Thursday, April 24, 2008

Get Ready Now! Make an Inventory of Your Business

Why do you even have insurance for your business? Your answer might range on that question from because I have to, Hand Of Fate because it is a necessity. Regardless of where you fall within that spectrum, Area 51 one unifying fact is that when you do submit for a claim you want to be paid all that you are entitled to and you want the settlement to be fast. So how do you accomplish this? You accomplish this by being prepared; you have an inventory of all your office property.

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America offers this checklist of items to include in your inventory:

  • Buildings and other structures, leased or owned
  • Furniture, equipment, and supplies
  • Leased equipment
  • Inventory
  • Money and securities
  • Records of accounts receivable
  • Improvements and betterments you made to the premises
  • Machinery
  • Boilers
  • Data processing equipment and media, including machines
  • Valuable papers, Panic and documents
  • Mobile property, such as automobiles, trucks, and Xmenmpoidqsjr equipment
  • Satellite dishes
  • Signs, fences, and other outdoor property not attached to a building
  • Intangible property (goodwill, trademarks, etc.)

Use this checklist as a guideline but actually sit down and plan as to what and how will you go about taking your inventory. Some tools you"ll need is a camera and or a video camera and a pen and paper. Remember that you'll need to be through, if avaiable you"ll want to write down the serial number, model number, make and model information for items like electronics, machinery, equipment etc. Be sure to also include the cost of all the items inventoried and their replacement cost. This will help the insurance adjuster when Deck the Halls your claim.

Gather any documentation you might have; receipts, lease agreements, warranties, and owners manuals, as these items not only help identify the lost items they also help establish ownership. If avaible scan these items, if not make copies of these. Again ideally you would plug all this information into a database for quick and easy acess. Finally when you're done make copies (regardless of the medium of you final report (be it video tape and hand written notes or on a CD) and store the gathered information away from your office location. It won't help you having this information if you lose it when you lose your office. With all of that done you should have peace of mind to keep on doing what makes you sucessful with the knowledge that you and your ofice are prepared for the unexpected; claims happen!

target="_new" www.myhiss.com">www.myhiss.com H.I.S.S. Home Inventory Service Specialists is headed up by CEO: Richard Berroa; a producer whose background is in live T.V. production and documentaries. At HBO, NBC and PBS; Rich was responsible for gathering all the information for the shoot (the who, what, when, where) and putting them to insure a successful production (the How). That skill set is now put to work for your own H.I.S.S. catalog; which is a mini production itself. The same commitment, attention to details and meticulous organization will now work for you. We are a company set up to serve an under served need; the fact is that all insurance companies tell their clients to make an inventory but they do not provide this service to their customers. WHY? Maybe it is because it's simply is not in their (the insurance company's) best interest. Empowering you the customer is our priority. We are insured; currently we service the entire east coast but we are willing to travel beyond on a per case basis.