What’s New In the 2021 PlanSource Nova Release 

Gearing up our software for a fast-paced year full of industry-advancing enhancements, the first release for our benefit’s technology platform dropped on March 11, 2021 and paves the way for truly incredible tools that benefit our users. For the full Release recap, check out our Nova Release webpage where you’ll find a breakdown of all the new features in Nova plus an on-demand preview webinar with our Product Team. Or keep scrolling for the epic cliff notes version.  

Introduction of the ‘PlanSourceIQ’ suite through Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning 

Our aim for 2021 is to make our SaaS a hyper-personalized experience for our end users, and in doing so, mitigate the ‘time-drain’ many HR professionals experience around benefits selections and education. For this, we’ve spent much of last year working with a team of data scientists as well as AI/ML engineers to create a vastly personalized and ultra HR-efficient suite of products to help with benefits enrollment season. The first two creations for our ‘PlanSourceIQ’ suite are ‘DecisionIQ’ and ‘DependentIQ’. 

DecisionIQ 

We’ve heard your feedback and we’ve listened: you all wanted accessible and accurate decision support during the open enrollment process, and DecisionIQ delivers in a big way. Choosing the right benefits to match your lifestyle is an incredibly hard decision, and with average users spending just 18 minutes on these crucial life choices each year, it’s important to have the tools to make the right ones.  

“DecisionIQ allows employees to receive optimized, personalized guidance for all types of benefits, allowing them to make selections for their lifestyle with confidence.” – Srini Venkatramani, Chief Product and Technology Officer, PlanSource 

Partnering with a big data firm to ensure the information our AI pulls from is vast, crisp, and accurate, the goal of DecisionIQ is to provide employees with suggested benefits based on what their employer is offering. The tool does this by pulling Machine-Learning models that use demographic, dependent, eligibility, risk- tolerance and regional cost data to offer hyper personalized suggestions for best-fit plans and coverage amounts. Basically, DecisionIQ matches employees with benefits that most closely fit their lifestyles. This means happier employees, confident selections, and less HR questions for all future open enrollment seasons.

Want more info on how DecisionIQ can work for you? Request it here.

DependentIQ 

The second tech enhancement in our IQ suite is aimed at ensuring data accuracy for your company all year long, while also saving serious time and money. On average, employers end up mistakenly covering 6% of dependents who aren’t actually eligible, which can mean a serious cash loss every year. We’re here to correct that with DependentIQ. Meant to minimize costs and risks, use AI/ML automation to keep it easy on you, and to function in real-time, this enhancement is ready for you to reach out to your PlanSource contact and learn how to take full advantage of its benefits.

Quick version for those of you reading this on your lunch break: 

1) Notification Stage – After a life event, the system will notify employees what documentation they need to upload. 

2) Documentation ease – an employee can then take a picture of the needed document and upload it to our software easily from their phone. (super mobile friendly) 

3) Auto-verification – Our AI then scans the document for details and stores the info in our system or requests more information from an employee when it’s needed. (That’s right HR professionals, you won’t need to pour over poorly scanned or nearly illegible documents anymore). 

4) Updates/Tracking – The employee is notified immediately when their documentation is approved. (HR can also step in at any time to review documents as they desire if exceptions are needed). 

With DependentIQ, the cost and time savings can be incredible, as our research for early adopters has shown that the AI/ML utilized for this enhancement is providing instant results for users and eliminating around 70% of HR intervention.  

So, when you’re looking for next–level HR efficiency and cost savings, check out more about how to integrate DependentIQ into your system by following this link. You’ll be glad you did!

(seriously though, we’re nerding out on this specific enhancement because it rocks that much). 

Faster Annual Benefits Renewal 

We’re putting more power into your hands with the Nova release by giving you the ability to edit ‘Plan Content’ and ‘Plan Content Details’ through our Guided Renewal tool and the Guided Launch Workflow. Basically, you’ll be able to save tons of time by being able to make necessary system information changes without having to submit a support ticket to have the crucial informational changes entered for you.  

“The power is YOURS.” – Captain Planet 

The functionality has been brought into the platform in a user–friendly way, so you’ll be able to navigate the information with ease, while also seeing how exactly how it displays for the employer experience. This gives you the ability to fine tune your benefit systems exactly the way you need, without having to rely on outside support (unless you need it, because, we’ve still got your back.)  

PlanSource Boost – Aiming for seamless employee experiences 

Boost is the rocket fuel to the PlanSource engine – and we’re always eager to top that engine off with the good stuff it needs. Boost is always being built better and stronger, and while you can find all the goodness culminating from previous updates here, the two new enhancements we’re highlighting for this release are for our customers with Aflac and/or MetLife products.  

Aflac EOI Single Sign On 

EOI SSO sounds like acronym soup (it is!), but it’s also super exciting because it gives users exactly they want from a benefits experience: speed!  

With this new Aflac API, employees will be able to easily access and complete their EOI form online, directly within their benefits shopping experience in PlanSource. After they complete the EOI form, it’s instantly and automatically sent to Aflac for approval; and that’s the true meaning of speed. That’s right, the PlanSource bus is NOT dropping under 55 mph anytime soon, and we completely apologize if you don’t get that 90’s movie reference. (We love you Keanu!).  

MetLife Portal SSO 

Similar theme for MetLife as with Aflac – we’re creating more ease of use for your employees, and Boost continues to take it to the next level. This update for MetLife will allow employees to access their specific MetLife ‘MyBenefits Portal’ right from the PlanSource benefits platform without having to remember another login. This provides easy access to MetLife member information and resources such as ID cards, claims support, provider directories and more. We’re working hard as we continue to make PlanSource the place you go for all things benefits related.  

Want to Learn More? 

We’re excited to start this year out with a bang. For more details on the awesome enhancements we summarized above, check out our Nova Release Page for a recap of the webinar and technical notes if you want to do a deep dive on these game-changing enhancements.  

Not rocking this PlanSource software to its full potential at your company yet? We’d love to get you there!  Schedule a product demo with our team today or we’ll see you next quarter where we’ll continue to tease tantalizing new updates with our ‘HALO’ release, coming June 10, 2021.