Many businesses have very quickly had to adapt to new working environments during the last 12 months and in some cases, this has led to employees needing to take computer equipment away from business premises or indeed using their own personal devices for business purposes, as they work remotely.

Insurance protection for office equipment is traditionally placed under a commercial combined policy, but wouldn’t ordinarily cover such equipment whilst at the home of an employee or indeed any other third-party location.

Our new Computer Insurance product, which launched in December 2020, was developed to not only consider the working environments we now find ourselves in but also with the potential future of work and advances in the scope of office equipment, firmly in mind.

Here's a recent example of where we assisted a broker partner in placing their clients’ computer exposures, in the current normal.

The client is an online retailer and had recently expanded to ship goods across the world. They were seeking a flexible approach for protecting both static & portable equipment globally, and in particular employees own devices used for the purposes of the business under a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ initiative (BYOD).

Cover was previously placed under a commercial combined policy but elements of the cover were restrictive, such as forcible and violent entry restrictions in the event of theft at the insured premises. The policy also didn’t cater for the flexibility the client required for employees working from home using their own or corporate devices to support flexible and remote working.

As standard our new Computer Insurance product provides additional cover for employees’ own equipment and even goes one step further by providing theft cover in outbuildings to further protect insured equipment when used in a converted office space, an outbuilding in the garden for example.

A typical concern around placing computer in isolation away from a commercial combined policy is the potential for the client having to pay a deductible or excess on both policies, in the event of damage to both the insured premises and computer equipment.

We have alleviated this concern by including a deductible waiver, where the insured benefits from paying just one deductible or excess for the incident. For example, thieves break into an policyholder’s premises and steal computer equipment – In doing so, damage is sustained to shutters resulting in a claim being pursued against the property insurance.

In this scenario we will waive our rights to a deductible or excess on the computer policy as a deductible or excess has been applied under another insurance arrangement which is providing cover for the damage incurred to the shutters.

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_{The information provided in this content is intended for UK insurance brokers acting on behalf of their prospective or existing clients.}

_{Any description is for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any product. Policyholders who have questions or wish to arrange or amend cover should contact their insurance broker. Insurance brokers can find details of how to contact us here.}

_{Any descriptions of coverage contained are meant to be general in nature and do not include nor are intended to include all of the actual terms, benefits, and limitations found in an insurance policy. The terms of any specific policy will instead govern that policy. Any guidance for UK insurance brokers is intended to provide general information only, and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice.}