concerns are on the rise as hackers become more aggressive and technology advances. If your business is reviewing its budgets and strategies for 2020, Robison recommends investigating these cybersecurity trends to identify how they might affect your company.
Investors
In 2020, financial investments will be affected by cybersecurity more than ever before. Following 2017’s Equifax data breach, investors are beginning to realise that businesses with vulnerable cyber risks are a less worthy investment. With ‘Fortune 1000’ companies twice as likely to suffer a data breach, it is clear that even the largest, most prosperous companies are at risk. Surprisingly, research by cybersecurity rating company BitSight revealed that the majority of the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine Fortune, have at least one division in their administration which uses a vulnerable ‘port’ which could be accessed by cybercriminals to acquire sensitive data.
Consequently, investors are reining in their support of companies which do not have solid security measures in place. The correlation between strong cybersecurity and strong stock performance has allowed investors to make smarter choices about which companies they decide to invest in, and although this relationship is in its infancy, it is likely that in the future more investors will incorporate cybersecurity into their analysis.
As a business, it is imperative to showcase your company’s cyber aptitude, as it will not only protect your data, but increase your investment value.
Blunt-Force Cyberattacks
Projections show that in 2020, hackers are likely to use simple strategies such as brute-force password spraying, business email compromise (BEC) and gaining access to third-party systems. Although it is beneficial to have complex firewalls in place to protect the delicate infrastructure of your computer systems, businesses must practice back-to-basics cybersecurity vigilance such as:
- Staff training on phishing and suspicious emails
- GDPR enforcement
- Maintaining Codes of Practice when discussing sensitive information
Often, the human element of a business is the weakest link, and the easiest route for a cyber criminal to gain access to sensitive data.
For more information on Cyber Risks and Liabilities and how you can protect our business, read our guide.
How Can We Help?
Cyberattacks can cause your company to lose the trust of your clients, lose money and damage your reputation. As an experienced broker, Robison can find the best cyber liability insurance for your business, based on your specific needs. Our professional team specialises in creating bespoke insurance solutions to resolve your concerns, with a focus on value for money, industry insight and personal service.
Robison is an independent business and personal insurance broker based in Petersfield, Hampshire. We have provided advice and services for businesses throughout Hampshire and the surrounding areas since 1982, providing friendly customer service, value for money and advice from trained professionals. If you’re looking for an experienced, professional broker who is innovative in providing you with the right programme of policies, our team can offer tailored advice and services no matter your requirements. To arrange an audit, call our team on 01730 265 500 or email us at hello@robison.co.uk.
How Manufacturers Can Manage Their Risks Through Insurance and Non-Insurance Strategies
As a manufacturer, it can be difficult to calculate the cost of losses and the degree of risk. If your business is faced with a product recall or downtime of machinery, are you equipped to keep trading without incurring loss of revenue, customers or reputation?
What is a Risk Management Programme?
Total cost of risk is an insurance term describing the cost of both pure and speculative risk. Additionally, it is synonymous with price: the price of your risk management programme. Some components of cost of risk are easily identifiable, such as insurance premiums or loss of production costs, whereas loss of reputation or market share is more difficult to quantify. Establishing and maintaining a risk management programme aims to decrease your total cost of risk, by helping to achieve the following:
- Analyse your exposure to risk
- Implement control measures to these exposures
- Determine risk transfer or financing options
- Manage current and future exposures
Identification of Exposures
In order to identify total cost of risk, it is imperative to recognize which areas of your business are vulnerable. Aligning your risk management approach with your overall business objectives will aid the recognition of qualitative and quantitative risks against which you can aim to protect your business. The analysis of both qualitative and quantitative risks also offers a foundation for developing forward-thinking approaches to the exposures identified.
When identifying risks as a manufacturer, it helps to ask the following questions:
- What is your viewpoint on risk?
- Is your company risk-averse?
- Is your company in a financial position to take on more risk? Can that risk be transferred to another party or contractually to an insurer?
To help answer these questions, assessing your company history is useful to find patterns and to ascertain risk-taking behaviour. For example, start-ups are more likely to want to protect their financial viability as funds and cash flow is tight, in contrast to a 20-year business whose strategies and business plan may be becoming obsolete or too conservative.
Additionally, we consider norms in the manufacturing industry, your market position and competition to fine-tune your risk management solution to the changing needs of your business.
Quantitative analysis including ‘hard numbers’ and prior losses can also be used to identify trends. This data is also used to identify:
- Average incurred costs per loss
- Total incurred trends
- Fraud behaviours
Implementing Control Measures
Through pre- and post-loss control measures, Robison looks to control and reduce the cost of commercial insurance expenses, an estimated 75% of which are claims driven. Using a comprehensive loss control evaluation to implement control features such as anti-fraud tactics, employee campaigns about the effects of insurance fraud, and safety incentives for solid performance can show how an active loss control programme can be elemental to cost containment. Robison can offer comprehensive resources for your business to help you employ the most appropriate strategies to control your risks.
