Technology companies face a wide range of risks related to errors and omissions (E&O). From professional negligence to intellectual property infringement, or breach of contract, having the right errors and omissions protection in place is critical. Hiscox London Market’s Tim Andrews, Cyber Line Underwriter and Pushpa Sriwignarajah, Senior Cyber Underwriter, explain why Hiscox London Market can now provide technology errors and omissions on a standalone basis for big ticket risks and the benefits it brings to customers.
Is Hiscox London Market’s Technology Errors and Omissions (tech E&O) cover new to the market?
At Hiscox London Market, we have always underwritten tech E&O as a blended offering with cyber, but this is the first time we will write it as a standalone product. It provides us with the opportunity to refresh and enhance the product with a recalibrated underwriting appetite and competitive pricing.
Our team’s extensive expertise in underwriting for technology risks, combined with specialist, dedicated claims underwriters with legal counsel experience in the technology sector, positions us well to offer technology errors and omissions insurance as a standalone offering, or combined with cyber coverage.
Why has Hiscox London Market moved to underwriting tech E&O on a standalone basis and how will customers benefit?
Cyber insurance and tech E&O have a close product adjacency which often means they are bought together as the coverage dovetails. But we want to meet the growing demand for specialised underwriting and risk consideration by our customers and brokers, especially where this is geared more towards their primary insurance cover.
Crucially, offering tech E&O on a separate basis means our customers don’t erode their tech E&O limit with cyber claims, which we’ve seen happening in the market, and helps to maintain their contractual insurance requirements.
What are the key E&O risks for technology companies?
Key E&O risks we’re focused on include breach of contract or delay resulting in unpaid fees, where there is a gap between project request versus project delivery. Another core component of tech E&O is intellectual property (IP). This is an often-overlooked exposure where, through the delivery of a technology service, a company accidentally or intentionally breaches another organisation’s IP in areas such as software code or product design.
What information do you need from customers and their brokers to underwrite tech E&O?
When underwriting tech E&O, we will look to understand:
What the technology product or service does or delivers
Who are the clients contracting the services of the technology
What happens in the event of a product failure or delay in delivery
And from a contractual perspective:
What and whose terms are they contracting to
Limits of liability to those contracts
Biggest and most bespoke contracts
Quality assurance processing embedded in contract – milestones, dispute resolution procedures
What other avenues can you explore with this product?
In addition to traditional software and IT service providers, we are looking to venture into different areas of the tech ecosystem with our tech E&O, including:
Fintech - in support of Hiscox’s new financial institutions offering
Insurtech
Newer exposure like AI and SaaS providers.
The ability to present ourselves as a multi-faceted casualty market writing products such as tech E&O, financial institutions professional indemnity, crime, and cyber makes for an exciting proposition and we will continue to innovate wherever we can to help our customers meet their rapidly changing risk challenges.
