48 Hours to 1 Minute: How Insurance Tech Startup Automated 300 Reports with Datazip

Harsha KalbaliaHarsha Kalbalia
4 min read

TAM: $12 billion
Industry: Health Insurance tech
Company Size: 400

The Insurance Tech Startup is a Mumbai-based healthcare platform founded in 2019. It emerged as a pioneering platform that integrates healthcare services with financing, specifically targeting the outpatient department (OPD) costs that are typically not covered by traditional health insurance plans.

The company aimed to create a comprehensive solution for managing health expenses, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which heightened the need for accessible healthcare options across various sectors.

System Limitations

Data Architecture & Storage

The organisation managed their data across disconnected systems including PostgreSQL databases, HubSpot CRM, call center platforms, and Excel files. Their ETL [Extract-Transform-Load] processes handled 250-300 automated reports with 24-48 hour delays.

The mobile application, managing customer interactions from document uploads to claim processing, produced high volumes of semi-structured data their system couldn't process. Their SQL and Excel tools couldn't support the transaction volume of 150 crore rupees ($20M USD), especially for multi-dimensional joins and statistical modeling.

System Performance & Processing

The on-premise infrastructure lacked computational power for their core needs, specifically for real-time streaming analytics in their Outpatient Department (OPD) module and machine learning fraud detection systems.

Without cloud architecture, they struggled to process the data volume needed for market analysis. Their digital-first approach generated continuous customer interaction data that exceeded their processing capacity.

Operational & Scale Optimization

Their proof of concepts with data platforms like Hevo Data and Fivetran extended over 2-3 months without viable outcomes. The proposed timeline of 6 months for implementing a traditional data warehouse conflicted with their immediate scaling requirements.

Their technical team expansion needs included 5-6 specialists (3 data engineers, 2-3 analysts), amounting to $300,000 in annual personnel costs. These requirements, combined with infrastructure investments, exceeded their allocated budget while their data processing demands continued to scale.

Implementation Approach

Moving to a Modern Data Pipeline

Datazip replaced the flat files and Excel storage with a managed data warehouse. The solution processes 250-300 reports with 1-minute sync frequency, reduced from the previous 24-48 hour delays. This enabled the Start-up to execute complex data operations and statistical modeling required for their 150 crore rupees ($20M USD) transaction volume.

Advanced analytics tasks that previously took days were now completed within hours, improving the company's data-driven decision-making capabilities.

Real-time Processing Architecture

Datazip's cloud infrastructure implemented real-time streaming analytics for its Health's OPD module, reducing data processing time from 48 hours to 1 minute. The system scales compute resources based on data volume, handling their mobile application's daily customer interaction data of 2GB.

The platform's storage architecture separates current and historical data, maintaining fast query performance while managing their growing data volume.

Entering Automated Workflows

Datazip streamlined their team structure from the proposed 5-6 specialists ($300,000 annual cost) to one data engineer. The implementation was completed in 4 weeks versus the traditional 6-month timeline, eliminating the 2-3 month POC cycles previously spent on evaluating Hevo Data and Fivetran.

This reduction in technical staff and faster implementation resulted in a 75% decrease in projected annual operational costs while maintaining the required data processing capabilities for their $20M transaction volume.

In Addition: Solving Data Quality Challenge

As the organisation scaled their insurance claims processing, data quality and governance emerged as critical requirements.

The existing system lacked proper validation mechanisms, leading to inconsistencies in reports and delayed claim resolutions. Datazip addressed these challenges through a comprehensive data quality framework:

The solution implemented automated schema validation and quality checks at each ETL stage, reducing data inconsistencies from 30% to less than 1%. By establishing ingestion rules and version control, the platform eliminated duplicate entries and maintained clear data lineage for all transformations.

This systematic approach improved claims processing accuracy from 85% to 98%, directly impacting customer satisfaction through faster insurance claim resolutions - reduced from 72 hours to 24 hours.

On the security front, Datazip deployed row-level security and role-based access controls, enabling secure data sharing across 50+ team members while protecting sensitive customer and claims information.

Conclusion

Datazip's implementation transformed the start-up's data operations from a manual, time-intensive system to an automated, efficient infrastructure. The solution addressed their core challenges in data processing, real-time analytics, and resource optimization while ensuring data quality and compliance.

As their Principle Data Engineer, Dhruvil Dhankani noted: "With other tools, it would have taken at least six months to automate all of our data processes. Datazip solved this for us in under a month." This rapid transformation enabled the Start-up to focus on their core business growth while maintaining data accuracy and security in their health-tech insurance operations.

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Written by

Harsha Kalbalia
Harsha Kalbalia