The IQ Business Group is to enter its second Australian joint venture, which will double the size of its operations in that country.
The group announced this morning that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian health insurer Grand United Health Fund to create a business process outsourcing company.
IQ says the new venture, which aims at bringing cost-efficiencies to Australia`s health insurance sector, is expected to start on 1 July.
As yet unnamed, the business is to comprise about 75 people.
The group says the venture will draw on the experience, knowledge and intellectual property generated in IQ`s South African operations to date.
Chris Sinclair, CEO of IQ SA, says the venture is an endorsement of IQ`s international growth strategy, which is to export up to 40% of its locally designed and built technology, as well as its intellectual property.
"These are then deployed and managed together with our operational units situated in different parts of the globe," he says.
The joint venture with Grand United is IQ`s second in Australia. The first was a partnership with superannuation funds administrator NSP Buck.
The new healthcare entity will manage outsourced business processes such as claims processing and administration, initially for Grand United and later for other health insurance funds.
Patrick Crooks, head of IQ`s Australian healthcare operations, says Australia`s healthcare funding sector is under considerable pressure to rid itself of operational efficiencies and to consolidate with larger players.
"It`s no secret that recent government pressure has forced many health insurance funds to look at ways of reducing the administrative burden and associated costs.
"We are looking at solutions which will offer a 20% saving in business processing with potentially even greater savings as member volumes increase. In addition, there are huge opportunities for improvements in risk management and quality of management information," he adds.
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