All insurance is not created equal. There are complexities in business insurance unheard of in a simple home insurance policy.

This is where Trilagy Insurance and Financial Services comes in. Trilagy has more than four decades experience in navigating the complex shores of business insurance.

Trilagy’s roots go back to 1962, when it opened as Harding and Hall Insurance. In 1992, it was purchased by three businessmen, two of whom – CEO Bob Burns and president Bob Shaw — still lead the company. Today, Trilagy Insurance and Financial Services is a full-service insurance agency and financial-services provider, offering solutions in the areas of insurance, investments and wealth management, and employing 67.

But Trilagy is much more than an insurance agency. The company enters into a genuine partnership with its clients.

Trilagy Insurance and Financial Services experts include, from left,

A key to the success of the commercial side of Trilagy is its “risk-reduction process,” says Sales and Marketing Vice President Doug MacLean.

“It’s a focus on making your business or organization more attractive to the insurers,” says MacLean, by providing business owners with expert advice on how to reduce their risk.

Trilagy provides insurance advice to a broad range of businesses – both large and small – have insured a number of large trucking firms, are involved in the mid-market oil and gas industry, and of late the company has been doing a lot of work for engineering companies. Trilagy has an excellent working relationship with APEGGA, and has been involved in arranging seminars about issues of concern to the engineering community. Trilagy has two in-house advisers who specialize in the insurance concerns of engineering firms, Ted Oloriz and Bob McBurnie.

Thanks to Bob and Ted’s knowledge and working relationships with the markets prepared to provide cover for engineers, Trilagy is able to provide responses quicker than most other firms, says McBurnie.

“Our experience is a lot more broad than other brokers,” McBurnie explains. “They might write the odd policy for engineers here and there, but we target them.”

Just like doctors, engineers are professionals who deal in public-safety issues. It is important that they protect themselves as individuals, and as a company, McBurnie says.

Many business people see insurance as a costly commodity, a necessary evil if you will. Every few years, they put their insurance out to bid in search of the lowest rate possible. Unfortunately, saving money on insurance can be a false economy. It can actually increase your exposure to risk, and end up costing you money.

Looking at insurance purely from a commodity perspective may make your company less appealing to the insurers you hope will compete for your business. Why? Skyrocketing insurance payouts are making insurers more selective about whom they insure, and if you haven’t taken the necessary steps to lower your risk profile, they may not want to work with you.

This is why the use of a skilled risk management adviser is worthwhile. Trilagy’s experts will help you deal with your risk- management requirements in a comprehensive, proactive and strategic manner, beginning with a risk-reduction workshop, a comprehensive review of all of the risks and hazards of the client’s business.

A risk adviser with good knowledge of your industry “will look at every aspect of your business, determine your liability exposures, and help you decide which risks you might want to assume yourself,” says MacLean.

“Industry-specific advisers are more aware of the risks inherent in your industry, and can more readily spot potential gaps in coverage.” For example, one of Trilagy’s advisers has been involved in the trucking business for years, and knows the ins and outs of that business as well as anyone. When she looks at a risk, she looks at it not just from an insurance perspective, but from the trucker’s point of view.

“Anyone can get a price for you,” says MacLean. “It’s a question of getting a fair price from a responsible and reliable insurer who will be there for the long term and, more particularly, when the insured needs them.

Unsure if you’re getting full value for your insurance dollar? Trilagy asks clients to answer the following questions:

* Does your broker provide the value-added services necessary to lower your total cost or risk?

* Is he or she actively helping your company to proactively lower its potential risks and cut down the incidence of accidents?

* Does your current broker stay actively informed about your business in order to keep your coverage up to date? If the answer to these questions is no, you need to ask yourself if your current broker is adequately protecting your interests.

Trilagy doesn’t want to be just an insurance broker, says McBurnie – the company wants to be a “trusted adviser” as well.

“We’ll look through their business from top to bottom and see how we can help them, rather than just selling them insurance.”

For more on how Trilagy can help you find the best insurance at the best price for your business, contact 403.209.6300, or visit its website at www.trilagy.com.