1. ‘Creating A Paradigm Shift in Thinking’
Service and Business Development • Insurance Solutions • Risk Management
News and Market Overview Summer 2016
©
Page 1 of 4
ALL Change!
And I promise not to talk about
Brexit or England’s exit from the
Euro’s (Well done Wales!).
‘Market Rumours,
Risk and Renewal 2016-17’
What can be said, as we enter
another PII Renewal season for a
large majority of firms, is that
premium rates are set to remain at
‘soft’ to medium, even with one
new entrant*. Available markets
comprise only rated insurers now,
after the withdrawal of Elite earlier
in the year, plus Enterprise not open
to new business. The major players
are expected to maintain their share
albeit jostling for pole position, so
no change there. Some brokers,
perhaps using the uncertainty of
Brexit, have suggested that rates
may harden as we go through the
year, but my feeling is that rates will
broadly stay the same until the
Autumn and that ‘early renewal’ will
look attractive to many firms. Of
course, ‘unusual’ quotes will always
pop up from time to time as insurers
chase business, or a broker does by
reducing commission, as well as
competing on price. Remember,
service and support is important in
the mix too.
ProfessionsUK (PUK) will
continue to provide market
information in our normal way to
help you decide, not solely on price,
what is best for you and what risk
management support you may need
to ensure you sustain a healthy risk
profile. Visit our website to review
your available markets, the PUK PII
Checklist and to download our ‘all
market’ PII Proposal Forms, or call
us Free on 0800 8498495 to discuss
your existing arrangements.
NEWS
1 PUK – What we do
2 PiXL Save Appointment
3 Cyber Crime &
‘StayPrivate’
4 POBI ‘People Analytics’
5 34FREE
6 “Are Services
Different?”
_________________________
1 PUK – What we do:
Over the past decade, we have
been ‘first’ in a number of key
service development areas and will
ensure we are at the forefront of
innovation, new services and
products in the future (see later for
the next steps):
Highlights:
- first provider with a Free
Phone number
- first with access to the
whole market via our panel of
brokers
- first to create an online,
interactive PII proposal form(s)
- first to receive referrals
from the SRA and ARP, because of
our risk management approach and
success
- first to help 50 firms exit
the ARP
As well as maintaining our
independent approach, we will
continue to be innovative in helping
organisations start up, grow and
serve successfully.
“We listen, we help, we care more -
since 2004”
§
2 PiXL Save Appointment
PiXL (Partners In Excellence) is a
support network of 2000 Schools
across England & Wales,
comprising 1500 Academies, the
remainder being a mix of Primary,
FE Colleges and Special Needs
schools.
What we are pleased to announce
is that ProfessionsUK, through our
association with UIB, and
particularly with help from James
Dandridge and SLW Training &
Consultancy, has been appointed
‘preferred supplier’ status to the
PiXL Network.
The PUK service to PiXL will
combine risk management
support, on-site surveys and H&S
reviews, along with an ‘open
market’ survey in helping business
managers and school principals, to
choose the most appropriate
levels and types of insurance cover
to safeguard their students,
teachers, staff and parents, as well
as the public. Full launch of the
service will commence in the new
academic year, September 2016.
§
3 Cyber Crime &
‘StayPrivate’
The media, almost daily, writes or
reports on warnings about
hackers, phishers (fissures?) and
scammers, potentially ‘breaking in’
to exploit our most sensitive and
private information. No-one seems
immune as Government and
businesses of all sizes report
‘breaches’ occurring and
increasing on a month-by-month
basis. Even Apple products are
becoming prone to the occasional
intrusion, although rarely by

2. ‘Creating A Paradigm Shift in Thinking’
Service and Business Development • Insurance Solutions • Risk Management
News and Market Overview Summer 2016
©
Page 2 of 4
comparison to Windows and
Android,and gone are the days
when it was spam or a benign virus
that disturbed our daily grind.
Although this still occurs too
regularly as staff, managers and
others are still curious to open up
emails and pop-ups from
“strangers” (Simple rule, which has
been around since the start of the
www: If you don’t know who it is
from, delete!!).
‘Sending or Receiving?’
One area of ‘internet security’ that
is only slowly being acknowledged
by the legal sector is the need to
protect and secure documents
leaving your office, being sent by
email, but with a lack of
encryption, as well as emails on
their own.
