Benefits industry products roundup: Alight Solutions, ArmadaCare, BetterUp, DailyPay, Glint, John Hancock
News from BestEx Research Group, Abel Noser, Blue Shield of California, Accolade, Prudential, GreenPath Financial, RightCapital
Technology innovations in the employee benefits industry are emerging daily as companies create or enhance tools to help HR, benefits advisors, retirement advisors, and other practitioners do their jobs. “Personalization” is a key term we’re seeing more frequently in regards to employee benefits and retirement products, and, more recently, “hyper-personalization,” as companies seek to tailor services to their employees’ and clients’ individual needs. Here’s a sampling of what crossed our desk recently:
RightCapital introduced RightPay, a web-based service that enables financial advisors to collect financial planning fees from clients via credit card. Available to RightCapital subscribers, the add-on service allows advisors to track and manage completed and outstanding payments for all of their clients.
Prudential is partnering with national nonprofit GreenPath Financial Wellness to introduce debt management advice and tools to its growing suite of workplace financial wellness solutions.GreenPath offers a free session with a certified financial counselor to establish goals and explore debt repayment options. For a fee, employees or members who participate can also choose to enroll in a formal debt management plan designed to pay off outstanding balances in five years or less.
John Hancock announced two new tools available at John Hancock Retirement’s participant site. The first helps participants create an emergency savings account and track progress toward the savings goal, with the ability to withdraw funds at any time with no fees. The second one, The Education Planning Center, lets participants estimate the costs of higher education and define funding gaps in current savings strategies. It includes resources to help with college selection, scholarships and financial aid, navigation of the college application process and more.
Glint announced the launch of Glint 360s. Its 360-degree feedback aims to give people a holistic view of their strengths and opportunities based on input from their managers, peers, collaborators, direct reports, and the individual’s self-assessment. Built to accompany Glint Engage, it includes interactive reporting, and automates key processes.
DailyPay announced SAVE 3.0 to expand no-cost ways employees can allocate earned income to their own savings account before their scheduled payday. SAVE 3.0 is free to all employees who have access to DailyPay. Employees can use it in three ways: With AutoSAVE, employees can build a savings safety net with regularly scheduled savings; DirectSAVE lets employees save different amounts each pay period; RoundupSAVE lets employees allocate a certain amount of their earnings to savings when they request a pay transfer prior to payday.
Blue Shield of California and Accolade will be offering national, self-funded employers headquartered in California a personalized member engagement experience. An integral component of this experience is health assistants and clinicians that work directly with members to assess their health needs, answer benefits questions, and assist members before, during and after they receive medical care. It is available for a January 2021 plan effective date.
BetterUp announced Identify AI and Coaching Clouds. Identify AI is a proprietary AI that aims to deliver hyper-personalized development recipes based on organizational priorities and individual preferences. It diagnoses the needs of an organization’s employee population and helps determine the right people to invest in, the appropriate amount and type of coaching needed, and identifies coaching opportunities in real time. Coaching Clouds is made up of three different coaching products – field cloud, professional cloud, and executive cloud, designed for the different needs of employees at various levels of an organization.
BestEx Research Group announced the launch of its global trading solution. The end-to-end solution includes a TCA system that is designed to measure and continuously reduce transaction costs, a simulation platform for analysis of algorithm behavior, a web dashboard for transparency and control over algorithm behavior, and access to in-house consultants, in a broker-neutral model. Abel Noser LLC will make BestEx Research execution algorithms available to more than 500 global fund managers.
ArmadaCare introduced Ultimate Health for HSAs and Plena Health for HSAs. These are the HSA-compatible versions of its Ultimate Health and Plena Health. These supplemental hospital indemnity insurance products are designed to mirror coverage offered in Ultimate Health and Plena Health, including inpatient care, outpatient surgery and services, Rx, wellness treatments, dental / vision coverage, executive physicals and more.
Alight Solutions launched a new “hyper-personalization” tool. It sends targeted alerts and guidance to employees via multi-channel messages that continuously adapt based on employee actions (or inactions). It focuses on providing information and calls to action for people across three key areas: health (enrollment guidance, provider searches, cost comparisons, etc.); wealth (retirement savings, budgeting, etc.) and career (pay, performance, time off, etc.).
READ MORE: