The spread of data and real-time analytics in our everyday lives continues to expand our acceptance of technology and our desire to leverage the insights we gain from it. Today, consumers turn to online and mobile apps to receive real-time analytics on traffic, to search for open tables at restaurants, and then to book the nearby ride-share to get them there. Yet, despite the growing expectation that technology can meet our on-demand needs, the benefits and health care industry remains locked in a different world. We can purchase homes, cars and complete college degrees online or with mobile apps, but we are just beginning to push industry boundaries around real-time, on-demand access to health care costs and medical care.

While technology like robotic process automation (RPA) can streamline routine HR activities and benefits, real-time benefits administration and the technology underpinning it elevates a broker's and consultant's approach by adding a strategic element. Platforms with real-time benefits administration capabilities provide timely and strategic insights for brokers and consultants to use to provide robust, relevant and impactful recommendations on demand.

The changing benefits industry

As benefits consultants and brokers prepare for open enrollment and look back at the previous year, it will be important to consider how much has changed and how technology can create new opportunities to drive impact for clients. Employers of all sizes, industries and locations are facing new challenges around remote work, employee-employer engagement expectations, and vaccination requirements. Brokers and benefits consultants can leverage real-time benefits administration to increase quality and approach each client's need differently. For the benefits industry, real-time benefits administration provides a greater level of automation to a broker's workflow and allows them to meet on-demand expectations better.

As an example, it is often the case that when fraudulent claims are suspected, the approach is to parse through and hand-validate claims data after the fact to pinpoint what is "off." However, as the industry moves towards utilizing real-time benefits administration, a shift can occur from looking backward to looking ahead. Instead of manually analyzing the claims data after the fact, real-time benefits administration technology ingests millions of claim data today, processes those that are most likely to be fraudulent, identifies the suspect attribute, and automatically takes action based on the output. This frees up the broker and consultant to plan ahead rather than just react to the past and can provide a more holistic and real-time recommendation to meet client needs today. The ability to react in real time will be an invaluable tool for brokers and consultants as they pivot and adapt to client's individual needs.

People analytics across the company

Using data and analytics is no longer just about flagging interesting information for managers or clients and sharing once or twice a year. Now, it is about actively engaging in the use of data to understand every aspect of business operations. To remain competitive, brokers and consultants can use data to perform organizational network analysis to improve recruiting, job performance, workforce planning and retention.