Benefits administration platforms’ (BenAdmins) sales, operations, and product teams have a ton to think about these days:
How do we become a year-round benefits destination for employees?
How do we take advantage of the growing popularity of voluntary benefits?
How do we ensure our employee experience is a competitive differentiator?
One topic that is all too often overlooked: carrier connectivity. On one hand, carrier connectivity has become table stakes — after all, doesn’t every BenAdmin platform communicate enrollments and member changes to carriers digitally, mostly via EDI feeds?
Yes, but leading BenAdmins view carrier connectivity as much more than a technical requirement: done correctly, it’s a competitive advantage, enabling scalability, efficient operations, and a fast, accurate enrollment experience.
In the benefits industry, “fast” and “scalable” are rarely used to describe group setup and implementation. We know from speaking with our customers that it takes most BenAdmins 8-12 weeks — and often longer — to build typical BenAdmin-to-carrier EDI feeds. But that’s all changing now. We’ve seen several platforms reduce their group setup timeline to as few as five days.
The obvious question: How are BenAdmins reducing group setup to days, instead of months?
The answer lies in a new way of managing carrier connections, a strategic decision to partner with companies that specialize in exchanging enrollment data between BenAdmins and carriers.
The results for BenAdmins speak for themselves:
Group setup completed in five days
The ability to send enrollment data in a consistent format
Elimination of several manual steps that typically prolong EDI implementation
At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… Kevin Montgomery, our Customer Success Manager, InsurTech!
Name: Kevin Montgomery Department: Solutions Delivery Title: Customer Success Manager, InsurTech Location: Fairfax, Virginia
Work
How long have you worked at Ideon?
A year and two months.
Tell us about your day-to-day.
The exciting part about this role is that each day is different from the last. I am constantly working with customers and finding ways to improve their experience with Ideon. Each day consists of coordinating with different teams, from sales to operations to marketing.
What projects are you excited to work on?
Our enrollment and member management solutions! When I joined Ideon I worked primarily with our Quoting and Decision Support products and loved being part of the progress we made with those. I’m excited to dive in and help drive growth and adoption for our enrollment solution now as well. It’s such a critical stage of the member journey and there are so many possibilities – I am excited to see what we accomplish.
What excites you about the future of Ideon?
I am really excited about Ideon’s growth. Over the last two years I’ve been privileged to witness the company expand from 40 employees to over 100! Seeing that growth is motivating, inspiring, and it’s a big part of why I’ve enjoyed my time at Ideon.
What attracted you to Ideon’s mission?
Coming from a benefits administration platform before Ideon, I have seen a lot of inefficiencies and problems with the health insurance industry. There is A LOT of work that can be done to make the entire process of quoting, enrolling, and utilization of health insurance easier and more efficient. It is exciting that Ideon’s goal is to push the insurance industry into a more tech-forward space, and I am proud to be a part of that journey.
Life
Favorite activity when you’re not working?
Watching and playing soccer! I am a huge Liverpool FC fan and I also play in a casual league with my friends.
Favorite place you’ve traveled?
Paris, France. Amazing food, wine, and history.
Interesting fact about yourself… Go!
Growing up, I was a really big Washington Capitals fan. I have a signed hockey puck and picture of Adam Oates and Peter Bondra!
At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… Tyler Henn, our Quality Assurance Coordinator!
Name: Tyler Henn Department: Data Ops Title: Quality Assurance Coordinator! Location: New York
Work
How long have you worked at Ideon?
Two and a half years.
Tell us about your day-to-day.
My day-to-day involves a lot of quality checks on our data — ensuring everything is the way it is supposed to be. I also work on automating our validation checks and coming up with new ideas to further improve our data accuracy.
How have you grown professionally while on our team?
This is my first full-time job, so I have grown quite a bit over the years. All of my co-workers at Ideon have helped to shape me with a focus on being professional and respectful of everyone I work with. They always push me to do better and come up with new ideas to further exceed our goals.
What excites you about the future of Ideon?
I am really excited about Ideon’s growth. Over the last two years I’ve been privileged to witness the company expand from 40 employees to over 100! Seeing that growth is motivating, inspiring, and it’s a big part of why I’ve enjoyed my time at Ideon.
What do you like about Ideon’s company culture?
I love the overall atmosphere of my team and the company as a whole. Everyone is super supportive and I think Ideon really pushes to make sure that our company culture is welcoming and enjoyable.
Life
Favorite activity when you’re not working?
I love to play the board game Catan! And I have found a new obsession with Reality TV.
Favorite place you’ve traveled?
My favorite place I have traveled to would definitely have to be France.
Interesting fact about yourself… Go!
I can’t think of anything, so I am just going to go with the generic response – I am left handed!
