BA Semester 1

Management of Information systems and technology

Statement:
I acknowledge that the work of others has appropriately been referenced and that all unacknowledged work is genuinely mine.

Word Count: 2620 words
a. Select a SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) or a company. b. Conduct research and identify the products and/or services and business processes of the chosen company. [800 words maximum]
Short introduction about the company
Nib Insurance Company is an insurance company located in Ethiopia. At the moment, there are sixteen insurance companies in Ethiopia, of which one belongs to the government while others are privately owned. Except for foreign investors, the insurance industry in Ethiopia is open to local investors who full fill the conditions set by the National Bank of Ethiopia.

Nib Insurance Company is one of the privately owned insurance companies. According to (www.nibinsuranceethiopia.com), it was established on May 2, 2002 by 818 shareholding members. Currently, the company has 21 branches and 199 staff members and gives a wide range of insurance services to its customers. Concerning the product/services of the company, Nib Insurance Company offers a diversified service to its customers. The company is delivering almost all types of insurance available in the industry. This can be taken as a disadvantage for the company and as an advantage to the customers. It can be taken as a disadvantage for the company because this gives the company a diversification mechanism. On the opposite, this can be taken as an advantage for the customers because they can have alternative choices which mean that a customer can have all services at one place. For example if we take an insurance company that only offers life insurance, this company may be lucrative one year and may cause a great loss the other year. In this situation though if the company losses revenue in Motor Insurance for instance, it can gain revenue in another type of insurance e.g. Motor insurance.

Product and Services of Nib Insurance Company
 Fire and lightning Insurance

Fire and lightning Insurance is extremely vital which is why most people say that it is one of the important components of a human life. Even though fire and lightning insurance is very vital to a person’s life, it also has devastating effect. Every day, countless of damages are caused by fire worldwide even in Ethiopia the damages caused by fire is in an arising rate. Which is why Nib Insurance Company offers Fire an lightening Insurance.

Nib Insurance Company will cover when there is a loss or destruction to the insured property by fire, lightning and explosion of boiler and gas used for domestic purposes. If a person wants to extend the policy than that person only have to add some more money than they can get covered for more circumstances such as natural disasters (Earthquakes, storms etc…)
 Motor Insurance
Motor insurance which is also known as vehicle/auto insurance is one of the insurances offered by Nib Insurance Company. It is a type of insurance that covers for cars, mini-buses, trucks, cycles and motorcycles .The main objective of motor insurance is to cover for all types of road vehicles in times of accidents, theft etc…
Even though buying insurance is not very famous in Ethiopia, buying motor insurance is the most popular one compared to the rest. Ethiopia is known for its high rate of accidents when it comes to vehicles.
 All risk insurance
All risk insurance is also offered by Nib Insurance Company. This insurance covers a wide-range of incidents unlike motor insurance which only covers for vehicles or money insurance which only covers for money. The all risk insurance covers all these incidents all together but only in circumstances such as loss or damage by fire, theft or any other accident or misfortune not excluded by the policy.
 Marine Insurance
This is one of the different insurance that Nib Insurance Company offers, Marine Insurance covers the loss or damage of boats, planes or any transport by which properties is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and final destination. When assets are being transported from one country to another or from one region to another and if this asset get lost or damaged before reaching its final endpoint than it’s the marine insurance that will be covering for it.
 Burglary and Housebreaking Insurance
Nib Insurance Company also offers the Burglary and house breaking insurance. This insurance covers the loss or damage caused by breaking into buildings/houses, if there is any kind of damage in the insured property the marine insurance will cover for it.
 Money Insurance
If you insured your money with Nib Insurance Company and if something happens to it, for instance if it gets lost Nib Insurance Company will recover the money for you.
 Life Insurance
Life insurance is also a popular type of insurance offered by Nib Insurance Company which is similar to Motor Insurance. Basically, according to (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_insurance) life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money (the "benefits") upon the death of the insured person.
Business processing
According to ( www.businessdictionary.com) business processing is a series of logically related activities or tasks (such as planning, production, or sales) performed together to produce a defined set of results. It is basically the steps a company or project goes through until it reaches its endpoint. So in this case, it would be all the steps an applicant will go through starting of the day he/she started applying until the day he/she finishes the process to get the insurance.

