Benefits technology leader strengthens industry expertise with steadfast leadership and investment in organizational excellence, innovation and culture to support clients in unprecedented year
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (February 25, 2021)—Businessolver®, a leader in SaaS-based benefits technology and services, completed 2020 with a strengthened market position and forward industry momentum, driven by strategic investments ensuring business continuity, uninterrupted client service, and consistent employee safety and productivity. Businessolver’s tenured leadership acted swiftly and decisively to not only safeguard operations and employee well-being, but also increased business performance through its intentional focus on innovation and transparent delivery of Technology with Heart.
“The pressures and challenges faced by the HR industry in 2020 was like nothing we have ever seen,” said Jon Shanahan, Businessolver Founder and CEO. “As the technology behind their benefits programs, our clients and our partners trusted us to rise to the challenge of facing head on the pressures on their human capital, the impact on declined total well-being and the immense shift to a virtual or socially-distant environment. By listening to our clients and consulting on their needs, we have been incredibly fortunate to be entering 2021 in a solid financial position allowing us to lead the way in what’s next for benefits technology.”
Businessolver expanded its footprint in high-growth business including the addition of new clients from the Fortune 100, large-scale organizations and pooled insurance groups. Businessolver’s 2020 achievements propel the company for continued success in 2021 and beyond.
Organizational excellence aids response-readiness during pandemic
- The company continued strong client retention of over 95%.
- Using the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework as its roadmap for organizational excellence, as it has every year since 2017, Businessolver received Gold Level recognition in 2020, the highest level of state recognition, for demonstrating the framework’s core values. By living those values, Businessolver was able to rise to the myriad challenges of 2020 and provide exemplary support to its clients.
- While maintaining a combined tenure of 50+ years in steadfast executive leadership leading the way in strategy, vision, engagement and compliance, four additional leaders were added to the executive team to continue Businessolver’s focus on organizational excellence and market growth.
- Businessolver launched its Navigating the New Normal information center in addition to the Benefits Pulse, to keep clients informed of benefit trends related to COVID-19, as well as the increase of new federal regulations in 2020, including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and a variety of complex extensions affecting COBRA.
- With an obsessive drive for security, Businessolver successfully completed thousands of daily scans to ensure Benefitsolver® protections that ensured zero security breaches in 2020 while maintaining a 100% uptime during the most critical enrollment periods.
- Adhering to process and leveraging technology in a fully remote environment, Businessolver’s Critical to Quality compliance checks which prevent gaps in service and ensure quality product jumped over five percentage points during 2020.
- The Businessolver Pinnacle Partner Program added seven new preferred voluntary benefits carriers and partners. With 12 partners now participating in the program, Businessolver clients and their employees are provided with an advanced user experience that helps them make the most of their benefits investment.
Innovation delivered delight for clients amidst human capital pressures
- Businessolver’s MyChoice® Accounts, its proprietary, integrated consumer-directed health care platform, continued to provide unique account options for clients by introducing several non-traditional reimbursement programs that supported clients’ needs pre- and mid-pandemic. These account programs included savings goal accounts, a post-employment HRA, as well as employer-funded dependent care programs to meet the growing demands on child care for essential workers.
- The company enhanced functionality and added consumer-account management within the MyChoice® Mobile App. The importance of the mobile application increased throughout the year, as Businessolver saw app downloads increase more than three-fold in an increasingly virtual environment.
- Launched as a direct-to-consumer health care exchange experience, MyChoice® Market served as an effective alternative to COBRA coverage or for those who found themselves without affordable care.
- Businessolver helped clients adapt to virtual and socially distanced worksites in 2020 through the development of a unique and highly interactive virtual benefits fair solution ahead of the busy fall annual enrollment season. The virtual benefits fairs, created and maintained by Businessolver’s in-house engagement practice, Studio B, averaged 8,800 page views per event with an average engagement of 8 minutes and 40 seconds per visitor.
- Sofia, Businessolver’s intelligent application, completed her fourth annual enrollment as Businessolver’s MVP resource in answering employee questions related to their benefits. As her knowledge set increased, so did her performance. Sofia’s chat volume increased 97% throughout 2020, but with no delay, she resolved over 87% of her total chat volume, increasing her success rate by over 21% in 2020. With increased demands at all times of day, 31% of her chat volume was on nights and weekends, ensuring members had care support when they needed it most. Additionally, Sofia supported over 22% of calls during the peak annual enrollment season, to simplify the experience for members, by leveraging technology to elevate service.
- Among the company’s primary goals was improving users’ overall understanding of benefits information and confidence in benefits selection. With an innovative, empathy-driven user experience, Businessolver created a conversational enrollment for employees at a time when benefits literacy remains low. With that, nearly 77% of users rated their understanding as Extremely Clear or Very Clear, and 81% rated their confidence as Extremely Confident or Very Confident.
Strong company culture proves ability to extend beyond brick and mortar
- Businessolver successfully shifted to a fully remote workforce of more than 1,200 Solvers over just three days in March 2020. This included closing eight offices across the U.S., without service disruption to clients or their employees.
- Maintaining high levels of employee engagement while providing support to Solvers in this new environment, two new metrics were added to Businessolver’s weekly employee measurement surveys. Findings proved that engagement scores increased by roughly 10% in the first month of moving remote and continued throughout 2020. Businessolver’s overall attrition rates were 4.5% lower in 2020 than in the previous year.
- Businessolver launched its first diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program to address the challenges faced by BIPOC populations throughout the country. The cultural touchpoints on race during 2020 drove Businessolver leaders to recognize the company needed to be accountable to its employees, clients and communities by acknowledging systemic inequality. In launching its DEI focus, 809 Solvers took the pledge to “Be Kind, Speak Up, and Do the Work” to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Dedicated to the importance of empathy in the workplace, Businessolver released its fifth annual Workplace Empathy Study. The findings revealed that the perception of empathy in the workplace had decreased with a greater lens on the executive leadership to own this foundational value.
Despite the year’s many challenges, Businessolver Chief Strategy Officer Rae Shanahan said the company’s consistent commitment to product quality, process excellence and employee empowerment over the last two decades can’t be overstated. “We didn’t know it, but for more than 20 years we’d been building a culture that would prove to withstand some of the most consequential changes our country—and our clients—had ever seen. And while we celebrated this resilience, we are also excited for continued growth in years to come.”
Read more about the company’s achievements in the interactive Businessolver 2020 Annual Snapshot.
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About Businessolver
Since 1998, Businessolver has delivered market-changing benefits administration technology supported by an intrinsic responsiveness to client needs. The company creates client programs that maximize benefits program investment, minimize risk exposure, and engage employees with easy-to-use solutions and communication tools to assist them in making wise and cost-efficient benefits selections. Founded by HR professionals, Businessolver’s unwavering service-oriented culture and secure SaaS platform provide measurable success in its mission to provide complete client delight.
Media Contact
Grant Stoker, Edelman (on behalf of Businessolver)
grant.stoker@edelman.com
206-939-7298
