Subject: ACC
Businessolver Continues Strong, Profitable Growth In 2017
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, Feb. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Businessolver®, a leader in SaaS-based benefits administration technology, finished a strong and healthy second half of 2017. Driven by industry-first technology innovations, key new hires, and strategic office openings and expansions, Businessolver continued its intentional growth strategy with strong momentum heading into its 20th anniversary year. To meet the needs of the ever-changing benefits landscape, the company enhanced its hiring strategy and process to bring more than 550 years of combined industry experience and expertise to its employee base through strategic new hires in 2017.
"The benefits landscape continues to grow in complexity, increasing pressure on employers to carefully manage costs and leverage technology to deliver consumer-based tools that help their members make more informed benefits decisions," said Businessolver President and CEO Jon Shanahan. "This market dynamic reinforces our commitment to transforming an industry through technology and empathetic design, which drives our product innovation, hiring strategies and commitment to quality."
Intentional growth and sustainable profitability
Businessolver achieved profitability for the 17th consecutive year. Focused on vertical industry and segment expansion and penetration, the company continued to demonstrate forward-thinking, intentional growth leading into its 20th year in business, with greater than 96 percent client retention while supporting over nine million members on the platform.
Key office expansion across the United States supported Businessolver's strong performance. The company's Seattle-based team continued to grow in people and product innovation, by doubling the workforce. In August, the company opened a Chicago-area office to create a regional hub in one of the nation's fastest-growing technology regions. Businessolver also opened a satellite office in Iowa City, dedicated to its Participant Services and Client Services teams. The Denver hub celebrated its third anniversary in 2017, growing the employee base over 30 percent. "Our business is already reaping the benefits of these new and expanded offices across the country," Shanahan said. "With the breadth of technology and HR intelligence located in each hub, coupled with our 'Remotesolver' team of more than 100 employees, we are recruiting top talent in each region, and utilizing their skills and expertise to better serve our clients' growing and dynamic needs."
In the latter half of 2017, more strategic hires were made to continue to fuel business performance and client service, including: Bruce Gillis as Strategy Practice Leader for Health, Welfare and Compliance; Angelique Sweeney as Vice President of Businessolver Professional Services; Loren Brockhouse as Senior Vice President of Strategy; and Michelle Lockhart as Strategy Practice Leader for Carrier Relations. With these hires, as well as other key employee additions in 2017, Businessolver entered 2018 with nearly 800 employees, all of whom are based in the United States and committed to a journey of continuous improvement and delivering delight to its clients.
Innovative solutions to meet clients' needs, when and where they need them
In October 2017, Businessolver delivered an industry-first, artificial intelligence-based personal benefits assistant, SofiaSM, that adds greater personalization and real-time benefits support for members using its Benefitsolver® platform. Sofia provides text-to-text response for employees in three different languages and uses machine learning to look for learned patterns, making her smarter and able to provide more complex answers over time. The market validation for this innovation was clearly seen in 2017 Annual Enrollment where the chat volume skyrocketed by a 75 percent increase from 2016. In addition, Sofia, took approximately 20% of the live-chat volume. She is another example of how empathetic design is core to the Businessolver product development approach. Sofia usage across the three main generations in the workplace was evenly split, led by Millennials, who used Sofia for 35 percent of chats, Baby Boomers with 34 percent, and Generation X at 32 percent.
MyChoice MarketSM, an innovative technology solution that allows employers to offer a seamless benefits transition when offboarding employees, also was announced in the second half of 2017 as part of the Businessolver product suite. With the increasing trend of "boomerang" employment, the platform provides a strategic advantage for employers to facilitate a positive offboarding experience with a mix of core and voluntary offerings.
Additionally, Businessolver added online COBRA enrollment, advanced configurable reporting, and enhanced its MyChoice Mobile AppSM. During the 2017 Annual Enrollment period, the company saw a 58 percent increase in mobile enrollments, which continue to drive development efforts toward mobile technology innovation for both HR professional and employees.
"With increasing benefits complexity, we are seeing more employers looking for tools to help guide their members in the enrollment process. The Benefitsolver MyChoice Recommendation Engine®, was another highly sought after tool this Annual Enrollment as it creates a personalized experience that connects employees to better benefits decisions," said Businessolver Chief Strategy Officer Rae Shanahan. "We saw a 48 percent increase over 2016 in clients that implemented the tool. Thanks to this adoption, we had a 487 percent increase during the same time in the number of employees who used the MyChoice Recommendation Engine for help in selecting their coverages."
Increased engagement spans employees and clients
Businessolver continued to invest in creating engaging and supportive communities for its employees as they mature in their careers and as the organization grows. In 2017, it rolled out its Reality-Based Leadership curriculum to the organization, which trains employees in new skills for better leadership and career planning.
"Investing in our culture and people is an intentional top priority at Businessolver," said Jon Shanahan. "To deliver best-in-class solutions, we have to equip our employees to be successful in our high-performance organization. I'm excited about the benefits and career growth opportunities this leadership program will provide ? both for our people and our clients."
In 2017, Businessolver also launched an enhanced Heart2Heart Client Community ? an exclusive online community that gives clients access to product resources, best practices, tips, and facilitates connecting and sharing ideas with other clients across Businessolver community. Other engagement opportunities for clients in the second half of 2017 included local Horizon events, hosted by the organization to deepen and strengthen client relationships, while gaining valuable insights into their needs.
A commitment to giving back
In the second half of 2017, Businessolver continued its dedication to philanthropic endeavors by partnering with the Businessolver Foundation to support organizations making a difference, including Habitat for Humanity, Over the Edge, Samaritan's Purse, American Heart Association, Ronald McDonald House, Adopt-a-Family, Angel Tree, The Children's Hospital in Denver, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
In 2017 alone, Businessolver employees volunteered more than 800 hours to these organizations and, under the Foundation banner, Businessolver presented more than $250,000 to organizations across the U.S., including contributions to national relief efforts following this past year's devastating hurricanes.
"Going into 2018 we have much to celebrate, and much to look forward to," Jon Shanahan said. "As we develop innovative, empathetic technology, we will remain committed to our values, stay focused on delighting our clients, and engaging our employees while working to sustainably grow the business."
About Businessolver
Since 1998, Businessolver has delivered market-changing benefits administration technology supported by an intrinsic responsiveness to client needs. It creates client programs that maximize benefit 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 benefit 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
Kristin Korzen, Edelman (on behalf of Businessolver)
[email protected]
312-233-1278
SOURCE Businessolver
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