THE EFFECT OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF INSURANCE SECTOR IN KENYA
Abstract
Insurance industry is key to economic growth of any Country, in Kenya the sector has been cited as major player in the attainment of Kenya Vision 2030. The Kenya’s insurance industry was reported to be the fastest growing industry in Africa in 2015. Information and Communication Technology has upped the stakes for all insurers, particularly in relation to today’s empowered consumers, both searching and buying insurance on the internet. In today’s world with smartphones and tablets, customers are increasingly expecting to have instant access to services wherever, however and whenever they want. With this in mind, insurance companies in Kenya have started exploring the growing impact of using new technological platforms to communicate with customers, cater for evolving buying behaviors and mine a rich source of customer insights. This study took this perspective to bridge the existing gap in order to establish the effect of information communication technology strategy implementation on performance of insurance sector in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey. The population for this study was 50 insurance companies in Kenya. Census survey was used to select all 50 Insurance companies. The unit of observation consisted of heads of two functional areas in each insurance company. A sample of 150 respondents was considered as adequate for this study. This study used primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire. The study found that ICT investment cost affects the performance of insurance sector in Kenya. ICT investment offers potential for significant organizational improvement and competitive advantage. ICT investment cost is relatively high but improves organization performance in the long run while ICT investment does not always translate into monetary rewards in insurance sector. The study revealed that ICT competency affects the performance of insurance sector in Kenya to a great extent. The insurance sector employees have experience on application of various ICT technologies and are equipped with the right knowledge on information technology. The study recommends that insurance companies should thus include considerable amount of capital in their budget for ICT investment purposes. The study established that in the insurance sector employees have technical skills on ICT.
Key Words: Investment Costs, ICT Competence, Organization Performance
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v4i2.464
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