John Lamb

Strategic partnerships come in all shapes and sizes. They can run the range from partnering on service offerings to joint marketing programs, but sometimes they involve technology. And when they do, you want to make sure that your partner's technology is aligned with your market strategy and the technology needs of your clients today and in the future.

In February of 2010, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, mandates made business associates accountable for the HIPAA security standards that apply to health plans and health care providers. The expanded definition of "business associates" clearly includes brokers and agents. HIPAA, meanwhile, came about in 1996 as the initial attempt to address the growing concern over the protection of medical records

Just when you thought you understood hosted solutions and software-as-a-service, the technology industry has moved on to cloud computing. Over the last two years there have been all kinds of announcements of cloud computing companies with a wide variety of capabilities, the most notable being Apple's announcement in May of its iCloud offering.

The downswing in the economy over the last several years has hit HR personnel hard. A recent Aberdeen Group study shows that both line of business managers and even HR managers themselves see HR as less aligned with the strategic needs of their business and overly tactical in practice. So, you want to be a rising star and adviser? Then work with your HR clients and help them change this trend.

States are looking at different models for their Health Insurance Exchanges, or HIXs. Given that each state will adopt its own approach to HIX implementation, we potentially could end up with 50 different models.

The clock is ticking. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges are targeted to come online in 2014, which means open enrollment must begin in the fall of 2013. Every state is determining its approach, and everyone in the industry is strategizing on how to tap into a projected market of 25 million enrollees by 2016. The states will take different approaches, but the common denominator is technology. This month we'll look at how technology will be utilized in exchanges and identify other corresponding services that will be necessary to make the exchanges a success.

Wellness programs and solutions providers have been around for a while and are continually evolving based on both successes and failures and the continually changing market landscape. The most recent market impact, of course, is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and it continues to loom large. Many of the national, commercial and local brokers we work with each day are deploying wellness solutions as part of their expansion of services. Brokers are on the front lines when it comes to wellness. Many are making use of social business software capabilities to help employees collaborate and participate.

Thorough knowledge of this HR necessity will set you apart as a benefits administration partner for your clients.

Last month we looked at onboarding new employees. In many respects offboarding mirrors onboarding, essentially "undoing" employee onboarding tasks. Because of this, leading onboarding vendors offer tools to manage both processes. However, the offboarding process is different enough to warrant a deeper look. The uniqueness arises out of the fact that, regardless of the circumstances, offboarding is a "good-bye"- the end of a relationship, which is much different than the "hello" welcoming new employees.

The phrase most commonly used to introduce the concept of new employee onboarding is probably, "You only get one chance to make a first impression."

More than a year later and the impact of health care reform continues to be debated. Some features have been implemented and the regulatory definitions continue even with the uncertainty of potential legislative changes. It's murky at best. One thing is clear: The broker world is changing and a consulting-oriented approach seems the best course. Now is a great time for brokers to expand their assistance to employer groups and provide expertise and technology on health care cost transparency - with the ultimate benefit being the reduction of health care spend.

The social business software market is evolving rapidly, and so are the language and features of the category.

The cover story of this month's issue of Employee Benefit Adviser provides insight into how brokers can make innovative use of social software in their practices. Understanding the use of social software technology in the workplace is complicated because it is a broad and evolving category and the vendors competing in this space are coming from different perspectives and areas of expertise.

Communication portals for employees have been the mainstay of benefits communication for the past decade. Increasingly though, brokers are finding that communication solutions focused on benefits alone are being subsumed by corporate intranets.

Adopting Single Sign On can improve security, reduce overhead and empower employees

With the advent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and growing government intervention into the benefits industry, the consensus among industry experts is that becoming a trusted adviser and HR compliance consultant is the future role of successful brokers. More than ever before, clients will need expert advice and counsel - an invaluable resource to help HR with their benefits-oriented decisionmaking.