Welcome to the second episode of Ideon Insights, our monthly interview series featuring thought leaders and innovators driving the benefits industry forward. In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Elek Pew, Head of Digital Partnerships at Beam Benefits, an ancillary benefits provider known for its innovation and digital-first approach.
In this Q&A, Elek provides insights into the evolution of the benefits technology ecosystem and the unique advantages that come with being a digitally native carrier. He also delves into how Ideon complements and enhances Beam’s digital distribution strategy, enabling seamless integration and collaboration within the industry.
For Elek’s complete thoughts on digital distribution, partnership strategy, and more, watch the video here.
Below we’ve highlighted six key moments from the conversation.
IDEON: How has the transformation of benefits technology informed your distribution strategy?
ELEK PEW: Technology is really at the forefront of everything today. Efficiency is king, especially in the small group market. We see that brokers care most about being really quick and efficient, so we pride ourselves on meeting those distributors where they are — whether that’s XYZ quoting or enrollment platform, or Beam’s own digital tools.
If they use a third-party system to quote business, we’ll find a way to integrate with that platform whether it’s through Ideon or directly. We’ll meet them where they are.
The benefits ecosystem is getting more complex. How do you choose the right partners?
There are a few things we think about when it comes to partnership strategy.
Do we potentially have access into a limited marketplace, where Beam is one of three or four benefits providers?
What does the partner’s technology stack look like in terms of their ability to integrate? If a new partner comes to us and says, “we’re already integrated to Ideon” — that’s great for us. We know there’s not a ton of work to activate that new partner, compared to a net-new direct connection.
How do they think about API connectivity? Are we living in a file-based world? We’ll meet people where they are, but that’s definitely something we think about.
Are they willing to offer all of our product lines? Beam was historically a dental-first company, but now we’re focused on Beam as an ancillary benefits provider.
How does Ideon fit into your distribution strategy?
We definitely see the value in the partnership with Ideon from a middleware standpoint. As Beam has transitioned from Beam Dental to Beam Benefits — bringing on voluntary life, accident, hospital, and critical illness — our ability to turn those products on through one connection to multiple players in the ecosystem is game-changing. It’s a powerful thing that we want to continue to invest in.
We’ll connect to third-party platforms directly if that’s their preferred method, but we’ll meet folks where they are. Some will say, “we want to connect through Ideon,” and we’re more than happy to make that happen. It makes our jobs a lot easier knowing we have a trusted player in the middle, ensuring that our data is presented accurately and the data Beam gets back is in top fashion.
What are the advantages of being a newer, tech-focused benefits carrier?
Beam is well positioned in the market because, at our core, we’re a digitally native company. The idea of exposing our core functionality—enrollment, admin, quoting, etc.— and embedding our products into the benefits ecosystem really is inherent in how Beam has built core capabilities.
We’re able to go to market really quickly with new platform integrations because we’ve built our systems with the concept of exposability in mind. Now that the market is moving to third-party platforms, we’re well positioned to be able to connect and meet distributors where they are in the marketplace.
Why are rating APIs valuable for Beam and brokers?
Without a rating API, rates could only change once per quarter and it didn’t allow for customization — rates were prepackaged.
With a rating API like the one we’re building with Ideon, we’re able to take in real-time census information and generate a rate based on that specific employee population. We’re able to arrive at much sharper rates because we have more information about the group. It also enables our back office operations to be more efficient because we receive information about the group from that initial employee census.
With an API, we know it will only return rates and plans where Beam will 100% be able to offer the plan — rates are always bindable.
What’s a benefits technology trend you’re excited about over the next few years?
Instantaneous policy issuance — Beam is moving there, and I think the benefits industry overall will move that way, following in the footsteps of the P&C space. The group installation process is still painfully manual today.
The industry has made a lot of progress in terms of carriers accepting enrollment information from platforms and loading it into carrier systems, and we’re seeing instantaneous quoting making its way to the market with rating APIs. The next step is to bridge the gap between the two — take a quoted product, win it, turn it into a bindable policy, then have it ready for employees to enroll in coverage. That experience — quote to bind to enroll — we’re now seeing the foundation that will allow us to get there.
Stay tuned for new episodes of Ideon Insights each month. Subscribe to our newsletter below to stay in-the-know about Ideon and receive our latest content directly to your inbox.
At Ideon, we’re proud to have such a talented, diverse team leading the charge for a better and more connected health insurance and employee benefits industry. Our ongoing Employee Spotlight series showcases the people behind our product and unveils what life is like at Ideon. Next up… John Emge, our SVP of Carrier Sales!
Name: John Emge Department: Carrier Sales Title: Senior Vice President of Carrier Sales Location: South Carolina
Work
How long have you worked at Ideon?
I have been part of the Ideon team for one incredibly exciting year.
How have you grown professionally while on our team?
