Network administrators have a key role in the functioning of a company.
They not only maintain each workstation’s ability to connect to the internet, email, printers, and servers, but they also keep patches up to date on the network, maintain the firewall and network security, and address any security issues that come up.
Because their role is so critical in a business, it’s no surprise that many network administrators look for a good General Liability insurance policy. What they may not look for, however, is a Technology Professional Errors & Omissions policy to accompany their General Liability.
Without this additional coverage, any network administrator is in a precarious and financially vulnerable position.
A General Liability is specifically designed to cover claims arising from damage to property or bodily injury (as well as personal injury such as defamation of character). A Technology Professional E&O policy provides protection against claims arising from a purely financial loss.
For a network administrator, there are several common situations that could lead to a claim covered under the Professional E&O policy, such as:
- The customer’s entire staff can’t do their jobs when a security hole allows people from the outside to access the internal network, and a disgruntled former employee connects and sabotages the network
- The customer’s cash flow is affected when a printer is inaccessible by the accounting department, they are unable to contact you to fix it, and as a result are unable to print invoices
- A poor judgment call renders the entire network unavailable, and the business is offline while the network administrator works to restore it, causing financial strain to the customer
These situations can and do happen frequently for network administrators. But the pricing to maintain both a General Liability and a Professional Liability policy is minimal enough that it’s easy to get both. The cost for both of these policies is as little as $1100 or monthly payments as low as $110, which is a small price to pay in comparison to expensive litigation.
