Tech

Thomson Reuters, a major vendor of business intelligence services and technology spanning multiple industries, intends to divest its health care operations.

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.

It wasn't long after Rick McKinley got his start as a benefits broker that he encountered one of his biggest frustrations in the business: data overload.

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.

Despite the drive to make all things digital during the 2010 open enrollment season, employers didn’t turn away from good-old fashioned face-to-face meetings. Also, complying with the first phase of the health law was a breeze.

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.

David Marom saw a need in the benefits marketplace, and he's using two decades worth of industry experience to meet it. This quarter, Marom Tech launches its Benefits Analysis Reporting application to help benefit advisers and consultants meet client needs through five avenues: