Today's state is neither yesterday's nor tomorrow's. The world always changes - some things we’ve definitively changed the course on (technology speed of change), some we debate (environmental impacts) and others we evaluate if they are getting worse or have always been present at similar or even lower levels but lacking today's transparency (abuse, defamatory statements) and available recourse.
As a risk professional I sometimes wonder what decade our personal and business decisions are being based upon. I wonder based upon coverage reviews I see and consideration of some of the items below. I wonder if it's because we've made conscious decisions not to pursue protections or if we aren't getting the right information and push we need to weigh choices. I wonder if we wonder "what if" with the appropriate amount of focus.
Consider these movements and potential impacts:
Increased interconnectivity (urbanization, planes, computers) = more cyber intrusion opportunity and loss, broader scale disease spread opportunity
World population was 4.4B in 1980 and now it’s 7.8B, urban population was 39% now it’s 56%. Possibilities and realities of large scale disease spread have occurred a handful of times just in the past two decades (H1N1, Zika, SARS, Ebola, Covid-19) not centuries. We compare today to the days of the Spanish flu, but back then there were less than 2B people in the world, 1/2 the urban population, insignificant plane travel and less world wide goods distribution.
There were 13B estimated internet connected devices in 2014 with nearly 22B four years later in 2018. Prior to 2007 there was a fraction of this.
Volatility and extremes in weather (rain, wind/hail and heat events) = more property flood losses, equipment stresses, business income losses.
What used to be seen as something that happened as once in 100 year or 500 year rain events now seem to happen every few decades or in some areas multiple times a decade.
Awareness of abuses and accountability expectations translating to pursuit of financial recourse more frequently.
People are regularly thinking through these risks and developing potential solutions for many of these areas, however, ask yourself have you/we as individuals and business leaders/owners spent time examining the shifting likelihood of these events and overlaid with the potential increased severity.
Three topics worth looking at:
For business leaders - You mean I could have insured it? From WIRED 6-16-2020: "We Can Protect the Economy From Pandemics. Why Didn't We?"
All - Recognizing risk changes. From Liberty Mutual "10 risks escalating due to climate change"
All - From comparitech - "300+ Terrifying Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Statistics & Trends [2020] EDITION]"
Insurance is a potential solution, too often seen through commoditized lenses with exposures evaluated as if it’s 1980...time to make sure you are making decisions with 2020 vision! It doesn't need to mean you spend more. It could be a realignment of your risk dollars to these "new" risks or aligning to partners (carriers and agencies) who have recognized these areas of risk and economically incorporated them into their offerings already.
Preparation is sometimes seen as too tedious...until it pays off, or the lack of it leads to a tough lesson.
Cost of an intangible product, like insurance, is too much...until it isn’t. This cost perception, by the way, is also why many insurance companies now offer you related services without additional cost beyond your insurance premium. If you aren't sure you are asking the right questions about what you should be considering to protect your assets (personal and business) and whether they are protected with what you have today, reach out.