We recently received a question from an American subscriber to our blog. Below is the response. His question is also transcribed first.

"So this would be good to have if I wanted to start web consulting? How do contracts with Limitation of Liability clauses play into indemnity insurance?"

Dear Wardell,

Thank you very much for your question. We have spoken about it at the BizCover offices and read below for your reply:

An Information Technology (IT) Liability policy is a Professional Indemnity insurance policy that is specifically tailored to the needs of an IT business and provides the most appropriate cover for a web consultant. IT Liability policies provide cover for acts, errors or omissions in relation to computer equipment or products (including hardware, software or firmware) which you (or your employees, consultants, subcontractors or agents) manufacture, produce, install, repair, service or distribute as well as for advice or work provided in connection with this equipment. Most policies also include additional cover in relation to conduct, such as fraud/dishonesty in certain circumstances, unintentional defamation and infringement of intellectual property such as copyrights, trademarks, designs, patents etc. They also provide cover for claims under Trade Practices legislation.

In addition to the professional indemnity cover, some IT Liability policies also include a separate section which provides Public and Products Liability cover. This means that cover is provided in respect of claims brought against you for unintentional personal injury caused by you (eg. sickness, disability, shock, false arrest, invasion of privacy) or physical loss, damage or destruction of property/loss of use of this property caused by you in the course of your business.

Most IT Liability policies include vicarious cover for the Insured Company or persons for claims made against consultants, subcontractors or agents who carry out work on their behalf. There is sometimes an option to purchase additional cover for the consultants, subcontractors or agents themselves but this cover is usually not automatically included in a standard policy.

Most Professional Indemnity insurance policies also cover some of the legal costs and expenses that are incurred as a result of defending the claims mentioned above or the costs associated with official investigations and inquiries by administrative or regulatory bodies.

As you can see from this overview, an IT Liability policy offers a broad scope of cover in relation to various aspects of an IT business and is often included as a requirement in IT consultants and contractors contracts.

Limitation of Liability clauses are more commonly used in the US than in Australia and not all types of liability can be limited. For example, it is not possible to limit or contract out of liability arising from your negligence and Australia has consumer protection legislation, such as the Trade Practices Act and the Fair Trading Act which prevent one from limiting or contracting out of liability in certain circumstances.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply. I would also suggest speaking with a broker in the US, as they would better understand the intricacies of US legislation.

Regards,
BizCover
http://www.bizcover.com.au/bizcover/

What Can You Expect from BizCover Professional Indemnity Insurance in 2009?

BizCover will be closed from the 24th of December to 4th of January (although we will still be responding to emails). We are committed to bringing you many changes in time for the new year.

Our website will have a dedicated News and Media section allowing you to browse articles mentioning our company, watch videos about Professional Indemnity Insurance (some recorded by our Directors) and download policy documents. There are many other interactive sections to come including an easier way to reach us through Facebook and LinkedIn.

You will also be able to find out more about the staff at BizCover, browse their photographs and profiles, and their interpretations of working in Professional Indemnity and Public Liability Insurance (Business Insurance). We're more than an online business.

We will also work hard to ensure that you receive great rates when it comes time to renew.

Regards,

The BizCover Team
http://www.BizCover.com.au

Global Financial Crisis, Professional Indemnity Insurance and BizCover

Below is some commentary from one of BizCover's senior brokers:

Whilst there has been a significant amount of press around the impact that the Global Financial Crisis is having on Directors & Officers Liability insurance, at this stage the impact on Professional Indemnity Premiums remains relatively insignificant.

Michael Gottlieb, the joint managing director of Mega Capital - a specialist Professional Indemnity Insurance broker - said that "while there is certainly a greater attention by the insurers in reviewing and underwriting individual risks, at this stage there is still sufficient capacity in the insurance market to ensure premium increases are minimal." However, the cycle is certainly turning and we are seeing a tightening in the breadth of coverage offered by insurers and a reduced appetite for new business, which is not perceived as a low risk industry and/or business." We therefore feel it is prudent to obtain multiple quotes to compare to your existing quote.

This is where BizCover comes in, yet again. BizCover allows businesses to get easy online quotes, compare between different premiums offered by leading insurers online and then purchase.

Regards,

http://www.BizCover.com.au

What is Professional Indemnity Insurance? - An Easy-to-Understand Guide

We have had an excellent response since the guide was published. However, we have since moved server, and the guide can now be accessed at: BizCover Professional Indemnity Insurance New Blog

An iEnfluence - BizCover Conversation

It's always wonderful to hear some positive feedback about our unique way of handling professional indemnity insurance (Please click here to visit BizCover Professional Indemnity Insurance). I have been in touch with Jason from iEnfluence, also a new start-up. His feedback and information about his own business is below.

