It’s hard to believe we are already over a month into the new fiscal year. The work of closing out the previous year is likely fully completed and many are in a season of trying to execute on the initiatives previously planned for this current term we reside in. Our previous two Bulletins were focused on proactive planning that could be done, and now that we’re in the stage of executing, we’ll put our focus there - What are the areas of execution you can be focused on regarding risk management and insurance planning? Here are 3 ideas to think about:
1. Standard Operating Procedures
Organizationally, how can you be proactive and not reactive when it comes to events related to risk management and insurance? How can you make sure you aren’t leaning on one single person, in one single department, to house all the knowledge when it comes to how things work with filing claims, adding/removing assets, and working through insurance policy renewals? You either do so internally, or you ask your insurance advisor to do so. This is a service we offer our clients as a value add for working with our team.
2. Deductible & Funding Analysis
We wrote about risk registers and new wind and hail deductibles being added to policies during our previous two letters. The reality is more and more insurance companies are requiring their insureds to retain some level of risk. How do you fund for out-of-pocket expenses you are retaining? Are these amounts catastrophic in nature or easily budgeted for? Should you continue to retain risk, or is it more efficient to transfer it to a third party? You should be working with your internal risk management and finance team and invite your risk advisor(s) and/or insurance agent to be a part of that conversation.
3. Premium Forecasting
We all know that in early budgeting season we are going to want to have an idea of the insurance expense for the next fiscal year. Get ahead of this now by reaching out to your insurance team to preschedule a meeting and let them know that you would like that projection in that season, with data and analytics to support what you will eventually budget for. The insurance marketplace has been extremely volatile the previous 3-5 years. While there seems to be light at the end of the hard market tunnel, we do know that renewals will continue to be challenging with pricing and terms in 2025. There is no shortage of information that can be utilized to project what pricing/terms can and should look like for your particular entity.
An Option to Consider
First MainStreet Insurance's Public Entity Specialty Group team is looking to grow the base of the clients we serve throughout Iowa. We have a process that prompts conversation around what the current state is of your organization’s risk management and insurance setup, as well as ideas on how to improve that situation moving forward.
If you’re open to learning more, below are recommended next steps:
- Schedule an intro meeting with our team. This will allow us to learn more about your organization, share about our process, and mutually conclude if we might be a good fit to work together.
- Complete our abbreviated discovery assessment, which is a survey that provides us feedback on areas you are already supported well or that our team could help provide value. The survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.
