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Eclipse 2018: Conference Recap & Top Takeaways
August 16, 2018
Jill Garrison
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PlanSource Eclipse 2018 is now in our rear-view mirror, but we are still riding a wave of excitement from the event. Amid the gorgeous surroundings and spectacular venue of the RItz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, HR professionals, insurance brokers and carriers from across the nation came together to network, share experiences and discover new ways to create a better benefits and HR experience.

If you couldn’t join us for Eclipse – don’t fret. We’ve got a recap of this year’s top takeaways and trends for 2018.

Simplification

Simplification was the main theme of this year’s keynote, delivered by Dayne Williams, CEO of PlanSource.

It’s no secret that we work in a ridiculously complex industry.

Insurance companies offer infinite variations of plans and types of coverage, with benefits that can cover any possible eventuality for every stage of life. On the other side are health care providers with their maze of specialists, obscure medical terminology and a general lack of transparency. And, the glue that holds the system together, human resources, is often understaffed and overworked. That, combined with a confused and overwhelmed end-user – employees, is a recipe for bad benefits decisions.

It’s not hard to see why only 52% of employees say that they understand their health benefits and only 43% of employeesindicate they understand their non-health benefits.

The industry is ripe for disruption, which is exactly what we’re trying to accomplish with our latest slew of software updates. At Eclipse, we proudly announced two new enhancements to the PlanSource platform: a new self-service renewal tool and a new HR experience.

The new self-service renewal tool will make annual renewal frictionless and convenient and meet the demands of the modern HR department. Annual renewal is a complex process, which could include implementing new benefits, partnering with new carriers, offering new contribution strategies, rolling out new plans and more. The new system will pre-load existing settings and preferences and guide admins through a simple wizard to renew your services with PlanSource.

We put together a video so that you could hear directly from the team that’s been working on this complex problem for the last 12 months.

This new feature will be released in beta in Q1 2019 and will be generally available for PlanSource customers during Q2 2019 for 7/1 renewals.

The new HR experience is a follow-up of last year’s employee experience update. The redesigned UI (user interface) will provide a simple and intuitive platform for HR teams to seamlessly manage their benefits program. This new experience will be released in beta beginning in our December release and the new look will be rolled out with each additional release in 2019. HR professionals will have the opportunity to opt-in for the new look in the beta program.

Each of these new features will help us achieve our ultimate goal of getting employees enrolled in the right benefits so they have the coverage they need when things don’t go as planned.

If you want to see either the new self-service renewal tool or the new HR admin experience, contact us below to schedule your free demo! 

Personalization

Personalization has been a hot topic across several industries and employee benefits is no exception. Though the industry has been behind the curve on figuring out how to really adopt and integrate personalization into the benefits shopping experience, several companies are finally starting to put together the puzzle pieces and roll out impressive new personalization products and services.

This is exactly why we’ve partnered with Jellyvision to incorporate more personalization and decision support into the benefits shopping experience. Jellyvision’s decision support product, ALEX, provides an interactive support system that lives within the shopping experience. The tool guides users through a quick quiz and provides real-time plan recommendations in addition to easy-to-understand explanations. The witty, engaging tool uses a conversational tone and behavioral science to make the benefits selection process simple and – dare we say – fun.

The data speaks for itself: 77% of users say that ALEX is ‘“extremely” or “very” helpful. And, the platform has been proven to increase enrollment in various benefits programs. Take Principal, a financial management company that implemented ALEX and increased the percentage of employees contributing 10% or more of their pay into a 401(k) from 7% to 31% (that’s a 343% increase!).

We are excited about the new partnership and look forward to providing a whole new level of personalization and decision support. PlanSource users can expect the integration to roll out in early 2019 and will be available for groups with 800+ employees.

See Jellyvision’s ALEX in action, schedule your free demo below! 
 

Datatization

Data mining and analysis was another popular topic of conversation at this year’s Eclipse and Chris Krusiewicz of Burnham Benefits posed an interesting prediction: we are approaching the 4th industrial revolution and that data is the new oil.

“Sensorization” is leading the trend as we continue to turn “dumb” objects into “smart” objects through integrated technology (see also: the ‘internet of things’). Geonomics and personalized testing are two other trends specific to health care that are resulting in tons of new data. The only problem? The industry as a whole hasn’t quite figured out how to efficiently mine and make sense of all of the data available.

The solution? Artificial intelligence and machine learning. Revolutionary companies like 98point6 are integrating AI into the telehealth trend with seamless mobile triaging and doctor connections. Other companies are utilizing AI and machine learning to incorporate robotics into the health space to fill doctor shortages and perform routine tasks, like medical image processing and even simple surgeries.

From a more micro perspective, datatization is omnipresent within the HR admin space, as platforms like PlanSource collect and organize employee data on benefits choices, usage, etc. The in-progress PlanSource Analytics capabilities will provide previously untapped data and personalized recommendations on how to improve your benefits programs. You can expect this revolutionary new feature to launch in 2019.

View The Full Eclipse 2018 Keynote

PlanSource Eclipse 2018 may be over, but you can still relive the magic! View the full keynote below.

 
We had an amazing time in Half Moon Bay and are excited to announce our 2019 venue, Montage Deer Valley. You can register for Eclipse 2019 here.
 
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