Benefitfocus Delivers Enhanced Digital Resources to Advance the Benefits Shopping Experience and Employee Communication

Rhea-AI Summary

Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) announced enhancements to its digital platform aimed at improving the benefits shopping experience during COVID-19. These updates focus on streamlining the enrollment process and enhancing communication for users. Key features include an improved consumer benefit election experience, enhanced mobile app functionality, increased transparency for HR administrators, and a library of data-driven messaging tools. All enhancements will be available at no additional cost to customers, supporting Benefitfocus' mission to deliver a best-in-class user experience.

Positive

• Launch of enhanced features for benefits enrollment at no extra cost.
• Improved consumer experience with streamlined payment options and easier navigation.
• Enhanced mobile app functionality for better employer-employee communication.
• Increased transparency for HR administrators to view support interactions.

Negative

• None.

CHARLESTON, S.C., Aug. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT), a technology platform provider enabling rapid innovation for employers, health plans and consumers, today announced the release of several platform enhancements that continue to advance the market-leading features of its enrollment solutions. These enhancements are designed to enable employers and individuals to have greater confidence in the benefits selections they make, improve communications during that process, and to meet their changing needs during the time of COVID-19.

"Benefitfocus associates have continued their efforts, even while working from home during this pandemic, to ensure our solutions bring new innovation with the high quality our customers expect," said Benefitfocus CTO Jim Restivo. "These enhanced capabilities support our mission of improving lives with benefits by delivering a more streamlined enrollment experience. This is especially important because of the unique working and living environments our customers may face due to COVID-19."

Enhancements Across the Ecosystem
These enhancements are some of the latest examples of Benefitfocus' ongoing mission to provide a best-in-class experience for all users of its platform. All of these improved functions are provided at no additional cost to Benefitfocus customers.

Consumers

• Improved benefit election experience: The experience of shopping at any time for benefits and using the self-payment option is designed to be easier  to navigate, having been moved up in the consumer workflow during initial and open enrollment. Consumers are making purchases throughout the year, so the all-new streamlined payment experience enables consumers to purchase products through the self-pay option anytime, which allows consumers to pay for benefit products outside of payroll deduction.
• Improved mobile app functionality: Employers can now present plan documents, videos and other valuable resources within the app to help an employee understand more about a specific available product and the value it provides. This feature enhances the channels of communication available to employers around the virtues of their benefits offerings.

Benefits Administrators

• Increased Transparency: Case Manager gives HR Administrators the ability to view all support cases and interactions related to a single individual. Administrators gain insight into phone calls, emails and even chat conversations that have transpired between Benefitfocus and the employee, allowing for full transparency into all interactions related to a single employee.
• Expanded Data-Driven Messaging: The Smart Moment Template Library, available within the Community Resource Center, is a collection of pre-built, formatted and stylized communications assets. HR administrators can use these templates to quickly and easily communicate regarding available benefits to employees. The library will be refreshed with new content throughout the year.
• Improved Usability of Employee Communication Tools: The Smart Moment Console, available to all HR administrators, has received several enhancements, including:
• Deep links: HR administrators can use the deep link feature for SMS/text and emails to specify precisely where in the system a consumer needs to take a requested action.
• URL shortening: Links included in text messages will be automatically shortened to increase the number of characters available in text messages sent through the Smart Moment Console.

The Community Resource Center
Benefitfocus' investment in optimizing its solutions is enabled by the world's largest benefits community. Health plans, brokers, and employers all participate in an interactive online community generating new solution ideas that inform each of the Benefitfocus releases. 

Connect with Benefitfocus
To learn more about the Benefitfocus platform, click here.
Like Benefitfocus on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Benefitfocus  
Follow @benefitfocus on Twitter
Follow Benefitfocus on LinkedIn
Follow Benefitfocus on Instagram

About Benefitfocus
Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) unifies the entire U.S. benefits industry on a single technology platform to protect consumers for life. Our powerful cloud-based software, data-driven insights and thoughtfully-designed services enable employers, insurance brokers, health plans and suppliers to simplify the complexity of benefits administration and deliver health, wealth, property and lifestyle products through a world-class benefits experience. Learn more at www.benefitfocus.com, LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results or performance might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; risks related to changing healthcare and other applicable regulations; the immature and volatile nature of the market for our products and services; our ability to compete effectively; our ability to maintain our culture and recruit and retain qualified personnel;  privacy; security and other risks associated with our business; management of growth; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our SEC filings, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the Benefitfocus website at http://investor.benefitfocus.com/sec-filings or upon request from our investor relations department. Benefitfocus assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. 

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/benefitfocus-delivers-enhanced-digital-resources-to-advance-the-benefits-shopping-experience-and-employee-communication-301115236.html

SOURCE Benefitfocus, Inc.

FAQ

What enhancements did Benefitfocus announce on August 19, 2020?

Benefitfocus announced several platform enhancements aimed at improving the benefits shopping experience, including better mobile app functionality and an improved consumer benefit election experience.

How do the new features from Benefitfocus impact employers and consumers?

The new features streamline the enrollment process for consumers and provide HR administrators with enhanced communication tools, increasing transparency and efficiency.

Are the new platform enhancements from Benefitfocus free for customers?

Yes, all enhancements to the Benefitfocus platform will be available at no additional cost to customers.

What is the significance of the improvements made by Benefitfocus during COVID-19?

The enhancements are designed to support employers and individuals in making confident benefits selections during the challenging circumstances presented by the pandemic.