The local insurance system in my country is penurious. From research, more than 60% of the population in my country don’t have insurance. This could be a result of ignorance and it been a developing country, where the use of such social services is not common. Having healthcare or any type of insurance is not universal in my country, meaning, there are no mandatory laws passed by the government for its citizens to have insurance. The few available insurance companies in my country are private, owned by an individual person. This can make it very expensive for an average person, so basically insurance in my country is sold and not bought. However, there is a move on educating the people in my country on the importance and benefits of having insurance.
An example of an insurance company used in my country will be AXA Mansard Insurance. The company uses an app called the MyAXA Plus App, that helps you track your insurance policy. For example, if you have health insurance, you could check your usage from there and even buy other insurance policies from there. Another good example is the Tremendoc app. The app is used to communicate with doctors. They can diagnose your health issues from the app and if there is need for you to see a doctor in person for further assessment, it can be recommended from the app and the use of digital service like phone calls and e-mails, with customer services that is available to all.
In terms of the development trends, using AXA Mansard Insurance PLC as a case study, there is the use of social media to promote their insurance products. Recently, Hilda Baci (a famous chef in my country) attempted to break the longest cooking world record (which she did), along the line, AXA Mansard Insurance PLC gave her health insurance coverage for a year, for free. That alone is one method of trend that brings about development and awareness of the product. Another trend is the use of cluster marketing to enlighten people as to why they need insurance. At AXA, staff are being trained on a regular basis to gain knowledge and this knowledge are being passed down to final consumers who in turn buys the products and tell others about it.
As I mentioned earlier, there are not many digital services in my country in terms of healthcare or social services. Though there are modern and advanced technological devices used in some hospital in urban areas. The disadvantages of this, is that it is not accessible to everyone, only the wealth can afford to get treatment in such hospitals. My country is still developing, there is hope that sometime in the future, digitalization will come to stay.
Digital shop
Shopping has been made easy these days, thanks to the many online shopping site we have available. I like and enjoy shopping online; it is very convenient and affordable. In evaluating the online shopping sites, I use eBay and mostly amazon.
Online shops give you a variety of product (the same or different) to choose from. When comparing the prices of eBay and amazon, I think eBay is somewhat cheaper and there are a lot of secondhand product where you can get whatever item directly from the seller, though it has it disadvantage. I have bought used textbooks from eBay in the past, where the selling showed me images of what am getting and of course if there where to be any scamming or foul activity, eBay is expected to pay back, and the retailer involved will be dealt with accordingly. Amazon on the other hand, also has affordable product. Shopping from amazon is somewhat expensive when compared to eBay and this depends on your location and the shipping fees can be pricey. But, I think they stand out in terms of quality, variety, delivery time and they have locations around the world. Shopping online from any site has it advantages and disadvantages.
There are a lot of scammers out there when it comes to online shopping. With going to a local shop in person, one can be sure of the quality and appearance of the product he/she is getting when compared to ordering online with just pictures that may not be the same as what the said retailer is selling. Also, putting your credit/debit card information on any online site can be very risky.
With Trivago and booking.com, I haven’t really used these sites before. But from what I see on their website and advertisement, they have good and affordable price range. Even with these prices, I think one needs to be careful when booking hotels in general because most times the picture displayed on these site might be tampered with and of course be alert to credit/debit card fraud.
At my workplace, I work at the office and visit one client as a care giver. Though I spend most of my working hours at the office. We don’t really use an App that can assist the client directly because majority of the services rendered are done in person. In describing what the Domacare does, we use the App to make workers schedules and ensure all hours worked by staffs are put in correctly. Workers get to see what shifts they have immediately its published. Also from the app, the workers can write in details how their day went with a specific client, for example if changes need to be made in the future for that clients or if they would need extra help. Client’s medications and detailed instructions on how to administer them is also written by workers to ensure that the next worker knows what has been given/done and what needs to be done for the clients. The Domacare App also allows us to send invoices to clients. All these entries are done everyday.
Digitalizaton and digital gap
Digitalization as we know is one sector that is fast growing. There is no doubt that there exists a gap with digitalization amongst us today. This gap can be mostly seen with the young and elderly. This younger generation have had the opportunity to access technology as they have been exposed to it from the onset. It is hard to find someone who doesn’t have or use any digital devices or appliances. We have gradually moved to using digital devices in our daily activities, especially in schools, work environments and homes.
The elderly is mostly left out on the use of digital devices because they do not really engage with the outside world. These days the elderly are kept in home facilities where they have little or no access to digital devices. In my opinion I think this gap will always exist because it will be stressfully for the elderly to learn to use it or familiarize themselves with it which can be one of the many challenges and they may not find it useful or have interest in it when compared to the younger people.
There are a lot of risk associated with digital gap, an example would be in developing countries, where access to digital services is limited. This can affect the country’s economic growth because currently a lot is been invested in technology and digital services as this is the future. With the elderly, this can affect their daily activities as they will not be able to use virtual services such as online banking, shopping online and paying bills.
It is important to find a way for everyone to be carried along in the use of digital devices and services regardless of age and location.
digital competence test
self evaluation
It was quite interesting to learn about the various insurance services available, especially reading and learning about KELA and Omakanta from other blogs. I haven’t really taken note of the insurance system and digitalization gap in my country until now. I am glad these questions came up on the course for us to think about and research on.
blogs i commented on;
Digi Citizen – Digitalized working environment (savonia.fi)
Joyce's blog 