Business Insurance After COVID

While businesses have been severely hampered or shuttered in the last 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there does appear to be some light at the end of the tunnel.  As our lives start to slowly inch back to how they were before the government-mandated shutdown and businesses are opening back up again, being sure that your business insurance policies are in a position to protect you as best as they can is very important, and CBM Insurance is here to do that for you.

As a business owner, either veteran or new in business, the insurance protection that you purchase should be reviewed throughout the year.  This allows us as your agent and carrier to adjust your exposures (payrolls, sales figures, etc) to reflect the true “state” of your operations and charge accordingly.  Reviewing your business operations to see if you’ve added any services that we as your agent and your carrier may not be aware of can protect you from suffering an uncovered claim (for example, many restaurants have started offering direct delivery services during the pandemic and some policies may not be ready to provide protection for that exposure).

COVID’s Payroll After-Effects

Over the last 14 plus months, we’ve spoken with many clients who had to reduce payrolls and sales estimations significantly during the last year because of COVID.   This allowed them to pay only for what they needed to during that time and prevent an overpayment throughout the year.  But with things opening back up again, making sure that you are accurately using numbers that reflect realistic projections can prevent you from having to deal with a large audit due at the end of your policy term.

Employees After COVID

With the reduction in the number of employees and now the influx again, either adding or reviewing your Employment Practices Liability (EPLI) policy can ensure that your business is protected from employment-related lawsuits (negligent hiring, firing, harassment, just to name a few).

A change in how businesses have operated was also seen over the last year, with a very significant shift to online sales and only payment processing.  While your business may be dealing with a third party to provide software services, Comcast or Verizon for your physical access to the internet, and Amazon or Google for cloud services, it’s imperative that cyber insurance be considered as extra protection.  Should you suffer a breach and a client’s banking information stolen, you could be responsible for getting that person (or person’s as usually many folks are involved) made whole again.  

These are just a few of the things that we see and hear from our partner carriers and clients on a day-to-day basis.  All of us here at CBM Insurance are here to help and provide guidance as we all tread into the unknown that is the world following (approaching anyway) a pandemic.