While I had been in the benefits technology industry for thirteen years prior to joining Ideon, I have grown in my understanding and appreciation of the various stakeholders in the benefits market (carriers, insurtechs, brokers, employers). I have learned that while they all acknowledge the need for improved data quality and data integrations in order to operate effectively and serve the members, each stakeholder has their own unique capacity and priorities.
My current focus is on actively listening to the market to understand how Ideon can best empower carriers and platforms at the crossroads of their data and business strategies. By doing so, we’ll drive meaningful and positive change in the industry.
What excites you about the future of Ideon?
We are helping solve problems in our industry — efficiently. When we meet with carriers and platforms, I clearly see our joint path ahead and our mutual desire to work to transform our industry through improved data management.
What do you like about Ideon’s company culture?
I really like our leadership — and I don’t just mean our executive team. Leadership is every member of the team who wakes up and approaches each day with an attitude of “how can I make a positive difference for our team today?” and “how can I contribute to supporting others in their objectives today?” “How can I help drive this company forward in our mission?” I consider myself very fortunate to work as part of a team in which this is the dominant mindset.
What attracted you to Ideon’s mission?
It’s simple: I believe that Ideon is going to help drive positive change with our partners. Benefits is an enormous industry, but what it is really about is families having the coverage they need, when they need it, for their health and financial protection. When they go to the hospital on that unexpected night, it needs to be there. For that to happen, all of the steps in the process must occur from quote, to card, to access, to claim. Whether that process functions correctly for that family is driven by data flow and data quality. Our industry has, for too long, accepted integration projects that take a year or more for point solutions and it has institutionalized post-impact data clean up or manual data entry that causes errors. We are helping to create a better way.
Life
Favorite activity when you’re not working?
I love traveling, camping, and backpacking with my family.
Favorite place you’ve traveled?
Southern tip of Patagonia in Chile while backpacking. It is so remote and beautiful. It is rugged and peaceful at the same time. The people that we met on the trail were wonderful. They had all made a hard personal effort and choice to be there and that makes a difference in a lot of ways – and not just on the trail.
Interesting fact about yourself… Go!
I enjoy scuba diving and searching for megalodon teeth and fossils that are 3.6M to 20M+ years old. When I was a kid, I developed an early interest in archeology (King Tut was all the rage) so that and enjoying scuba diving is likely where it comes from.
Welcome to the first installment of Ideon Insights, a new monthly interview series featuring thought leaders and innovators driving the benefits industry forward. In our first episode, we sat down with one of our technology partners, Lyle Griffin, president of Selerix, a leading benefits administration solution for brokers, employers, and carriers.
In this Q&A, Lyle shares his thoughts on the LIMRA Data Exchange (LDEx) standards, how the industry can facilitate more LDEx adoption, and how benefits data exchange will evolve over the next few years. Selerix and Ideon are both members of the Data Exchange Standards Committee tasked with developing the LDEx standards for the workplace benefits industry.
For Lyle’s complete thoughts on all-things LDEx, APIs, and data connectivity, watch the video here.
Below we’ve highlighted five key moments from the conversation.
IDEON: What’s the current state of LDEx adoption?
LYLE GRIFFIN, SELERIX: There are probably a dozen or so carriers that have stepped up and implemented LDEx in a really robust way. We’ve also been pleasantly surprised at the number of technology platforms that have been involved in developing the standard. That dialog between platforms and carriers is something that has been very refreshing.
What are the benefits of LDEx?
One, is just the speed of implementation, being able to set up your data connections quickly. Knowing that they’ll work as advertised is also very important.
As we move to API engagements, you’re really going to see the benefits. If we can move to something where we’re exchanging data in real-time, or as close to real-time as possible, the benefits back to the client or end-user are incredible.
Why is Selerix an advocate for data standards?
We’ve been very committed to implementing the standards since Day 1. What my team is telling me — the people who set up EDI connections with carriers — they’ve been very adamant that LDEx is good for them. They like it any time they can engage with people using the standard because it’s a concise way to start that dialog with the carrier. Having a common language really helps expedite the process.
How does Ideon help carriers and technology platforms use the LDEx format?
One of the most important things that [Ideon] brings to the table, is a fully formed view of how that data exchange ecosystem should work. Having a robust way to work with people on error resolution, initial engagement, data intake, being able to connect with an API or by exchanging files — I can see where this would be a very attractive proposition, not to have to build all of your business processes from scratch to take advantage of what a company like Ideon has to offer.
What’s the future of data exchange in the benefits industry?
In the long run, I think everyone’s vision is one of an interconnected ecosystem, an interconnected market, where trading partners exchange data more frequently and much more reliably than they do today. That’s what this is all about. As an industry, we’re still talking about this stuff, we’re still working on these challenges. So I think it’s going to take a while to realize that vision.
Stay tuned for new episodes of Ideon Insights each month. Subscribe to our newsletter below to stay in-the-know about Ideon and receive our latest content directly to your inbox.