Next Steps
Once a risk management programme and control measures are in place, the remaining vulnerabilities of your business can be addressed. It is important to comprehend how much risk you can assume in-house and how much of that risk you should be transferring to a third party. Robison can finance remaining risks through an insurance policy as well as assisting with the transfer of risk to a third party. However, we recommend that you use a combination of insurance and non-insurance strategies to cover losses to fully mitigate your risks, using self-insured retentions as well as bespoke policies.
About Robison
Approximately 25% of businesses that sustain a major catastrophe are no longer in business within a year. If your operation is interrupted, will you have access to the professional advice needed to ensure you can continue trading? By utilising Robison’s range of insurance and non-insurance strategies, your manufacturing business could reduce the cost of your risks, as well as plan a strategy to mitigate and control risks in the future.
Robison Insurance Brokers have provided expert advice and professional insurance solutions to businesses in Hampshire and the surrounding areas since 1982, working with manufacturers to develop strategic action plans, assisting in the execution of the designed risk management programmes and maintaining low risk costs. If you are interested in reviewing your risk management strategies, contact us today on 01730 265500 or hello@robison.co.uk to speak with one of our insurance experts.
Well-Being Initiatives in the Workplace
What is well-being and why is it so important in the workplace?
Well-being is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy”. As well as referring to physical happiness, well-being includes mental wellness, satisfaction and how people evaluate their lives as a whole.
In the workplace, wellness is of particular importance to both employees and employers, as poor physical and mental well-being can affect efficiency and morale. A healthy workforce is demonstrably more productive, engaged and cost-efficient. Unhealthy employees cost employers billions of pounds every year as a result of reduced productivity and visits to A&E. However, simple wellness initiatives can help lower expenses and establish a more secure bottom line.
Are you taking appropriate steps to save money at your organisation?
What are the benefits of workplace well-being for employees?
One way to promote well-being at work is to introduce and maintain proper levels of physical activity. Exercising for 30 minutes a day can offer a range of benefits, including improving mental health, decreasing the risk of obesity, lowering blood pressure and decreasing the risk of heart disease.
Some examples of activities which employers could introduce include:
Exercise Classes
Introducing group exercise classes to your workforce is a great way to maintain recommended levels of physical activity. Try offering a range of classes like aerobics, kickboxing, Pilates and tai chi to appeal to a range of audiences.
Walking Buddy
Employees are more likely to stick to an exercise plan when they have an accountability partner to help motivate them and exercise with them. Provide maps of local walking routes which begin and end at the office or workplace and encourage employees to walk in groups or pairs.
Pre-Shift Stretching
Standard 9-5 jobs often include 8 hours of sitting, hunched over a computer screen. Initiating a stretching routine for the team before they commence work for the day could help alleviate strains, aches and back pain often associated with sedentary jobs.
Company Sports Team
Visit your local leisure centre to find out about hiring their pitches/courts for regular sporting events for your team. Encouraging your workforce to regularly play a team sport together not only increases their physical well-being but fosters better relationships and improves communication.
What are the benefits or workplace well-being for employers?
Having a more physically active workforce reduces staff absence, increases morale and boosts productivity and profits. By providing well-being initiatives for staff, employers can reap the benefits of a happier, healthier and more active team. These initiatives also increase workplace unity and relations between workers, which in turn improves communication and the execution of projects.
Employers can also offer facilities at work which accommodate well-being incentives, such as:
Bike Racks
By offering convenient, safe and visible locations for employees to keep their bikes, employers are more likely to be successful in encouraging a ‘ride to work’ scheme.
Showers
If the exercise classes provided at your workplace take place during lunch hour or in the morning, offering showers on the premises will encourage staff to take part, knowing that they will be able to wash afterwards.
Pedometers
Pedometers are a great way to motivate staff to stick to their exercise programme by measuring steps and estimating distances. Offering incentives like ‘first employee to reach 10,000 steps wins a gift voucher’ are a good way to motivate the team.
To help you identify and assess the risk to your business and employees, we have produced a Workplace Wellness Scorecard to assist in navigating the typical areas of risk and determine a strategy which protects you, your business, employees and customers. For more information on how workplace wellness can lower your risk of losses in your business, call us on 01730 265 500 or email us at hello@robison.co.uk .
About us
At Robison, we offer professional advice and insurance policies to reduce the risk to your business and employees. Our vast experience means that we can help you to identify the risks specific to your operation and help protect your staff and reputation in the case of a staff complaint or loss of revenue.
Robison is an experienced business and personal insurance broker based in Petersfield, providing insurance services and advice for businesses and individuals in Hampshire and the surrounding areas. Our highly trained staff are dedicated to offering support and guidance, tailoring our policies to suit your needs.
