Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Insurance The name of the game in insurance is risk management. As a small information technology business owner or manager, you transfer the risk of loss to an insurance company in exchange for a premium.
Running a small business is a gamble where, as a small business owner or manager, you try to undertake the least amount of risk you can with an eye toward reaping the greatest gain.
It's a truism that times have changed, and likewise, insurance has changed, too. The era of purchasing your business insurance from Uncle Harold who lives down the street has passed, if it ever existed, and the World Wide Web is your new hometown.
First, we need to make a distinction between an insurance "broker" and an insurance "agent." In the insurance business, an agent is in partnership with one or more insurance companies.
Today's high tech businesses have insurance needs that were impossible to foresee a generation ago, when Internet insurance was unheard of and even inconceivable. The liability risks for an IT firm are particularly complex.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Insurance When you buy a general commercial liability insurance policy, you hope you'll never need to use it. But chances are high that you'll eventually discover you've gambled correctly and you'll need to submit a claim.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Insurance If you are a small information technology (IT) business and finding it hard to get contractors to work with your company, maybe you are overlooking the importance of verified liability insurance.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Insurance Recently, home based businesses have been on the rise. The ease of starting up a company in the convenience of the home is an inviting temptation. Not only do you have an instant office, but going to work is literally a step away.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal The contract agreement is essentially the foundation for doing business. Whether it be a verbal negotiation, a handshake deal, or formally written contracts of various natures, a contract establishes duties and obligations for parties doing business with one another and the terms for fulfilling that relationship.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal When we think of employing people, various different images come to mind. We think of resumes, job interviews, or even handshake agreements meant to finalize the hiring of individuals who will add value to a business or organization.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal For the software professional, the industry can often be a quagmire of software license agreements, copyright issues, and a whole range of legal complexities that can make you wonder if a law degree is necessary to develop software these days.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Contracts can often be seen as burdensome entities that service and goods providers can do without. As long as a mutual agreement is arrived at in good faith, so the thinking goes, then a handshake or a verbal agreement should be good enough.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Think about the many different things that go into the development of Web related services - even something as basic as the creation of a Web site for a client.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Some business owners might forego the necessity of a contract when making a business deal because they think it might take too much time or simply hinder the business relationship and the smooth transfer of goods or services.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Contracts are meant to ensure that parties in a business deal - whatever it is - know what their obligations are and agree to carry them out to the fullest. Not only is this the case with respect to IT contracts, but it's the case with respect to any business agreement.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Parties enter into a legal contract to have terms laid out as to the proper fulfillment of the contract. In other words, when people make a business deal, there's every expectation that both sides stick to their end of the bargain.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal When buyers and sellers enter into business agreements, does one have a greater responsibility to uphold their end of the bargain than the other? Does the old axiom of "buyer beware" always pertain to all forms of contracts?
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Does it really matter where legal contracts come from? If you write a contract on the back of a napkin, does it make it any less binding than one produced formally in a lawyer's office? The short answer is no.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal Perhaps in no sector of business is globalization having a greater impact than in information technology, or IT. The extent to which this sector crosses borders is considerable, as is the complexity involved in associated legal issues.
Expert Author: James Cochran | Category: Legal The contract is the foundation of doing business. Does that sound too formal to you? Is a handshake agreement good enough for many? Well, even though it may not be as air tight as, say, a contractor agreement, a handshake deal is still a contract.