Whilst the majority of firms, large
and small, have robust firewall,
antivirus and malware protection,
coupled with complex password-
protected files and back-up
processes that securely protect
documents and emails internally,
only a small percentage (less than
10%) have systems to protect the
external process. That is, 90%
don’t have protocols that securely
protect confidential documents
and emails being sent from their
offices, home or staff working
remotely. Increasingly, this is
leading to fraud and business
disruption on a grand scale,
leading to increased claims and
therefore increased premiums.
And this affects everyone so ignore
at your peril!
For example, over the past few
years, ‘phishing’ externally sent
emails, especially from public
accounts such as Yahoo (the worst
offender), Gmail, Hotmail and the
like, has allowed many a
sophisticated criminal to intercept
and have bank transfers,
sometimes in the millions (read
about the exile in Israel), to be
diverted to an unintended
recipient. Sensitive information
(phone-hacking is now passé) is
also being targeted either for
straight exposure (Wikileaks et all),
ransom-not-to-publish or evn
ransomware, which pretends to
expose with selected information.
Hacking is only part of the problem
now as crime becomes more and
more sophisticated.
This is another reason why we
have been appointed by the PiXL
Network, since we have joined
forces with a company called
“StayPrivate” who have developed
a ‘military level’ secure platform
for email, documents and social
media to flow safely between
clients, students, staff, teachers,
parents and governors, as well as
selected suppliers.
In fact the StayPrivate ‘Quorum’
product and service applies to all
businesses who generate external
communication on a regular basis,
and is especially suited to both the
legal and education sectors.
If you would like to learn more, set
up a free trial of their service and
receive a 25% discount on your
first year’s subscription, call
ProfessionsUK free on 0800
8498495. This offer is open to the
first 50 Clients who call PUK and
subscribe for a year after the 1st
month’s trial and will also be
subject to a minimum number of
users. Should you want to contact
StayPrivate.com direct, don’t
forget to quote ‘PRIVATEPUK50’
to receive the discount outlined.
§
4
Another part of developing PUK’s
service for the PiXL School
Network, we have also introduced
Paul Burton of POBi and here is a
short summary of what ‘People
Analytics’ can do for you.
Pobi's 'People Analytics' is a
software tool that diagnoses
employees’ (staff and/or
management’s) strengths and
weaknesses, then brings long-
lasting behavioural change to
your people.
The UK business challenges of
shortfalls in productivity and skills,
and a lack of employee
engagement, are well documented
and have significant impact on
individuals, businesses and the
economy.
Pobi was born in a business to
solve a problem of people
underperformance. In 2011 Paul
Burton and Ian Ormerod formed
Pobi to bring the solution to
market because they believed (and
proved) there is so much more
potential to be unlocked from
individuals in the workplace and
doing so generates massive value
and a true feeling of fulfilment.
Pobi works just like diagnostic
software which plugs into your car
to achieve its peak performance.
The platform produces a simple
diagnostic readout and then works
with leaders and individuals to find
a winning sustainable solution.

3. ‘Creating A Paradigm Shift in Thinking’
Service and Business Development • Insurance Solutions • Risk Management
News and Market Overview Summer 2016
©
Page 3 of 4
It’s by treating people as
individuals and not as a number,
and enabling them to set their
own development path in a guided
but not controlling way, that this
magic happens.
Pobi’s platform is designed around
the user making it intuitive, simple
and engaging to use. It identifies
the root causes that impact
performance and enables an
individual to prioritise their
development. The software then
connects them with the right
content, tools and people to help
them achieve what they want. It
then acts as a friendly coach to
nudge, focus and help motivate
the individual to complete the
activity they need to move
forward.
At the same time the system
enables an organisation to assess
and develop capability in a
consistent but individual way.
Clever analytics enable the
organisation to understand the
capability across their business
and to make informed decisions
about succession, training
interventions, reward, recruitment
and many other things.
And the results? We think that
you’ll be pleasantly surprised too:
• A workforce that feel valued,
supported and respected
• Happy, energized, engaged
and capable teams delivering
their best
• A consistent but individual
approach to development and
support
• A structured approach to
business transformation and
cultural change
• The ability for an organisation
to truly understand the
capability of its people and
plan succession and talent
agendas accordingly
• A reduction in the costs of
learning and development
combined with a massive uplift
in impact
• Better retention and attraction
of top talent
For more information and an
introductory discount of up to 25%,
call ProfessionsUK free on 0800
8498495.
