The brokerage is carrying out commercial and awareness actions directed towards its client portfolio, through cross-selling and segmenting the different families of companies.
For Jose Montalva, Manager and Technical Director of Montalvá Mediators (Alzira, Valencia), there is still a lot of work to be done by mediation and even by institutions to raise awareness and address cyber risks with guarantees, since companies still see it more as a cost than as a necessary benefit. , an added expense, without realizing the importance that it would have in terms of damages and responsibilities in your business.
In this sense, the brokerage has told us that it is already carrying out commercial and awareness actions directed towards its client portfolio, through cross-selling and segmenting the different families of companies. They are clear that there are technology companies that need it the most and are aware of it, but any other is also susceptible to being cyber-attacked, such as agency professionals, lawyers, clinics, as well as companies that have implemented in their organization chart online sales and that due to the amount of data they handle and their confidentiality, they can become very vulnerable.… «We are contacting by company size, sending them the information and marketing materials to facilitate the benefits and what the insurance is about. We have closed a large number of operations, some of them with significant premiums«.
Jose Montalva thinks that the cyber insurance niche is a novelty niche that mediators must address, positioning themselves in that segment and making it an important part of the business within their activity. He even compares it with the experience in the sector 20 or 25 years ago with Life insurance, which also needed a period of introduction to the market when the banking networks made seeing the almost mandatory nature of their contracting associated with different financial charges and which later, the broker channel took advantage of to make it even more professional thanks to its advisory and awareness work. Today stands out “it is already internalized”, and the same will happen with cyber insurance.
“We must sell with knowledge and explaining the consequences of having or not having cyber insurance. As brokers we have the obligation, within the insurance programs of our clients, to let them know that the risk exists and to explain it well.”
José Montalvá, Montalvá Mediators.
Different needs for different types of companies
Today companies are highly exposed to cyber attacks, especially at the level of Civil Liability. As well marks the General Data Protection Regulation, (GDPR)Whoever has the data is ultimately responsible for it, so its mismanagement can cause irreparable damage that causes very important contingencies for companies and the reconstruction of the business on many occasions.
Montalvá Mediators It already protects the companies in its portfolio, mainly customers who depend a lot on their productivity, with highly technological facilities that use robotics, highly computerized production lines, where an attack would jeopardize their contracts with customers and suppliers due to the deadlines they must meet and that, with a stoppage due to a cyberattack, it can lead to significant losses and penalties.
But also small and medium-sized service companies are susceptible, since they use a lot of data that, given its importance and necessary confidentiality, have a high risk potential. For this, the brokerage has carried out a marketing campaign Aimed at small businesses such as medical clinics, dental offices, etc. who handle a lot of information, are hardly aware of the danger of attacks like the Phishing and they do not carry out a clear management.
“We are clear that it is a RC that in this case does not cover physical damage, but does cover the image, reputation and psychological damage that a cyberattack can cause. We believe that this type of damage should be considered with the same degree of importance as physical damage, as would happen with a car or motorcycle accident”.
Cyberway as protection against company exposure
After analyzing different products, Jose Montalva ensures Cyberway is the most complete product on the market, including aspects that other products from advanced companies in this area do not have, such as funds transfer fraud, theft of trust account funds and theft of personal funds, in addition to offering the option of expanding cybercrime coverage.
From the brokerage they also emphasize that it is the only product on the market without franchise, without therefore its premium being higher, which results in a good balance between guarantees, services and premium. In addition, they point out that Cyberway It is also much higher in terms of the level of coverage and capital, since it allows the contracting of the policy with independent limits for each guarantee. A series of advantages that puts this product above the rest of the options on the market.
"Our objective is to provide our clients with a top-level and top-quality policy that covers all their needs and that is differentiating from the rest of the product on the market due to its quality, which is what we have always done at the brokerage." sought to offer our clients”.
More interesting coverages
- La Civil Liability for damages to third parties that the AEPD itself can claim as a result of a cyberattack.
- The cyber extortion costs for data return
- El system reset supported by a team of great computer forensics professionals.
Telefónica as a specialist
Montalvá Mediators celebrate that Cyberway behind not only an insurer, but a company specializing in data traffic and a technological company specialized in cybersecurity such as Lazarus, "Who else is going to know about data, its recovery, analysis, networks...", consider Telefónica Seguros as the ideal partner that, due to its very idiosyncrasy as an expert in the management of these scenarios, finds it above the rest of entities with cyber insurance.
As an experience of the brokerage, in the recent resolution of a cyberattack incident, Jose Montalva He assures us that stopping a factory in the automotive industry, the cost amounted to about €6,000 per minute, in addition to the consequences and repercussions on the image and reputational damage, which can lead to the breakdown of relationships with customers and suppliers.
That is why Jose Montalva is clear: "It is important to be able to contact the company and to help you understand what has happened, how and what is going to happen to you, since normally, the IT departments of companies are not well prepared to solve threats of this type" .
Cyber risk insurance: mandatory in the future?
From the brokerage they emphasize that, although the obligation may still be excessive, little by little it will be introduced into society. In the same way, compare this situation with the one experienced with car insurance, which began to be mandatory not so many years ago due to the fact that there were more and more cars and, therefore, more traffic on highways and cities, becoming more and more difficult. cover all incidents that occur. "People did not see it as necessary, they did not take into account the damage that can be caused to a third party, that a company does not have the resources to satisfy the damage, with the real possibility of disappearing due to not being able to meet the claim"
However, Montalva He thinks that it is possible to make it mandatory for companies, due to the important part of corporate and Civil liability that they must cover, providing health to the company and functioning as a lifeguard in the event of an incident, normally unexpected.
How does Montalvá Mediadores see the future of the broker channel?
Jose Montalva visualize the future of the channel through two types of brokerages:
- large brokerages, multi-offices that do everything, with a lot of volume and that expand. A very profitable company profile but one that is much more difficult to professionalize.
- Small and medium specialist brokerages in specific products, niches and segments, which provide added value through good customer service, professionals with quality advice and technical quality, offering differentiating products.
For the brokerage, nowadays insurance mediation is still a people business, in which there are many actors and scenarios, however, with types of products that are increasingly packaged, this relationship with the client is gradually being lost.
From MontalvaThey advocate "Quality, professionalism and focus on niches and sectors of value. As we well realize and based on our experience, companies that still depend on people and quality advice, endure".
"Insurance brokers have to be there to ensure that clients understand what they are hiring, and that these positive actions serve as motivation for us as a team and insurance brokers, since you are doing good to someone else."
José Montalvá, Montalvá Mediators.
Finally, Montalvá Mediators highlights that the insurer is a very stable sector, even in a country where there is still a long way to go and there is still a need to have more insurance mentality and means of protection for companies. However, they think that it is a sector that, if you have the capacity, gives you the opportunity to choose a specific business and specialize in it.
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