Business Insurance: An Extra or an Essential?
The need to be safe and secure is an atavistic instinctive reaction that we are born with. Even if we throw a newborn baby up in the air his tiny hands will jerk out searching for security. And it is this need for safety, to take precautions against unforeseen and unwanted dangers that have led to one of the most commonly used practices in modern times- insurance.
What do we do when we insure ourselves?? We are in effect searching for security, like the newborn. It is this need for a safety net that has led to the overwhelming dominance of the use of insurance policies in our daily life. Lives are insured, property is insured, diamonds arte insured and ahem…well some celebrities even insure their body parts. Jokes aside, it has become an intrinsic part of our lives and insurance is here to stay. In fact savvy businessmen who are aware of the thrust and parry of the world of business are into business insurance in a big way.
Thus factories and equipments are insured, workers are insured against injury and loss of life, business owners are insured against worker liabilities and lockouts, employee unrest is insured against and there is even disability overhead insurance which ensures that if the business owner is sick or disabled, the overheads of his business will be taken care of by the company. The umbrella of Business insurance is large, covering all possibilities and just stops short of running the actual business itself.
However there is a drawback of sorts. These are large volumes of money being spoken of and consequently premiums are large too, for business insurance. Although big industrial houses are adequately protected against even a bolt slipping loose from one of its machines, the standalone small businessman often finds the high premiums of business insurance a deterrent. Here he is struggling to pay wages and stay within his bank overdrafts and on the other hand he is slammed with a large premium amount. It takes a businessman of foresight and keen acumen to look beyond the initial and ostensible difficulty of paying large premiums. He realizes that in the uncertainty of the business environment today, protection will prove to be less expensive in the long run.
Insurance companies too have realized the tremendous potential of this market and are going all out to attract customers with a variety of attractive Business Insurance schemes. Waivers of premium, free accidental insurance, group policies for the employees with radically reduced premiums…they pull out all the stops when it comes to netting a customer. The selling is aggressive with all the companies jostling for customers and the competition is fierce. A lot of energy is expended in wooing potential clients for business insurance and not a single agent is willing to let go of any opportunity to log in another business insurance sign up. Its fast, it’s furious and as the competition hots up the business insurance seekers can only smile…because ultimately they benefit. More attractive offers, more lucrative deals….its like a game show, the only difference being that its real money exchanging hands.
At the core of the matter is a sobering thought. Five decades ago people did not feel the need to insure their businesses which often ran through lean years on sheer goodwill. But those days are past. The world of business has become insecure, subject to the vagaries of financial markets, fickle consumer needs and even the ravages of natural or man made disasters.
In such a scenario, everyone feels they are on shaky ground, It is business insurance which makes them feel they have a buffer against untoward happenings, a shield against the unsure nature of today’s business dealings. Business insurance ensures that the business man sleeps easy like the baby wrapped snug in his blanket, which was caught and held safe by loving arms that would not allow him to fall.
