If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn and other social media platforms you may have seen how job titles are evolving. In fields like marketing, management and IT we’re seeing traditional titles like ‘consultant’ and ‘adviser’ make way for a new breed of ninjas, wizards, gurus and rockstars.
Of course, the job market is changing all the time. New jobs and technology emerge to replace older jobs, which is why we don’t see many gas lamp-lighters walking around the streets any more.
Part of the challenge for a business insurer offering Professional Indemnity insurance is to keep up with emerging and niche professions and to be able to provide the right kind of cover for professions such as
- GDPR consultant
- Digital content producer
- Cyber security adviser
- Search engine optimisation (SEO) specialist
- Social media manager
- Blogger / vlogger
- Data scientist
- Online lead generator
What exactly is Professional Indemnity insurance?
Another challenge that insurers and brokers sometimes face is explaining what Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance is, who should consider it, and how it can step in to give peace of mind when a business dispute occurs.
Insurances such as Public Liability or Employers’ Liability are relatively straightforward as they deal with actual loss or damage. So, for example, if someone trips over an electrical cable and breaks their ankle it is often easy to establish the cause, who is at fault and calculate the financial cost.
PI is a more intangible type of insurance, which is designed to cover the policyholder customer against a claim for financial loss which may arise from a mistake or an allegation of negligence, error, omission, misstatement or misrepresentation.
These could include:
- Breach of confidentiality, e.g accidentally releasing confidential customer information
- Libel and slander, e.g writing or saying something which is deemed defamatory
- Breach of copyright, e.g unintentional use of unauthorised images, text or designs
- Loss of documents
- Dishonesty of employees
Mistakes happen…
If your business is involved in giving advice or providing professional services there’s always the risk of a mistake happening. Depending on the nature of the mistake, it could lead to accusations of negligence, a claim for financial compensation, a legal dispute, bad publicity and even damage to your professional reputation.
We can all probably think of some high-profile business disputes that have made the news recently, but with small and medium-sized (SME) businesses making up 99% of the UK economy they can be even more at risk. If there’s blame, it can lead to a claim, for example:
- An advertising agency prints the wrong telephone number on a client’s advert in a magazine. The client claims that that this mistake has led to loss of business.
- A marketing consultant suggests a brand name that means something negative in another language, causing acute embarrassment for the client and a rebranding exercise.
- Following a fire, a health & safety consultant is blamed and accused of breaching fire regulations.
- A translator produces language errors in a company brochure. The client claims it has made them look bad.
Take comfort
Professional Indemnity insurance is a safety net that can take away some of the worry and even defend a claim in court if it comes to that.
Business professionals who are involved in some form of consulting, advising, recommending, teaching, training, specifying, designing, engineering, translating, testing or inspecting may take some comfort in having Professional Indemnity insurance.
As a business insurance specialist, QBE understands that when it comes to Professional Indemnity, every customer’s risk profile is different. You need an insurance partner who can respond quickly to your unique challenges.
If you’re a broker and want more information how QBE can help your clients CLICK HERE, leave a message and youTalk-insurance will pass your enquiry on
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