c. Apply and analyze Porter’s 5 competitive forces model that shape the fate of the firm. Do you think, your chosen company can be the leader in providing their services and/or products? Justify your answer. [900 words maximum]

According to (www.markintell.com), Porter’s 5 competitive forces model is a tool that analyzes the 5 dynamic forces that shapes/affect every industry and help us improve the performance of an industry by pointing out the strength and weaknesses of a company. It is designed to explain the relationship between the five dynamic forces that affect an industry’s performance. These five forces are mentioned in the chart below:

Competitive Rivalry:

Competitive rivalry basically refers to competition between 2 or more businesses in the same field or industry. One of the things that can bring a high competition between insurance industries is the low level of entry into the business industry. The Insurance industry is open for people who want to invest in that field at a very low price therefore it means that the existing insurance companies such as Nib Insurance Company will face a stiff competition.

Nib insurance Company had 5 branches in the year before 2004. From 2004 to 2009 a total of 16 branches have been opened. The expansion of the company can also increase competition because it means that more firms have to compete for the same customer and resources. Expansion of branches won’t help increase its market share but bring more complications and competitions into the industry.

According to (Insurance in Ethiopia Historical Development, present status and future challenge, Hailu Zeleke, 2007) there are 9 different insurances in Ethiopia. The services delivered by all of the insurance companies are similar therefore most customers decision variable is price. Thus, an insurance company that can offer insurance cover for a minimum premium can take the business easily.

Threats of new entrants:

It is obvious that profitability and market share will decrease when new company enters the industry. Ethiopia follows a free market economic policy which allows investors and shareholders fulfill the requirements of the given industry to invest and join the sector they are interested in. The insurance industry is open to local investors who full fill the preconditions set by the National Bank of Ethiopia.

The preconditions set by the National Bank of Ethiopia can’t not be said too restrictive and not constitute formidable obstacles to those interested to invest in the insurance sector. According to (Insurance in Ethiopia Historical Development, present status and future challenge, Hailu Zeleke, 2007), the minimum share capital needed to open a new insurance company is Birr 3 000 000 (= £ 107 142) which could be easily raised via share floating. Such low entry levels are not barriers for serious investors. As a result, new insurance companies are entering the insurance market easily and it is expected that this trend will continue in the future.

This high trend of entry is due to the low level of capital required. As a result of the growing number of insurance companies it is expected that the market share of incumbent insurance companies will reduce. As a result, the existing insurance companies like Nib Insurance Company would face stiff competition to maintain their market share.

Threats of substitute
From year to year, competition between industries is becoming stiffer and marketing mix is becoming smarter. Customers are now more well-informed about preferences so they are picky when buying products or services, they decide to buy an item after examining the pric, quality and value for money. Threats of substitutes for Nib Insurance Company is low as the company provides all kind of insurances, everyone will find the type of insurance they want to buy at Nib Insurance Company. For instance if we have taken another insurance company that only offers Life and Motor insurance, than we would have said that this company has very high threats of substitute. The reason why I am saying this is because if for example there is a person who wants to buy a life and money insurance and if the company only provides life insurance than that person would choose to go to another insurance company. This can bring a high number of customer turnover which can be able to affect or give a bad reputation to that particular business.

