Discovery CEO Adrian Gore today gave an impressive overview of a business which he has grown from a small South African insurer into a world-leading insurance model and a multi-billion dollar business. Discovery, of course, has developed a way of rewarding people who make an effort to reduce their risks – through healthier habits, better driving and so on.
Gore explained that people now have an expectation that companies should be a force for social good. He suggested that health care is now the biggest industry in the world, and is both massive and relevant to the wider society.
Nature of risk is changing due to behaviour. Smoking, poor nutrition and poor physical activity, plus alcohol are risks, and people need to grasp this. However, his research shows that even people with many chronic conditions think they are in good health. On the roads, 81 percent of people say they are good drivers, but only 33 percent actually are.
Gore gave some fascinating insights into how Discovery’s data gathering has come up with some interesting information:
Safer drivers manage their health better.
Smokers are worse drivers.
People that manage their health manage their credit better too.
Data from PnP and Woolworths shopping baskets help to match information on diet to health – a powerful data set.
Discovery Insure has developed a smartphone application to monitor your driving – developed with MIT in the states.
Data shows women drive better than men.
Certain car types attract certain (good and bad) types of driver.
Conclusion:
The numbers were impressive But investors are likely to have been reassured that here is a company which does so much more than just sell products. It is spreading through Europe and the US to China and now wider in Asia through partnership models. This is world beating South African know how.
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