Please check out his company's blog at http://www.ienfluence.blogspot.com/

To the BizCover Team:

You have a very unique business model that sounds very promising. With today's litigious society, professional indemnity insurance is not only wise to have, but almost a necessity. The consulting industry is growing at a very rapid pace, and start-up companies are finding it to be a barrier of entry to an industry without some kind of consulting help.

Being that your business specializes in indemnity insurance, I can imagine that you receive many different situations where your services came in quite beneficial, or would have been beneficial if you were sought out earlier. It's situations like these that we learn from, stay away from, and plan and protect ourselves from. With that being said, I can't go on enough about the need for protection and proper planning in business models.

Being that my background comes from being a Controller/CFO of small to medium companies, I can't urge enough that proper planning, decision making, and insurance coverage is crucial. Brokers often get in the way. They don't always look out for your best interest, because they might not have a job if they did. Time is money, and business owners often don't have time to look at the various benefits of insurance companies. Just a few more reasons I hope you great success with your company and your future endeavors.

About Us:
With the advent of the internet as a medium for networking and commerce has increasingly popularized the construction of real estate specific websites. Alas, this popularity will be shortly curtailed as consumers discover that currently all of these websites fail to deliver one key aspect - direct communication between buyers and sellers. On the web, marketing products is much more efficient and provides an excellent resource for collaborative conversation. iEnfluence plans to create the first white-label real estate platform that allows brokerages to generate leads more effectively, their sellers to list houses for a reasonable fee, and for everyone to gain access to a target audience that is connected through a social community.

The simple mission is to help individuals sell their homes with ease, and more efficiency without breaking the bank. Used in conjunction with the MLS, iEnfluence will become the largest engine for real estate transactions online. As the existing real estate market continues to suffer, individuals are looking for newer, more innovative ways to market their homes. In a vastly expanding online "social media" market, iEnfluence will become the partner that real estate firms seek.

The iEnfluence platform offers a search engine for consumers to locate real estate listings in their area. The iEnfluence platform also provides a marketplace for home owners to sell their properties. Through an internal social community, the iEnfluence platform will link buyers to sellers and provide an environment for education. iEnfluence partners will guide sellers through the process of pricing the home, therefore making it easier to sell. The engine generates price statistics based on current MLS data and will tell the seller how many days their home is expected to be on the market at a specific price. Buyers gain advantages such as reward points, direct communication with the seller, and access to community feedback about the general area the home is listed in. All these things are restricted utilizing traditional models currently employed by companies such as Remax, Prudential, and Century 21. The iEnfluence platform is the only real estate engine available that is both buyer and seller driven, an important factor in attracting visitors. Real Estate firms will be trained on how to use the platform to generate leads and close deals.

Thanks for offering us a window into your world, and we hope that we can one day cross paths in the business world.

Regards,
Jason Sanchez
iEnfluence
http://www.ienfluence.blogspot.com/

A New Way to Subscribe to Our BizCover Professional Indemnity with Google Reader (incl. translation)

We were tipped off about the Google Reader program by one of our employees, who manages his own blog at http://bizcoverprofessionalindemnity.blogspot.com/ - a blog about his life and times working in the marketing function for professional indemnity insurance company BizCover (that's us!).

Simply go to http://www.reader.google.com/ and subscribe to our blog to receive free, instant updates. If you prefer to read our posts in another language, Google can also facilitate that: just check out their blog entry - http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-your-web-truly-world-wide.html#links

Finally, make sure you digg their post at Official Google Reader Blog: Is Your Web Truly World-Wide?


Regards,

The BizCover Professional Indemnity Insurance Team

Lifehacker's write-up on Bizcover

We would like to thank Angus from Lifehacker for the excellent write-up about BizCover and our unique way of selling professional indemnity insurance.

BizCover Quotes, Sells Professional Indemnity Insurance

Getting home or car insurance online is pretty standard these days, but more specialised insurance categories can be harder work. If you're self-employed and work as a contractor in many fields (including IT), professional indemnity insurance is a key requirement. Comparison site BizCover generates custom quotes based on your business size and activity, and will sell you the insurance directly if you find a deal that suits. Indemnity insurance is hardly glamorous, but better to hunt it down online than suffer from an unexpected lawsuit later.

www.bizcover.com.au

Welcome

Welcome to our newly-launched blog.

This blog will explore professional indemnity insurance in Australia. BizCover will profile emerging trends in professional indemnity insurance and in professions/businesses such as IT, Accounting, Marketing, PR, Consultancy Fields, and many more.

Our goal is to help you understand how you can save money, save time and get choice from your professional insurance provider.

Click through to our homepage (www.bizcover.com.au) to start comparing professional indemnity insurance.