62% of claims last year involved contract breach
Hiscox has changed its technology insurance to include unrestricted breach of contract cover.
The insurer said more than half of technology claims came from breach of contract claims and the relaunched product responded to this with “clear and concise coverage”.
The policy also covers claims relating to the transmission of malicious software and unauthorised access or use of personal data.
The insurance is targeted at technology companies including those specialising in software design and distribution, web design, training, hosting, data network management and hardware assembly.
“From contractual disputes to intellectual property infringement, things move at lightning speed in the technology industry. We have a deep understanding of the technology professional indemnity (PI) sector and have applied that knowledge to this new product, which responds to what our clients are telling us they need,” head of technology Matthew Webb said.
Technology companies are more likely to face a breach of contract claim because the industry lacks years of legal precedence about the duty of care a company can expect from a technology contractor, he added.
The policy also automatically covers acquired companies if the value is less than 20% of the company’s turnover and the parent company’s purpose stays the same.
Hiscox insures more than 26,000 technology companies in the UK and said 62% of the technology claims it handled last year involved a breach of contract claim, up from 49% in 2011.
“We were the first insurer to bring breach of contract cover into professional indemnity insurance. Brokers we spoke to about this said we were taking a step ahead of the competition,” Webb added.
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