Here’s what HR should ask to understand if they’re getting AI or just a chat bot
AI can do powerful things for your organization like:
- Field immediate employee questions that overwhelm your team (e.g., what’s my deductible?)
- Respond at all hours with direct answers and reducing unnecessary emails or messages
- Make it easier for your employees to understand and use their benefits
- Empower you and your team to be more strategic and stay focused on more complex challenges
But not all AI is made the same, and not everything labeled “AI” is actually intelligent. We unpacked some of the common myths. The top thing to look out for? Custom-labeled chat bots.
Do you feel confident enough in what to ask about AI in your next RFP? Here’s what we recommend including in your next round of benefits administration technology search.
HR’s AI buyer’s guide: 10 questions to ask in your RFP
How much of your team’s time is spent handling phone calls, emails, or other manual tasks that AI should be able to support?
For HR leaders evaluating how an investment in AI for benefits administration, the ROI conversation has shifted from theoretical to proven. If you are challenged with finding cost mitigation or savings opportunities, benefits administration is already being transformed by AI—the question is whether you’ll be among the early adopters who gain a cost competitive advantage or forced to play catch-up Consider these questions when reviewing your benefits administration technology:
How does the AI benefits assistant handle complex and multi-step questions?
- Can the benefits assistant make decisions based on context and multiple data sources, like plan documents and eligibility rules?
- What happens when the AI assistant doesn’t know the answer?
- Do you have confidence thresholds in place and a live-agent review process?
- Does the AI tool have memory throughout conversations to build a fulsome answer or is each message treated in isolation?
- How is the assistant trained and fed knowledge? Is it static, live data, or something else? How do you ensure accuracy and consistency?
- Can I customize the agent’s logic, workflows, and data sources?
- What analytics, insights, and dashboards are available to me to help monitor response success rates, issue trends, and cases? Is this available in real-time?
- How often is your team testing and QAing for accuracy and quality over time?
- What is your roadmap for making the assistant more agentic and autonomous over the next year?
- Can you provide examples, case studies, or live demos where the AI tools successfully resolved a real-world issue for HR and for an employee to prove its capabilities?
Ready to bring intuitive AI into your benefits administration strategy? Let’s chat.
How AI can transform your strategy from reactive to proactive
When AI is part of your benefits strategy as described in the questions above, you can expect results like this through your technology.
- 90% of benefits questions are resolved same day: AI agents can take on the bulk of benefits questions year-round. Sofia, Businessolver’s proprietary AI solution, uses a unique blend of empathy, agentic AI, and natural language processing to provide concierge-level service and support. Some of the most common questions Sofia supports include checking claim statuses, pulling up benefits documents, and simplifying healthcare jargon.
- 10 million minutes of HR’s time saved: Organizations using AI-powered benefits tools save nearly 10 million minutes annually in call and chat times—that’s over 7,700 hours that HR teams can redirect toward strategic initiatives. Instead of explaining the difference between HSAs and FSAs for the hundredth time, you’re designing wellness programs that actually move the needle.
- $3 million in cost avoidance with more efficiencies: For a company with 11,000 employees, AI-driven steerage to cost-effective health plans can save over $3 million in premium spend alone.
- 79% of employees feel confident in their elections: When AI helps personalize and simplify the entire benefits experience for employees, confidence and satisfaction soar—in spite of 86% of employees saying they’re totally confused about benefits.
- 18% lift in average benefits engagement: AI-powered personalization can make benefits up to five times more visible, ensuring employees actually use what you’re providing. When the benefits experience is tailored to each employee’s needs and health history, they’re more likely to engage with the right benefits at the right time.
The future is already here
AI isn’t coming to benefits administration—it’s already here.
Your annual benefits enrollment season will always bring challenges. Healthcare costs will continue rising, employee expectations will keep evolving, and the complexity won’t disappear overnight. But with AI as your strategic partner, you can approach these challenges with confidence instead of dread.
Your employees are ready for this transformation—89% already opt to share data for personalized experiences, and engagement rates soar when the right tools are available. The technology exists, the business case is proven, and early adopters are already seeing remarkable results.
The only question left is: Will you be ready for the enrollment season that changes everything?
