Benefit portals poised to go mainstream (excerpt)

October 2005 • Employee Benefit News

The results of the Employee Benefit News/Forrester Research 2005 Benefits Strategy and Technology Study reveal that about of third of employers today currently offer an employee benefits portal, and that another quarter of employers expect to do so over the next two years...

Seventy-four percent of employers ranked improving access to existing benefit as very important to their benefit portal strategy, followed closely by the 63% of employers that prioritized reducing benefit costs via self-service...

We received some open-ended responses to the "why do a portal" question, and the results are notable... "everyone else is doing it, why aren't we" - was perhaps the clearest affirmation of a portal tipping point in the survey results...

So what really is a portal? Among employers of all three sizes, there was surprising consensus on the most important feature that a portal "should have." Enrollment and benefit modification capabilities, at 70%, is number one, followed by comprehensive access to all health and welfare and retirement plan information at 66%, and life event triggered transactions and communications at 50%...