Supplier’s power

The relationship between seller’s and buyer’s power can be powerful or weak. In this case, as I mentioned earlier buying insurance is not that popular in Ethiopia which means that a lot of people don’t buy insurance and yet there are 8 insurance companies. This means that the supplier’s power is powerful and the buyer’s power is weak.
In order to increase the buyer’s power, we have to give further knowledge to the population about the use of Insurance, we have to decrease price to attract new customers etc….

d. Michael Porter’s competitive forces model is very helpful for identifying competitive forces and suggesting generic strategies. However, it is not specific about what exactly to do to achieve these forces. Business Value Chain model helps to achieve this. Apply Business Value Chain model to your chosen business and critically evaluate how this can help your business to achieve competitive forces. [900 words maximum]

Value Chain Analysis is all about analyzing how you can add the greatest possible value for your customers on tour products/services. The chart below shows the value chain model:

Primary Activities deal with the stages involved from producing our product or services until the endpoint of our product/service. Nib Insurance Company can gain competitive advantages by improving their marketing mix.

Concerning the product the company is providing, it provides much more services compared to other insurance companies within the country. Almost all types of services available in the insurance industry are provided buy Nib Insurance Company. For better performance specialization is the key point. If the company provides some selected insurance covers it would provide better services for customers and can get a good market share. Hence Nib Insurance company should concentrate on construction areas since the country is in construction boom.

Concerning promotion, the society’s awareness about insurance in Ethiopia is very limited. There are many reasons that accounts to the case. Like religion or lack of knowledge. As a result the company should promote itself the majority of the society. This can be done through ATL, like having radio program or television program about the company’s service delivering quality so that the company can reach the majority the society. By doing so I hope that the company can maintain its market share.

Concerning price, price is one of the most competition variable in the industry. As mentioned above, the price Nib insurance company is higher than other insurance companies. Those insurance companies that can offer insurance cover for a minimum premium can take the business easily. So for Nib Insurance company to maintain its market share it has to adjust its pricing strategy.

Concerning place, the company has 21 branches in the country. All branch offices are rents from other owners. This rent cost is high. If the company buys or built its own office the company can cut its cost by large.
Primary Activity Description
Inbound logistics All those activities concerned with receiving and storing externally sourced materials
Operations Nib Insurance company can use economics of scale in four procedures and that would lead to reduction in operation cost if there were to be the market leader.
Outbound logistics The process NIB goes through before selling the services to the consumer.
Marketing and sales NIB should make its services cheaper than its competitors therefore attract more consumers.
Service NIB insurance should create a lot of activities associated with maintaining product performance after the product has been sold.

e. Information System involves in heavy investment of software, hardware, network, telecommunications, and security infrastructure. However, the latest development in providing IT solutions is through Cloud Computing. Analyse suitability of Cloud Computing to provide Information services to the chosen company [400 words maximum] Most of the businesses and companies nowadays spend a lot of time on trying to find out new IT solutions in order to stand out by being better than their competitors. The newest and also one of the popular IT Solution is now through Cloud Computing .
According to (www.independent.co.uk), Cloud Computing is essentially the organization and facility of application and data as a service. All of these services are provided in the internet
Every Information system has got Advantages and Disadvantages, below are a list of some advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing: Advantages
- Its gives u the chance to access your data from anywhere at anytime
- It doesn’t require any physical storage to store your data
- Companies can easily add, change or delete any kind of information whenever they want to because of its scalability,

Disadvantages
- Since Cloud Computing is a service given by companies, businesses will end up depending extremely on the service providers.
- Since Cloud Computing doesn’t use physical storage, there may be loss of data etc.. since companies won’t have full control over their data.

Despite the disadvantages of Nib Insurance company can benefit highly from Cloud Computing. The business processing steps for Nib Insurance Company are divided into 5 stages. The first stage is that an agent fills in the candidate’s form online. Then, since the system already contains fixed underwriting procedures, it will be easier to go to the second step which is checking the rate of qualification of the candidate’s account. If it is qualified than it can move straight to the third stage which means that the application of the candidate is directly going to be rated online which means that the request of the agent was successful. Once the request was successful, the last stage is that the print center of the insurance company produces the policy and mails it to the candidate within hours. This whole process takes one to two days maximum thanks to the help of IT because if this whole process was going to be hand written then it would have taken months for one process to be completed.