Established in 2013, Steered by an expert professional, Ali Zaidi, General Manager, Aafiya is a specialized integrated service provider for healthcare management. Bearing the name which stands for “good health”, Aafiya was started with the mission to facilitate comprehensive health insurance services of high-quality standards to all the sectors of the population.
While the stakeholders were considering making health insurance mandatory in UAE, it was vital to support the insurance companies to manage and facilitate a smooth claim process and take care of entire operations- That’s when Aafiya came into the picture to provide comprehensive health insurance services.
Health Insurance became mandatory in 2014 and Aafiya came next year. It is the hub that connects insurance companies, policyholders, and health care providers. While it has a basic role to work as an administrator, it understands the need to facilitate cashless service at the time of medical necessity.
The team is committed to patient safety and emerges as a trustworthy healthcare facilitator in the region. In a very short period, it has carved its niche in the third-party administrator (TPA) sector and has been recognized as a specialized integrated service provider for healthcare management.
LEADING WITH TECHNOLOGY
- Machine Learning can review large volumes of data and discover specific trends without any human intervention. For instance, a human can process 200-300 claims but when it comes to ML it can scale up to 10,000 claims per day
- Through its algorithms, Machine Learning technology gains experience and keeps improving in its accuracy and efficiency. Currently, the accuracy of the data ranges between 30-40%, however, with the incorporation of ML the accuracy can range from 92-95%.
- Lastly, it helps reduce operational costs.
In this way, Aafiya aims at providing faster, better, tailor-made, and data-driven services to its clients which includes Insurance Companies as well as the insured members
HARNESSING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF DIGITALIZATION
The rising need and importance of AI make it pretty clear that the need for digitalization and AI go hand in hand. In recent years global insurance has seen the rising importance of technology across the supply chain of Insurance. This has more commonly been referred to as insurance, this trend provides for both threats to and opportunities for incumbents and newcomers alike.
Technology and new data sources are changing the economy and society fundamentally, and promise to transform the insurance industry as well. Digitalization is changing the role of insurance, from pure risk protection towards predicting and preventing risks. The risks insurers cover and the ways they underwrite, distribute, and manage claims are also changing. Hence, there is a need to keep abreast with these demanding times and changes around the world to provide services more efficiently. Aafiya aims at developing its internal software with further advanced technologies being used around the world for minimizing risks, controlling losses at the same time providing quick and efficient services to the insured members.
THE “SECRET SAUCE” BEHIND SUCCESS
“Nothing worthwhile comes easy, continuous hard work is the only way to get results that last”- Steve Jobs
Success for Ali Zaidi combines efforts of helping the company to achieve its larger goals and enhancing employee engagement and spurring their commitment to greater growth. He believes hard work is the most important aspect of becoming successful.
Without being willing to work hard and put everything into what you are doing, success is nearly impossible. As a leader, Mr Zaidi wants his team to feel capable of achieving their goals as well as the company’s objective, so he can make it a priority to personally help them meet their individualized milestones.
THE BIGGEST FAILURES & LEARNING
“I would not term it as a failure, however, there were several obstacles and challenges which I have faced throughout my professional journey. It’s the time and passion for your work that helps you resolve problems. With all the years of experience, I have learned to always be prepared for obstacles and always have an alternate plan in place in case the first plan fails“, Ali Zaidi proudly shared, recollecting his early day’s hurdles and learning from them.
INNOVATIONS ON THE WAY
Ali Zaidi aims to make Aafiya a globally recognized brand, his step towards the same is complete digitalization of all processes happening in and around the organization. His long-term vision is to make Aafiya a global brand in healthcare management and he believes innovation is the key to achieving this goal. For sustainable growth and creating a niche in the market, Mr. Zaidi would want Aafiya to become the market leader in terms of achieving the following.
FROM THE VISIONARY’S DESK
The Best Advice Ever Received
“I recently met someone at an award ceremony, while we were having a general conversation, he said something that touched my heart, he said, “if things happened according to your wish, it’s good, but it doesn’t, it’s even better because if the plan is not as per you, it’s as per the divine force and he will always think good about you, so believe in it”, shared Mr Zaidi.
Leadership Style & Skills
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams.
While sharing his thoughts on leadership, Mr Zaidi said “A leader is a leader when has a supportive team. For me, leadership skills would be keeping complete transparency and letting my colleagues easily approach me without any hesitation. By truly believing and trying to action this quote.”
THE GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Ali Zaidi’s greatest accomplishment would be building and growing Aafiya from a mere start-up to making it amongst the top 5 TPA’s in highly competitive marketing. The second would be, conceptualizing Dahab, premium membership for our privileged clients.
THE FUTURE ROADMAP OF AAFIYA
An important factor around which most of Aafiya’s service delivery options are focused is technology. The effectiveness of technologically advanced solutions through digital means increases due to their far-reaching impact on the users. There has been a hype around the term, ‘Machine Learning’ with Insurers turning to ML as it helps in predicting customers’ needs and helps companies to make better decisions.
Ahead of its time, Aafiya has decided as a part of its strategic plan for the year 2021 to invest and develop in Machine Learning technology – it’s a powerful tool that holds the potential to revolutionize the entire gamut of business. It is the first one in the TPA industry to implement ML in these services.