As the year winds down, many business owners shift their focus toward wrapping up projects, closing the books, and planning for the year ahead. Before you shut the door on this calendar year, it’s the perfect time to review your business insurance coverage and make sure your protection still fits the way your business operates today. A year-end risk review helps you identify changes, new exposures, and opportunities to strengthen your coverage. Here’s a simple framework to guide that process.
1. Review your operations and exposures
Has your business changed in the past year? Maybe you’ve added new employees, expanded into new markets, or invested in new equipment. Each of these shifts can create new risks and potentially new insurance needs.
- New hires or new roles may increase exposure to employment practices claims.
- Business growth could mean higher revenue and greater liability limits are now appropriate.
- New property, vehicles, or equipment should be reviewed to confirm it’s listed and insured for the right values.
- New vendors or technology platforms may expose you to cyber or data privacy risks.
Taking time now to document what’s changed helps your insurance advisor recommend adjustments before renewal deadlines arrive.
2. Evaluate your existing coverage
Pull out your current policies such as property, general liability, professional liability, cyber, commercial auto, and any specialty lines, and look closely at what’s covered. Have your operations outgrown your limits? Are there any exclusions that might create gaps? Your independent agent can help you benchmark your current program against similar businesses in your industry. They can also review renewal dates to ensure you have time to make updates before policies automatically renew.
3. Don’t overlook emerging or commonly missed risks
Some exposures evolve quickly, and business owners don’t always see them coming:
- Cyber Liability: Even small businesses face cyber threats and ransomware risks. The holiday season often brings increased online and in-store sales, which means more transactions running through point-of-sale (POS) systems. That extra activity can increase vulnerability to data breaches and payment fraud if systems are not properly secured.
- Employment Practices Liability (EPLI): Hiring, remote work, and terminations all increase potential exposure.
- Business Interruption Coverage: Supply-chain issues, weather events, or a key supplier’s loss can disrupt operations.
- Equipment Breakdown and Property Values: Inflation and rising replacement costs can leave coverage limits short.
Addressing these areas now can prevent unpleasant surprises later if a claim arises.
4. Plan ahead with your insurance advisor
Schedule a meeting with your Wichert Insurance representative to go through a structured year-end review. Bring a list of updates such as growth, new hires, equipment purchases, or operational changes, and let your agent walk through how each one may affect your coverage. Your advisor can also discuss potential cost-saving opportunities, identify coverage overlaps, and help you map out a proactive renewal timeline for the new year.
5. Why it matters
Insurance isn’t just about compliance or peace of mind. It’s about protecting the foundation of your business. A quick, focused year-end review can uncover gaps, reduce costs, and ensure that the coverage you’ve built truly reflects your current operations. Before you head into the new year, schedule your year-end risk review with Wichert Insurance. Make sure you’re covered and ready for whatever comes next. Contact your local Wichert agent today.