Data analytics on customer friendly insurance products at Universal Healthcare Services in Johannesburg.
Abstract
Data analytics can be used to enhance operations by giving firms information about
their consumers, thereby helping maximise profit. The aim of the study was to
investigate data analytics on customer friendly insurance products at the Universal
Healthcare Services in Johannesburg. This data can be used to ensure that
insurance companies are able to put their customers at the centre and focus of the
product design process. This can be done by designing products for the customer,
through the use of evidence contained in the data about what the customers need.
The study was conducted using a non-probability sampling for a quantitative study
that had a sample of 80 participants from the product design and data analytics
teams, out of which 65 respondents completed the survey. The questionnaire was
used to assess the role of data analytics in the design of customer friendly products
and also review the challenges UHS face when collecting data for product design.
The primary data were analysed using Qlikview, an analytics and data visualisation
tools used to assess data in conjunction with Microsoft Excel. Key findings showed
that data is regarded important within UHS and its benefit towards product design
is well understood. Data security is seen as a significant issue by consumers and
professionals alike as the privacy of the consumers has to be always kept in mind.
Investment in data infrastructure and increase in allocation of resources to both the
product design and data analytics team need serious attention. Top management is
required to make performance metrics clear in order to give the employees
confidence that the work they do will not be credited to someone else, as this may
lead to a loss in rewards to the deserving personnel. The synergy that can be
achieved by having the product design and the data analytics teams work together,
will go a long way towards increasing performance. Further studies should explore
the direct impact of data analytics on other insurance companies. Further studies
should explore the relationship of data analytics and how it affects business
performance at UHS. Additionally, future studies can also be used to assess how
data analytics affect company revenues on a short and long term basis. The
limitation of this study was that the research was only restricted to Universal
Healthcare Services, as it was not extended to other forms of healthcare. Another
limitation to this study was that it only focused on the team that were based in
Gauteng as the research did not consider the teams based in other provinces.