Employee benefit technology provider Zenefits has added four brokerages to its Certified Broker Program in an effort to build a nationwide network of tech-enabled brokers to simplify access to health and wellbeing options for small to medium-sized businesses.
The four firms — ABD Insurance and Financial Services, The Capital Group, The Horton Group and NFP — join OneDigital, which was the first insurance and benefit brokerage to join the Zenefits program last fall.
As members of Zenefits Certified Broker Program (CBP), the brokerages now offer Zenefits People Platform, its HR, payroll and performance management software, but they are not bound to offer it exclusively to their employer clients. By signing onto CBP, they are able to “make it even easier for small and mid-sized businesses to evaluate, select and manage employee healthcare and benefits options that best fit the needs of their modern workforces,” according to Zenefits.
According to NFP, the New York-headquartered insurer and employee benefit brokerage with more than 4,300 employees, employers are asking for better, more focused benefits and HR tools for their small to medium-sized businesses.
“The world of employee benefits brokerage has changed and clients are looking to us from a consultant perspective to bring solutions to the table to help their lives,” says Mark Rieder, senior vice president of HR technologies and benefit administration services for NFP. “That includes technology solutions, and Zenefits and their platform is one of those tools we want to be able to bring to the table.”
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Zenefit CBP members will have access to Zenefits’ price quoting, proposal, enrollment and fulfillment technology as well as integrations with national insurance carriers. Benefit advisers will receive training, technology and access to Zenefits advisers to learn about “collaboration from sales to implementation, enrollment to renewal,” according to Zenefits.
The new four members are focused on the needs of their clients, which were once “reactive,” according to Colin Rogers, senior vice president and general manager for benefits solutions of Zenefits.
“This is turning that paradigm from defensive to the offensive with technology,” he says. “They are saying this is something that we can proactively use to differentiate and help our clients.”
For The Horton Group, an Orland Park, Illinois-based insurance and benefit brokerage with more than 400 employees in 13 offices in the Midwest, being a member of Zenefits’ CBP allows them deliver an array of technology to clients.
“Our customers recognize the importance of delivering strategic counsel, broad options and easy access to their employees across HR, benefits and payroll,” says Ken Olson, president of The Horton Groups’ Benefits Solutions. “We chose to pair our consultative brokering insights with Zenefits’ unique Ben Connect and People Platform technology, to help our small and mid-sized customers easily connect, deliver, track and manage the options that matter to their teams.”
Client demand for technology is growing — and it’s not just coming from Generation Z and millennial workers, says NFP’s Rieder.
“Walk through any airport and you see people of every age group on their mobile phones,” he says. “They all expect better technology.”
