According to Tapping the Potential of Technology, the fourth in a series of research briefs stemming from The Prudential Insurance Company of America’s (Prudential’s) Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond, three-fifths of employers – primarily those with more than 500 employees – report using an administrative platform to manage their benefits programs. Of those, 62% rate the use of their platforms effective with another 37% rating it highly effective.
Fifty-three percent of those using an administrative platform say it is integrated for all employer-paid and voluntary benefits, 21% have only employer-paid benefits on the platform. “Platform integration is seen as beneficial by many Benefits Managers as the key to enhancing capabilities and driving results,” notes Joseph M. Hayes, vice president, Information Systems, Prudential Group Insurance. “About half of all those who do not have an integrated platform for all benefits say an integrated platform would make benefits management easier.”
The use of an enrollment platform is also seen as a useful tool. Fifty-two percent of employers have an enrollment platform and more than half (59%) are integrated for all employer-paid and voluntary products. Integration is most common among companies with more than 10,000 employees at 73%. Of those employees whose companies don’t have an integrated platform, 52% report that it would be easier to have all of their benefits on the same platform.
“We’ve also seen some innovation in the ways brokers are using technology, from accessing leads and marketing and sales material, to claim processing and a variety of reporting systems,” Hayes noted. “We’ve learned that 44% are either currently submitting or wish they could submit Requests for Proposals (RFPs) through a tablet or smart phone.”
Nearly 30% of brokers report using tablets to access benefits marketing material and plan information, while 30% wish they had access to the technology. Another 20% are using mobile phones to access the material and 20% to 25% wish they had access to such resources.
Tapping the Potential of Technology is the fourth in a series of five research briefs that highlight the major findings from Prudential’s Seventh Annual Study of Employee Benefits: Today & Beyond. The research was conducted via the Internet during July 2012, and consisted of three distinct surveys of plan sponsors, plan participants, and broker/consultant audiences.
Prudential Group Insurance manufactures and distributes a full range of group life, long-term and short-term disability and corporate and trust-owned life insurance in the U.S. to institutional clients primarily for use in connection with employee and membership benefits plans. The business also sells critical illness insurance, accidental death and dismemberment and other ancillary coverages and provides plan administrative services in connection with its insurance coverages.
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