The Claims Review - Issue 9, 2000

Electronic Communication - claims and a survey

The trade press regularly raises the issue of how your businesses will be affected by electronic communication. To date ITIC has seen little evidence of any overall increase in claims as a result of the use of e-mail systems. New technologies will inevitably throw up new  problems but in the majority of cases it is the human element that is at fault. In this respect a badly drafted e-mail in the year 2000 is no different from the misleading telegraph of 1900.

E-mail has radically reduced Members’ communication costs and is becoming increasingly used in commerce generally. ITIC will monitor and inform Members of the problems that result from the use of this technology as part of the Club’s regular loss prevention services. Some examples of claims that have been received are given on this page. One Member recently reported that their e-mail service provider had ceased the service for a number of hours. The Member’s customers had sent messages onto the Internet via their own service companies but, unlike telex or fax systems, were not immediately aware that their messages could not be received by the Member. As a result of incidents like this some companies have limited the types of message that are sent by e-mail. What is not really known is the extent to which e-mail has become a major, if not dominant, system with which Members communicate. his is why the Club would be grateful if you could take the time to complete the survey on the reverse of this Claims Review. The individual returns will, of course, not be published or given to any outside body. As a small token of the Club’s appreciation the names of those returning the survey will be entered into a draw for a bottle of champagne!

Claims Review 9