leveraging employee benefits technology part 3

leveraging employee benefits technology part 3: how to choose the right solution

By: tim fitzpatrick, senior vice president, employee benefits, ioa & nancy damato, rda benefit services

In our prior two articles, we provided an overview of benefits administration or “Ben Admin” systems and discussed the overall benefits of leveraging technology to manage and maximize a company’s employee benefits program. In the June edition, “Leveraging Employee Benefits Technology to Improve Your Company’s Bottom Line” focused on the overall advantages for employers. The key points concentrated on the day-to-day considerations of installing a technology solution: compliance, communication, time, and money. In the August edition, “Leveraging Benefits Technology Part 2: Virtual Open Enrollment” further examined the strategy of using this type of technology to get the most out of a company’s annual Open Enrollment. In our third and final installment of this series, we will review essential factors to consider when choosing a vendor or software solution to implement.

As the use of benefits technology by employers continues to grow, particularly in response to new virtual work environments, the number of options available to those employers continues to grow as well. Although more alternatives can provide a greater degree of flexibility in choice, the many options can prove overwhelming to decision makers.

Max McKay, Benefits Technology Lead at IOA explains, “There are hundreds of benefit administration systems with varying technologies and capabilities, which makes it extremely difficult to determine the best solution for a company. There is no one-size-fits-all as it pertains to a firm’s benefit administration needs.”

It is imperative, then, to establish baseline criteria to evaluate each solution. Among the many factors to assess, employers should focus particular attention on the following capabilities: integration, decision support, analytics and reporting, and compliance.

• Integration – The ability for a Ben Admin to integrate with payroll, medical and ancillary carriers, and COBRA and FMLA vendors is essential to reducing unnecessary administrative burden and reducing human error. Max McKay states, “A benefit administration system without proper integration is like a car without an engine.” • Decision Support – As previously discussed, a Ben Admin system is often used to capture Open Enrollment elections, qualified life events, and new hire enrollments. It is critical that the system is easy for employees to use. Many technology solutions offer decision support tools or AI chat boxes to help employees navigate through the decision-making process. In addition, options exist for employers to load videos and push notifications to educate employees on their benefit offerings.

• Analytics & Reporting – Strategic decisions regarding total compensation and benefit offerings can be greatly improved when factoring in actionable data. Several data points can be captured in benefit administration systems, which can influence plan design, contribution, and plan offering decisions. An employer should consider what type of data they want to access and how they would like to apply it.

• Compliance – A benefits administration system should be able to adapt and stay up to date with the latest regulations. Whether there are state or federal law changes, the system needs to be able to accommodate these changes and prevent manual manipulations or workarounds. Having a benefit administration system that provides ACA reporting and measurement/stability period tracking is essential to reducing the burden of the ACA requirements.

Evaluating the technological needs of an organization can be difficult. Matching those needs with the right Ben Admin vendor can be even more challenging. It is, therefore, essential to align with a benefits broker or technology consultant who understands the specific needs of the organization and can provide recommendations that meet them. As noted in our prior articles, many brokers have established relationships with vendors in this space and can offer their clients product and pricing advantages over the open market. When implemented correctly, these solutions can add tremendous value to a company’s culture and bottom line.

Contributions from Max McKay, Vice President and Benefits Technology Lead, IOA

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