§
The Whole is Greater
Than………
Creating the service model and
content for the PiXL Network, PUK
used the same methodology in
producing the 34FREE concept: i.e.
establishing what the ‘demand’ is,
instead of simply improving the
‘supply’ of what currently exists.
Challenging the status quo through
a paradigm shift in thinking what is
possible and developing what
customers and clients actually
want. Whilst 34FFREE has taken a
little longer in persuading insurers
to take the necessary leap and ‘be
first’, PUK is confident that our
approach to identifying and
rewarding conscientious clients
will become the norm in the not
too distant future.
§
5 Primary ‘34FREE’ ©™
Since I last wrote to you, as the
market went ‘soft’, it actually went
soft in the normal way and
decided to postpone participating
in the 34Free model (well, the 2
insurers who’d said ‘in principle’
did anyway!). Having presented
the concept to few more, we’ve
decided to start from the ‘demand’
side and create a groundswell of
opinion, so please read on.
An Exciting New Proposal To
Change The Shape
Of The Solicitors’ PII Market
- Ever felt you were never
being rewarded for a good, clean
or excellent claims history?
- Ever thought that your
Risk Management approach made
little or no difference at all to your
PII premium?
- Ever wondered why the
‘open market’ hasn’t changed
much in 17 years?
To hear the answers to these, and
many other blocks to creativity
and innovation in the Solicitors’ PII
Market, attend the ground-
breaking ‘34Free Workshops’ in
London, Bristol, Manchester and
Leeds throughout October &
November 2016 and Jan/Feb 2017,
by calling free on 0800 849 8495 to
reserve your place, or email:
34free@professionsuk.com.
Our aim is to create a groundswell
of support to change the face of
the PII market, FOREVER!

4. ‘Creating A Paradigm Shift in Thinking’
Service and Business Development • Insurance Solutions • Risk Management
News and Market Overview Summer 2016
©
Page 4 of 4
Outline Workshop Content,
attracting 3 CPD points, lasting 4
hours, is as follows:
- 34Free: An Outline
- What is your Service/Market
Orientation?
- What is your
Bureaucracy/Enthusiasm
Quotient?
- What does your ‘People
Analytics Profile’ show you?
- Supply vs Demand
- Matching Discontinuity
Marketing to a Risk
Management Culture
- StayPrivate™, Cyber Threats
to the Legal Sector and POBI
‘People Analytics’™
- 34Free: A Commitment to
Change
To Enrol, please call
0800 849 8495
or email
34free@professionsuk.com.
The cost of the workshop is £30
per delegate and a 20% discount
will apply for 5 delegates or more.
Only OBTs (Online Bank Transfers)
will be accepted, prior to attending
workshops, as numbers are limited
at each venue to 100.
“Changing the way we do things
around here!”
§
6 “Are Services
Different?”
And, in case you missed it at the
start of the year, download our Article
that appeared in Global Business
Media:
Additional Service
Referring back to Primary
‘34FREE’©™, one major ingredient
is the ‘Risk Management
Pre-Assessment Review’ (PAR)
where firms will be rated on key
criteria not found in their proposal
form and will have to qualify for
the scheme already described.
ProfessionsUK has used this
approach very successfully over
the past 10 years in helping firms
to present themselves to insurers
with a fuller narrative as to the
kind of organisation they are,
where they’ve been, what they
have learned and where they are
headed in the future. It is a stand-
alone service that can be provided
separately to Primary ‘34FREE’©™.
§
Thinking of Starting
Up? Passing On, Or
Closing Down?
ProfessionsUK has helped over
200 would-be entrepreneurs to
start their own business over the
past 6 years. In addition, a number
of clients have chosen to retire
along the way, and an orderly
closedown and run-off has been
facilitated. In some cases, selling
the goodwill of the business has
also occurred.
Whether you are thinking of
starting up your own practice or
considering succession-planning,
call FREE on 0800 849 8495 to
discuss ways of making the
process easier.
§
And next time, we will be writing
about the new Data Protection
Legislation which is due for
implementation at the start of
next year, regardless of Brexit.
It will affect all businesses of all
sizes and requires a proactive
approach to compliance. More
soon. In the meantime, if you’d
like an alternative approach to the
PII market with an open market
survey, please complete the
ProfessionsUK PII Form, or call us
on 0800 8498495 to discuss if your
existing form will be sufficient.
Mark Langley-Sowter
July 2016
©
Copyright ProfessionsUK 2016
* Correct @ time of writing