Businesses in Arizona need to think carefully about the insurance policies they use to protect their businesses. Some, like workers’ compensation insurance, are required, while others, like business interruption insurance, are merely recommended. But some, like office contents insurance, are frequently ignored—at the detriment of the entrepreneurs and small business owners overlooking it.
What Is Office Contents Insurance?
Office contents insurance isn’t the most well-known business insurance policy available, but it could be one of the most important. You might be able to guess what it covers based on the name—almost any significant item in your office, from the computers you use to work on a daily basis to the potted plants that bring life to your brand. If these items are stolen in a break-in, or damaged by a natural disaster, accident, or other incidents, they can be replaced with office contents insurance—and hastily, so you can get your business up and running again in no time.
Examples of Items That Are Covered
These are just some of the prominent items covered by the average office contents insurance policy:
• Electronics. Electronic devices are some of the most valuable devices in the average office, with computer setups ranging into the thousands of dollars for each employee. Because these are frequently the primary target of thieves, and they’re some of the most vulnerable items to water damage, all that value can dissipate in an instant.
• Furniture. Your furniture is also covered by most office contents policies. You may not think of your desks, chairs, tables, and couches as being pivotal to your business, but it would be difficult (if not impossible) to work without them, and they’re just as vulnerable to disasters and theft as everything else in the office.
• Décor. Your décor is what makes your office unique, and what enables your employees to be their creative, hardworking selves. If your art, plants, and touches of brand personality are destroyed, they’ll need to be replaced.
• Supplies. Though less sentimental than your furniture or décor, and less expensive than your electronics, your office supplies are still important to consider. If you lose your entire reserves of printer paper, your filing cabinets, and other supplies, it will cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to replace them.
Cost and Value
Is it worth the money? Office contents insurance will protect your assets and provide you value in three main ways:
• Repairing or replacing lost/damaged/destroyed items. First and most importantly, an office contents policy will work to make sure your items are restored in one way or another. Depending on the nature of the incident, that might mean repairing or refurbishing an item that was damaged in a natural disaster, or it might mean replacing an item that was stolen or lost.
• Restoring your business. Even more importantly, your office contents insurance will activate quickly, so you can get everything you need to keep the business running—even during hard times. That way, you can keep generating revenue (and mitigate whatever losses you face).
• Peace of mind. Finally, office contents insurance will give you peace of mind. You won’t worry nearly as much when you hear about a flash flood warning on the horizon, and you won’t have a creeping sense of anxiety when you lock up for the day, wondering if you’ll be the victim of a crime. You’ll be covered.
Comparatively, the costs are low. Obviously, your premiums will depend on the nature of your business, the items you need to insure, your vulnerability to various threats, and other factors, but compared to other types of business insurance, it’s quite affordable.
Do You Need Office Contents Insurance?
So does your business need office contents insurance?
First, consider that Arizona is (perhaps counterintuitively) one of the country’s most at-risk states for natural disasters. Between 2006 and 2013, the state suffered total property damage from natural disasters amounting to $3.5 billion. Fires, flash floods, thunderstorms, and other disasters are commonplace, and that’s not even considering the risk of burglary your business faces.
If you imagine the costs from a single incident, it becomes clear why business insurance is worth it. Most businesses would struggle to afford to replace everything in their office building (amounting to tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment), and feel helpless as they found themselves unable to resume operations for days to weeks following the incident. Unless your business is flush with cash and resilient to a total wipeout, a single natural disaster or large-scale burglary could legitimately compromise your entire business.
So while office contents insurance isn’t a necessary policy in Arizona, it’s something every entrepreneur should consider. The low premiums are worth the coverage it will provide if (and when) disaster strikes.
