In his role as Vice President for OneBeacon ProfessionalInsurance, David Molitano manages four distinct lines of business:technology, media, network security, and miscellaneous professionalliability. But thanks to emerging technologies and evolvingprofessional business practices, the differences between theseproduct areas are increasingly blurred.

"These lines are converging more and more," Molitano says."Media companies have Internet sites, technology companies aredoing a lot more media, so services that these risks perform fallinto a lot of different areas. Apple is a good example. As everyoneknows, they provide technology products and have a substantial webpresence involving media. And Warner Bros. has movies, TV, and alot of web presence. So I like to joke that our nerd factor isgrowing exponentially."

That "nerd factor" is the expertise that insuranceprofessionals, and insured professionals, need to navigate achanging landscape of technology-created risk factors.

"The greatest liabilities exist in environments like thisbecause everyone is making different decisions," notes Paul Romano,President of OneBeacon Professional Insurance. "Privacy andsecurity, media liability, those areas have the greatest variationin insurance products, so everything has to be treated as a work inprocess. In the past, professional insurance had a relatively fixedrisk profile, but now you can be behind the curve because of a newtechnology or new case law emerging from claims."

In the world of professional insurance, "there wasn't a lot ofgray in the beginning, a staffing firm went with a miscellaneouspolicy, a media company went on a media form," says Romano. "Nowadvertising agencies also do Web design and a staffing company hasWeb site where you can apply online. It's not so black and whiteanymore."

The result? Underwriting and risk management in this environmentrequires excellence at understanding and addressingcross-functional risks. In some cases, insureds will be guided toselect a stand-alone technology errors and omissions (E&O)policy. In other cases, it involves the right combination of add-onforms.

"If it's a Web site designer or custom software developer, theirmain service is technology, so we have a technology form," Molitanoexplains. "We also have forms to address other exposures: a mediaform, a technology form, a miscellaneous form or a combination ofthose."

OneBeacon's technology professional policy is designed forcompanies and professionals that provide technology services, suchas code writers, technology consultants, game designers, installersand integrators of software systems.

"This form includes technology services, professional services,media, technology products, and network security and privacycoverage," Molitano explains. As technology and exposures continueto change, OneBeacon attempts to address these emerging issues. "Wetry to address needs as our insureds grow and privacy lawschange."

Attempting to address emerging exposures is only part of theprocess. Increasingly, insurance providers are attempting to assistinsureds in risk management efforts. OneBeacon provides substantialtechnical expertise in the underwriting process and offers servicesranging from informational webinars to other educational resources.

Currently, professionals must cope with a patchwork of statelaws related to technology, networks and information privacy.

"For technology and network security, the risks continue to growand are changing," Molitano explains. "There's no federal mandateyet. All but four or five states have laws on the books, but theyare all different."

Molitano's advice to business professionals? "If there arechanges in risk factors during the year, good companies will notifytheir broker and they will tell us at renewal."

And his advice to brokers? "The brokers are at times in atougher spot than we are because we see the claims regularly so weknow the exposure. The broker has to convince people they have thisexposure and it's real," Molitano says, adding that because "riskincreases in the tough market, brokers need to do a good jobtelling us what we need to do. We like to hear how we can bebetter."

That's a simple but increasingly important nuance forsuccessfully underwriting and managing technology-related risksacross a professional landscape painted in shades of gray.