In conversations with SME boards over the last few years, risk agendas have transformed, says Ian McKinney (pictured), director – corporate, Midlands at Verlingue. Where pre‑pandemic boards worried mostly about “will the factory burn down?”, modern leadership teams are now intensely focused on cyber threats, systemic disruption and business continuity. For brokers, he argues, the conversation has to go well beyond price and compliance, it must demonstrate deep understanding, strategic insight and genuine risk competence.
McKinney says that in the post‑COVID era, boards and senior finance leaders have become acutely aware of interconnected and non‑physical risks that were previously marginal in planning. “Cyber risk is probably the key thing,” he said, alongside a heightened appreciation of systemic risks and business continuity planning.
“Before COVID, everything was very physical – fire, injury, property damage. Now everybody wants to talk about cyber, digital risk, data and continuity,” he said. “It reflects what the real world looks like.”
The fleeting prominence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues has also waned in some SME discussions. “Some are into it, and some aren’t anymore. Those priorities have probably shifted downwards a bit.”
Boards, McKinney suggests, are no longer content with superficial comparisons of policies based on price alone. A lingering “COVID hangover” means organisations are cautious about whether coverage will deliver when needed.
“They thought, ‘I’ve got business interruption insurance, it’ll be fine,’ and then it was not,” he said. “Two policies with the same limit may not actually be the same thing.”
He noted a recent prospective client process that involved presentations and follow-ups, without a single mention of price. “What we have talked about is the adequacy of the cover, our ability to understand their business, and our ability to present that understanding to an insurer.”
The shift also reflects a broader mindset change. “There’s a point in a business where it stops being just about scaling and becomes about protecting what you’ve built,” he said. “Even if a business wasn’t directly affected by COVID, they read about others who were, and it stuck.”
Many brokers remain more confident assessing physical hazards than digital ones, McKinney notes, which leaves a knowledge gap in cyber risk conversations.
“If you put me in front of their company laptop and ask, ‘What is the cyber risk here?’ I haven’t got a clue,” McKinney said. “But we have people who do – and clients tell us that’s what they’ve been missing. They’ve never had a broker come in and talk about cyber risk beyond the insurance. It’s just a form to fill in and tick boxes – and that doesn’t work anymore.”
He’s also critical of the impersonal nature of some large-scale broker models. “It amazes me how many businesses are paying a £25,000 annual fee to a broker and they don’t even have a [dedicated] person,” he said. “Just a form a few weeks before renewal.”
That loss of human connection, he argues, is creating opportunity for brokers who offer regular visits, face‑to‑face service, and proactive conversations throughout the year. “If you’re not talking to clients between renewals, you miss what’s changing, and that’s where problems start.”
Despite these advances, gaps remain, particularly in cyber risk literacy. McKinney warns that many brokers and clients alike still lack a shared understanding of the exposures they face. “The client doesn’t understand it. The broker doesn’t understand it. And even if there’s a third-party cyber consultant, they’re often speaking a different language.”
McKinney believes bridging this gap requires professionals who understand both insurance and technical cyber risk – a combination he says is still rare in the market. “That’s the way it should be done,” he said. “Not many brokers are doing that, but it works.”
Artificial intelligence is a major emerging risk, and a major unknown. “There’s going to be a whole pile of litigation coming around AI. Who’s liable when something goes wrong? We’re only at the beginning of that journey.”
He compares the coming shift to historic inflection points in insurance. “It’s like when we had to invent ways of dealing with industrialisation,” he said. “It took a century of development before we got a standardised approach. That’s where we are with AI now.”
