So, what will drive disruption in our business, and how can we position ourselves to be winners (Uber) and not losers (taxi companies)?

While we are not immune to disruption, there are some factors that protect voluntary benefits. A major driver of disruption of employee benefits is government actions. The ACA is a great example. For example, if the tax incentive for employers to provide health benefits to employees is eliminated, it could result in a transition away from employers providing benefits to simply encouraging employees to buy benefits on their own. This seems unlikely, because employers would still want to provide employees the value of simplified product selection and simple support processes.

The processing of employee benefit plans and eligibility tracking has already been disrupted by carrier web services, ben admin systems, and private exchanges.

Our process is already a disruption of standard insurance since the purchase process is comprised of the research phase, the purchasing phase, and the fulfillment phase. The employer has effectively cut the process itself by doing the research and making product/carrier decisions for the employee. Employers find value, because insurance companies are willing to offer guaranteed issue coverage to all the employees in the group.

Voluntary benefits feature the convenience of “check a box” enrollment, and the employer offers employees the convenience of payroll deductions, another improvement over the individual billing process.

As tomorrow arrives, we can expect the voluntary products and processes of today to evolve and potentially be disrupted. But in today's world, these products and supporting processes are already disruptors, paving the way for future evolution.