Many of our clients and potential clients ask us if our platform, Benefitsolver, is customizable to their requests. The short answer is “yes.” But when we talk about customization, Businessolver means configurability.
“It’s a highly flexible platform that enables us to handle the scenarios that our customers need,” says Tom Pohl, Vice President of IT Systems. “If we had to create a custom site for every customer, we’d have to do a lot of coding” he explains, which is resource-intensive and creates a greater potential for errors. “Developing a custom application for each client would mean using our resources to reinvent the wheel each time,” he explains.
“We have a system so flexible, we cover the gamut of scenarios,” he explains. “And certainly, if a customer has something they want us to add, that we don’t already have, it doesn’t preclude us from doing more customization to extend our functionality even further. If there’s a new rule based on the stage of the moon and the day of the week, we can add that. But usually if one customer wants or needs a feature, it’s something that other customers might want too. And so we’ll add that feature to our existing platform and make it available to all our customers.”
In reality, Pohl says, most “custom” features our clients ask us to do, such as zip code eligibility, age-banded life insurance rates, etc. are already coded in Benefitsolver, and we just need to add it to that client’s set of rules. In fact, everything from page layout to language within each page is configurable for clients. The result is a custom feel for each client without the extra time and cost.
“We did a lot of work to our system upfront,” he says. That early coding has paid significant dividends for Businessolver clients. Implementation timelines and – more importantly – costs are much more controlled, as additional custom coding isn’t required.
“We don’t like to surprise our clients with additional costs,” says President & CEO Jon Shanahan. His words are supported by the facts: less than 0.5 percent of Businessolver’s revenue is derived from change orders. The system’s configurability aligns with the organization’s commitment to delighting each client. “Our clients appreciate the transparency of our fees and the flexibility to manage the system based on their unique needs. It’s a win-win.”
