If you're a broker in the fiercely competitive world of employee benefits today who wants to keep your current business, expand wallet share, and gain new clients, you need to take a hard look at how the employee-centric model for benefits administration technology and service is dramatically gaining traction.

Increasingly, the trend is employers (and your competition) relying on fewer and more comprehensive partners to deliver the administration, benefits, and technology that the new benefits business model demands. They're looking to meet three critical needs:

• A modernized user experience (for the employee and the benefits administrator)
• A full array of benefits that care for and nourish the whole employee — and experienced support that employers and employees are demanding around those benefits
• Efficient, employee-specific communication that drives employee understanding and appreciation, engagement, and ROI

A quick explanation of the new benefits model

HR systems are being reimagined from the perspective of the needs of the employee, rather than the needs of medical claims payors and HR processes. They've also moved away from focusing so much on core medical, dental, and vision benefits.

Yes, this transformation has been evolving for several years, but now it's caught fire and isn't going to change direction. The COVID-19 pandemic made employers and employees much more focused on benefits needs that are more holistic and simpler to access.