Onecom Digital will be able to start providing insurance companies with lifestyle-specific information by mid-year.
The local company aims to do this by collecting data from the people who make use of sister company Rapid Studio's digital photo album software, says CEO Jerome Maggerman.
Maggerman explains that Rapid Studio enables people to save their pictures, and have them printed in a personalised digital album. The range has since expanded to include items such as calendars and key-rings.
“It appeals to the consumer, giving him a platform to keep his memories alive.”
From the middle of this year, Onecom will start selling the data it collects from Rapid Studio to insurance companies, he says. The firm is in talks with several organisations.
Customers can download free proprietary layout software that allows them to choose what pictures they want in an album, and select a background before ordering the album online. People can also create calendars, key-rings and other memorabilia, notes Maggerman.
Targeting products
Maggerman says this makes it possible for insurance companies to more accurately target consumers.
Rapid Studio was launched a year ago and, while uptake was initially slow, more people are logging in and downloading software, he says. And, as more bandwidth becomes available, Maggerman expects the use of the software - and the industry - to grow. “SA is not yet an online community.”
In Europe, for example, where the product was launched in 2004, the expected market size has grown from an anticipated 50 million euro to the current projection of 2 billion euro. In SA, there are four or five companies that provide this sort of product.
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