Insurance for IT & Technology Consultants.

Most IT and technology consultants carry professional indemnity insurance as the foundation, since it responds to claims about a system, build or piece of technical advice, alongside cyber liability given how often this work involves access to a client's own systems. Portable equipment cover is commonly added for laptops and devices that travel between sites.

Yes, this is still worth considering. Professional indemnity responds to claims from clients regardless of whether a business has employees, and many corporate and government clients require proof of cover before engaging a freelance developer or contractor at all.

No, this is a common misconception. A client's professional indemnity or cyber liability policy is designed to protect their own business, not the contractors and consultants they engage. A consultant working under their own ABN generally needs their own cover regardless of what the client holds.

Not generally. Professional indemnity is designed to respond to a financial loss claim arising from a system, build or piece of advice, while cyber liability is designed to respond to a data breach, ransomware event or system outage. IT and technology consultants often need both rather than assuming one extends to cover the other.

This is worth discussing directly. A managed service provider typically holds ongoing, privileged access to a client's live systems and infrastructure, a different and often more continuous exposure to a developer who builds a system and then hands it over. Both commonly need professional indemnity and cyber cover, but the specifics are worth tailoring to the actual access and ongoing responsibility involved.

Professional indemnity responds to a claim that a system, build or piece of technical advice was negligent and caused a client a financial loss. Cyber liability responds to a data breach, ransomware event or system outage, whether it originates in the consultant's own systems or a client's. Many IT and technology consultants carry both given how closely the two risks sit together in this work.

Yes, this is worth understanding. Portable equipment cover is designed specifically around items that regularly leave the office, such as laptops, testing devices and tools of trade, rather than assuming standard premises-based property cover extends to them automatically once they travel.

Professional indemnity is typically arranged on a claims-made basis, meaning the policy in place when a claim is made and notified is the one that responds, not necessarily the policy that was current when the original work took place. This makes continuous cover, and the retroactive date carried over between insurers, particularly important for this type of insurance.

This depends on what your contracts require, the scale and criticality of the systems you work on and the potential financial impact if something went wrong. A sole developer or contractor advising smaller clients may find cover in the $1 million to $2 million range sufficient, while those working with larger enterprise or government systems may require limits of $5 million to $10 million or more.

Insurers typically ask for the services provided, whether the work involves access to client systems, annual fee income or turnover, the limit of indemnity required and claims history. A broker can help present this information accurately to the market.

A previous decline does not rule out cover elsewhere. Technology risk is an area with genuine insurer appetite at the moment, and a broker with the right panel can often place risks that a single insurer has turned down.