SavvyCard is excited to launch our new Guest Blogging series, which will let us showcase great business insights on networking, referral marketing, and relationship building. If you’re interested in contributing, please contact David Z. Morris.
Our first Guest Post is from our friend Karyn Roeling, owner and operator of Seibert Insurance in Tampa, Florida. Karyn is a commercial insurance agent and a great source of insights on trends in business and personal insurance. In this post, she talks about a tool that, much like SavvyCard, can increase trust in your business.
With data thefts from the likes of Target and Sony in the news practically every day, it can be easy to think of hacking as a problem exclusive to major corporations. But no company is immune to data breach, and small businesses are even sometimes seen as easy targets of cyber-attacks. According to the Ponemon Institute’s Cost of Data Breach Survey, the average per-record cost of a data breach was $194 in 2011, and the average organizational cost of a data breach was $5.5 million. Imagine what that kind of loss could do to your small business.
Luckily, insurers have responded to this new threat by offering Data Breach policies, making it easier for businesses to maintain their customers’ trust. If your business maintains any records of clients’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as personal or financial information, an uninsured data breach could put your company out of business. Of course, businesses wisely use firewalls and other measures to secure their data, but a data breach can still take place, in part because a hacker doesn’t necessarily have to beat your network security to steal data – data thieves may also steal phones or laptops containing sensitive data.
When a data breach occurs, your business may suffer financial, legal, and reputational damage. Of course reimbursing thefts and repairing compromised accounts represent costs in cash and time. But you may also be required to notify not only the individuals that were affected, but also the media. This type of media exposure can do serious, harder to quantify damage your brand and the trust customers have for you.
These sorts of damages are not covered under a standard Business Insurance policy. Just take a look at the exclusions section of your policy – you will almost certainly see that damages from cyber/data breaches are not covered.
A Data Breach or Cyber Liability policy is designed to cover this gap. Coverages can include protection for:
- Data Breach
- Intellectual property rights
- Damages to a third-party system
- System failure
- Cyber extortion
- Business interruption
Most small businesses can be protected from these threats for less than $150 per month, providing very cost-effective peace of mind not just to owners, but to customers.
Of course, one of the best ways to safeguard your customers’ information is to do business and share information only with vendors you trust. Doing business with people you know and trust – for example, businesspeople you meet through a SavvyCard referral! – is among the best ways to ensure the security of your customers’ data, and to safeguard their trust in you.
–Karyn Roeling can be reached through her SavvyCard.