It’s all looking good. Your sales are up and your customers have an emotional affinity with your products and services. Trust is being translated into repeat custom and you are seeing return on your investments. Your brand is visible in the right places and you have managed to carve out a niche market thanks to your strategy of differentiation. You have built a strong team and are investing in your staff. And your business sustainability is such that you are even thinking of expanding your business.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, plenty.

Even if you have a successful business, disaster can strike at any moment and may even force you to shut your doors. Which is why it’s important to protect your business by taking out the appropriate insurance cover.

Historically, various insurance products were triggered by disaster. For instance, property insurance as we know it today was developed following the Great Fire of London which, in 1666, destroyed more than 13,000 houses in the capital.

The same goes for the underwriting of business ventures. As London grew in stature as a global centre for trade and commerce, so did the importance of protecting cargo and vessels from the dangers of the high seas. Therefore, in the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened Lloyds Coffee House on Tower Street. Here, sailors, merchants and ship owners gathered todiscuss shipping news – these informal gatherings fuelled the need for the first ship-ping insurance.

Of course, prevention is better than cure, and therefore, it’s best to protect your business before anything goes wrong. To identify your insurance needs, do a risk management analysis every year and try and protect your business by taking out the appropriate cover.

There are various business insurance products with the aim of protecting your assets, premises, customers and employees. Property insurance is intended to protect your property and belongings such as office equipment, inventory, tools and computers, from the effects of a disaster such as fire, theft and vandalism.

You may also want to consider extending your cover to business interruption to protect your earnings in the case that you are temporarily unable to operate your business due to unforeseen and damaging circumstances.

Every business also needs to have liability insurance in the form of public, products and employers liability.

This cover is intended to protect you in the case that you, your employees or your products and services cause property damage or bodily injury to a third party.

You can also protect your employees with a workers compensation cover, in which insurance pays out benefits, such as lost wages or medical expenses, to injured workers.

To identify your insurance needs, do a risk management analysis every year

If you provide professional services, you might also want to consider professional liability insurance. This policy is intended to meet the needs of professionals such as architects and civil engineers, lawyers and notaries, accountants and auditors, medical professionals and engineers. A professional liability insurance protects professionals for claims made against them for injury, damage or loss as a result of an error, omission or negligent act while carrying out their professional services. This cover can also be extended to include other calamities such as loss or damage to documents, employee dishonesty, and libel.

Damage to your vehicle fleet could also leave you unable to operate your business. To mitigate such risks, Maltese law requires businesses to protect all vehicles. If you are involved in the transportation of goods, you also need to protect and insure your cargo.

Your insurance needs also depend on the kind of business that you conduct.

For ­instance, in the case of contractors, experts advise insurance cover for loss or damage to erection works, machinery breakdown insurance and electronic equipment insurance. Insurance companies also provide the right ­package for various types of businesses.

An insurance package for hotels, for instance, would include loss of revenue and money, group personal accident, fidelity guarantee, accidental loss or damage to furnishings and equipment, and loss of book debts.

There are various products that fit your business needs. Although it might seem tempting to cut costs by foregoing cover, this will only give you short-term benefits. In the long term, it’s best to protect yourself and your business.