21 May is “I need a patch for that day”. Too often in life and in business people are prone to finding shortcuts rather than doing a thorough job. Patching things up as a temporary measure, planning to revisit them at a later stage to put in a long term fix. But, of course, that often doesn’t happen. What was meant to be temporary stays like that for years. Depending on the job and the fix that was put in place, this is likely to be inadequate at best and could even be dangerous in some cases.

When it comes to your own business there should be no workarounds or temporary solutions. This represents your livelihood after all and is surely worth protecting properly? We hope it goes without saying that you have business insurance in place to protect you against any disaster that might occur. The obvious things that you need to protect include your office premises, business equipment and any specialist machinery you might use. If you employ anyone, you must have Employer’s Liability insurance as this is a legal requirement. As a general rule, all businesses should also have Public Liability insurance in case a visitor hurts themselves while they are on your premises or you cause damage or an accident at a third party’s location.

But have you looked beyond the obvious risks you face and thought about insurance to cover your business if you’re forced to close your doors for a prolonged period of time as a result of a disaster striking? This is called Business Interruption (BI) Insurance and is perhaps the most important financial protection your business could need.

The stories we hear from insurers and businesses who have suffered some kind of disaster suggest it is not necessarily the physical damage caused by the disaster event that has an impact on the business long term. In most cases, this physical damage is covered by insurance and can therefore be put right, albeit over time.

Instead, it is the time the business spends unable to trade that causes long term problems. The longer this down time lasts, the longer the business has no income and the longer it then takes to recover once it’s back up on its feet. If a business is unable to trade for a lengthy period it may ultimately go out of business completely. This is why Business Interruption insurance is so important to a business’s long term success.

BI insurance is definitely not about quick fixes and patches. Many businesses are prone to be over optimistic about how quickly they would be able to trade again after a disaster. However, the advice from insurers, who do after all have the most experience in witnessing these situations, suggest that adequate BI insurance means having protection that covers up to 2 years’ worth of down time.

While it’s clear that BI insurance is important to businesses in the face of disaster, insurance itself doesn’t provide a business with practical help and support in the immediate aftermath. For this, you need a specialist disaster recovery expert, such as First Recovery. Make sure your business is doing more than just “patching things up” and talk to our team to find out how we can support your ambitions around protecting and growing your business.