What Professional, Scientific & Technical Services Are All About:
Professional, scientific and technical services are an extremely broad industry. If you’re a tax accountant, lawyer, architect, scientific researcher, or do work in any field related to these, your services fall under this title. This means that you are often tasked with important, sometimes difficult and sensitive assignments for clients in both the public and private sectors.
You will also find that doing business in this industry comes with great reward, but also a number of risks to your businesses, your employees or yourself. Depending on the nature of the services you offer, you may be liable for a myriad of different claims, many of which relate specifically to the handling of private information.
Thankfully, insurance policies exist and they will help protect you and your business from a majority of claims common in this industry.
Read on to understand what risks are associated with your industry and how insurance may help.
Who in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Services Industry Needs Insurance?
If your company does professional, scientific or technical services for other businesses, you will need various types of insurance. However, this category specifically excludes those who do business in the administrative and building maintenance service industry, to include remote administrative support companies and janitorial services.
Your primary concern as a professional, scientific or technical services company is the protection of yourself regarding the mishandling of client data. This may include employee negligence or even data breaches. These industries rarely perform hands-on work, and often are not concerned with common commercial insurance claims that deal with property or bodily damages. Typical types of Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Insurance include:
- Law Firms (~50,000 businesses in the U.S.)
- Architecture Firms (~20,000 businesses in the U.S.)
- Tax Preparation Firms (~110,000 businesses in the U.S.)
- Advertising Agencies (~1,000 businesses in the U.S.)
- Web Design (~100,000 businesses in the U.S.)
Still not sure what you need?
CoverWallet's Insurance Checklist , you'll find a list of insurance types needed for your specific business or industry.
What Risks Are Involved With Professional, Scientifc & Technical Services?
This industry comes with a wide variety of risks, depending on the type of services you are providing. This industry is so broad that there is a good chance that the type of risks a business or professional might incur will not be the same from one business to the next. Some common concerns do exist, including the risk of damaging the property of others while performing a service or having a customer receive an injury within your place of business. These common concerns are typically aided by the purchase of a General Liability Insurance policy. However, there are more uncommon concerns that are sometimes either unique to a service, or more likely with certain services.
Those working in professional services are more likely to be the victims of cyber crimes. Those in this industry are much more likely to keep a wealth of private customer data, which puts that company increasingly at risk. Hack attacks on major business servers are on the rise, with hackers specifically targeting businesses that house credit card data, social security numbers and personally identifying information. Professional services, such as tax preparation companies, keep this type of information on file regularly.
While that information may seem well protected within a private server, hackers are becoming much more sophisticated at overcoming software barriers designed to prevent such attacks. Nothing short of reverting to keeping all records only on paper can fully prevent such attacks from occurring. Even the federal government has suffered from cyber issues. Cyber Liability Insurance, which is one of the newest types of insurance policies, is designed to help with this kind of risk, although it certainly cannot prevent it from happening. However, given how costly this type of insurance can be for a business, many are opting for this insurance type.
Scientific and technical services specifically involve more physical risks to property and personal injury. A General Liability Insurance policy that helps mitigate liability risks is certainly needed. However, there are risks involved in both of these areas that are particularly unique to them. Scientific services can include careers such as chemical engineering and petroleum scientists; risks can sometimes involve dealing with chemicals or other materials that could be harmful. This can be a huge risk to those working with these materials. Technical services similarly can involve a lot of risk to personal injury.
Insurance needs can vary dramatically across the professional, scientific and technical services industry. While the risks involved in with these industries can be just as varied, the necessity for insurance is shared. When it comes to providing services to customers and employing professionals who must work in sometimes risky situations, investing in various insurance types can go a long way.
How Much Does Professional, Scientific & Technical Services Insurance Cost?
Every company within this industry will find that insurance costs depend on both the size and type of business. Insurance costs will vary greatly due to these factors. Determining the exact amount you pay in premiums for each type of insurance policy may also come down to the specific type of business that your run, whether you do business with public or private entities, your total number of clients and even your annual revenue.
Finding an accurate quote should help your business get a good idea of how much each insurance policy may cost.