Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters/MBA)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10539/37942

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Internet of Things

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    A study of Industry 4.0 technologies and customer perception in the insurance industry
    (2021) Busschau, Mary C.B
    The changes in society and business towards a more digitised and connected world evoke feelings of both excitement and anxiety. Businesses are increasingly using these technologies to ensure optimal customer service and delivery of services and products, but the literature shows that many customers may not be ready for this change. Industry 4.0 technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things are bringing increased awareness around customer concerns on privacy, fear of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence, and a general distrust of new technology. This research study looks at the potential issues that customers have with digital technology and their perceptions of South African insurance providers using this technology. The research also looks at whether customer education and communication have an impact on these areas of privacy concerns, fear of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence and distrust of new technology and customer perception. A quantitative research method was applied through an online survey, of which 395 participants formed the segment. Using correlation statistics and structural equation modelling the results showed that a unit increase in privacy concerns was more likely to improve their perceptions towards insurance by as much as 17.9%. The results also suggest that there is a 26% chance that improvements in trust in technologies could positively impact respondents' perceptions of insurance. The study also revealed that fear of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence have nothing to do with customer perceptions; results were not significant at the 5% level. Further results indicated that customer education and transparent communication significantly impact customer perception related to privacy concerns by 61.15% and distrust of new technologies by 143.15%. These results support most of the theories from the literature
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    The application of the internet of things in the South African livestock farming
    (2020) Mhlongo, Thuthuka T
    South Africa will need to increase its food supply by 50% by 2050, catering to an estimated population of seventy-three (73) million. In Quarter four (Q4) of 2019, the agriculture sector employed 885 000 people in South Africa and continues to play a vital part in job creation in the rural areas. There are 35 000 registered commercial farmers in South Africa, with 40% made up of field crop farmers while 60% comprises livestock farming. However, South African livestock farmers (producers) need to continuously deal with the changing environmental, social and economic factors that require innovative methods to ensure the sustainability of livestock production income. While the livestock farming sector needs to contribute towards the food security agenda, livestock farmers continue to deal with challenges related to predation of livestock and a surge in livestock theft. South Africa has realised the importance of the fourth industrial revolution as its potential to propel the country to the new age of digital prosperity. The advances in digital technologies have seen the emergence of new and complementary business models transforming many industries. Digital platforms such as the Internet of Things are poised to provide solutions to some of the most complex cross-industry challenges. In South Africa, there is an emergence of innovative data collection methods such as big data analytics and IoT currently being used for field crop and livestock monitoring, giving rise to precision farming. While IoT promises potential business value generation, recent studies show that IoT applications are confronted with challenges resulting in a handful of IoT projects deemed successful. The study explored the determinants that affect the Internet of Things (IoT) application in South African livestock farming. First, it evaluates the technical factors that play a role in the implementation of IoT; secondly evaluates the nontechnical factors and assesses the positioning of IoT solutions to customers (livestock enterprises) by IoT service providers as means for business value generation. Drawing from these different viewpoints, (1) technology, (2) user, and iv (3) the business aspect of IoT, the Design Thinking Framework was used to provide guiding principles that may be utilised to facilitate the application of IoT in South African livestock farming. This qualitative study followed the snowballing sampling approach to conduct telephonic interviews with IoT experts. The data was collected from a saturated sample size of 13 participants who posed local and international exposure in IoT application and livestock farming. Furthermore, a sizable group out of the 13 subjects were livestock farmers interviewed for triangulation purposes.