Real-time benefits administration: Data, communication and action

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.

Software companies can use real-time benefits administration tools to improve employee wellness and business performance by looking at email and calendar data patterns to understand company-wide trust networks and show correlations between coaching and engagement.

Retail and big-box stores are turning to real-time benefits administration to stand up programs to address common claims for their employees like chronic back issues. For example, when employees at a major retail chain report back pain at work, the real-time benefits administration enabled platform engages the employee and recommends the nearest physical therapists with available times and other preventative care resources.

On-the-go engagement and communication

The global pandemic in 2020 reshaped how employees, employers and industries go to work. As a result, there has been a rising adoption of different types of work, including remote work and hybrid options. This has left companies, and subsequently their broker and benefits consultant partners, tasked with connecting employees with data-backed benefits information in the moments they need it most — no matter their location. The expectation also extends to year-round and diverse methods of communication to keep employees looped in and increase health literacy, helping them maximize the potential of their benefits packages. Fortunately, real-time benefits administration offers brokers and consultants an opportunity to create meaningful touchpoints that reach beyond a one-size-fits-all benefits engagement strategy and better meets these new expectations.

Companies, especially in the retail sector where hiring and retaining employees has become increasingly difficult, are using benefits platforms and robust mobile apps to streamline benefits administration and improve employee engagement. A major retail store recently began to deliver real-time benefits administration along with other employee needs to employees via a mobile app. Employees now use their mobile devices to update benefits, receive push notifications and real-time insight into their health care, review their paychecks, participate in health and wellness care programs, and receive company news. This increases employee engagement and drives a better employee experience.

As the world continues to digitally transform, employers and their employees will continue to expect more from brokers and consultants. The benefits administration industry is beginning to innovate and change, utilizing data more strategically. Real-time benefits administration and the data that enables it is improving employee wellness and benefits usage and business operations and people management. To remain competitive, brokers and consultants need to embrace technology as more than an automation tool used monthly, quarterly, or even yearly. Instead, they need to consider how technology like real-time analytics can pave the way for strategic, year-round, personalized and robust benefits administration.

John Thomas is the Chief Data Officer at Benefitfocus’ where he leads data strategy, ensures that data is used to make the company’s products smarter and more predictive, and helps employees, brokers and carriers in the benefits ecosystem make more informed, data-based decisions. He works closely with Benefitfocus’ internal technology organization to define and deliver new data-driven platform applications.