As the Internet evolves, ASP´s are becoming more finely tuned to meet customers´ needs and interests. Currently, the Internet is being used as a facilitator of communication to cross global barriers and as a provider of resources that were not accessible to a wide population. However, as this evolution occurs, we will see a trend where companies will improve their offerings by, not only continuing to connect once-distant parties with resources, but also by educating users on what these resources mean to them, and how to effectively use them.
Enwisen is a company whose efforts focus on just that: educating users while providing them with the tools they need to make the best decisions. Enwisen´s online benefits and communication management system is, what I would consider, part education tool, part online benefits enrollment, part HRIS. Their new ASP interface, the Employee Resource Center, was launched about 3 months ago, and has been met with wide success. In 1997, the Employee Resource Center was awarded the "Top Ten New Employee Benefit Award" by the Human Resource Executive Magazine.
This review focuses on the features and offerings of Enwisen´s Employee Resource Center and shows how their "education tool" is a boon to both employees and employers.
The ERC is "Enwisen''s exclusive interactive, Internet-based HR administration system" that assists employees in making the important decisions about their family, finances, and health.
The ERC offers tools that can assist both employees, through providing actual decision making tools, and employers, through providing a powerful information management tool.
From Enwisen´s site, they state that the ERC uses a Plan Library that connects employees to their personalized benefits information. This Plan Library is the real key to their employee "education" and connecting them to the specific benefits providers of their choice. Using a wizard-like, step-by-step, question-answer format that is designed in conjunction with Enwisen, Plan Providers, and Third Party Administrators, the ERC provides the best questions and answers to specific plans for your employees. (To get a more detailed preview of the ERC, see below for Demonstration)
Internet Connection,
3.02 Internet browser or better
If a company wants to limit outside Internet access, it can configure its firewall to allow employees access only to the Enwisen central server.
The first step in the design stage is defining a company´s needs.
The second is to gather the employee benefit information necessary to develop the Plan Guides. The bulk of the set up work is between Enwisen, your company´s brokers, insurance carriers, and third party administrators in order to design your company´s Plan Guides.
There is a one time set up fee based on the complexity of the benefit plans and the number of employees.
There is also a monthly subscription fee based on the number of employees ranging from $5.00 down to $1.00 per employee.
Demonstration
During the short guided tour, I discovered that due to the popular success of Yahoo!, Enwisen has also decided to simulate Yahoo!´s user-friendly and intuitive interface. (Yahoo! also happens to be a client and partner of Enwisen.) I highly recommend that if you´re interested in taking a look at Enwisen, that you also take the 15-20 minutes to go through a guided tour. After that, you can get a user id and password to login and peruse the ERC on your own. However, only after the guided tour can you really see the innovation and unique design that Enwisen offers.
Let´s take a look at Enwisen´s interface...
There´s a friendly feel to Enwisen´s home page, fun icons, neutral colors. Considering this is what employees will see when they log in, it´s important that users get a good feeling every time they use the ERC.
The home page is divided into three main vertical sections:
1) Education and Enrollment
2) The user´s main information section, i.e. My Benefits, My Life, Company Info, My Info
3) Company Announcements and general communications section, i.e. My Inbox
The central functions are constant throughout each page on the site and include:
So, if users ever get lost amidst the all the information, they can easily find their way back to the home page without getting frustrated. Another great thing about the design of the interface is that half of the screen provides the user-selected information, while the other half, provides an overall outline and organization surrounding the information the user has selected. Users don´t have to switch screens to get to a new set of information, they simply make a new selection on the left hand nav bar, and the right hand screen and information will change.
The strength of the ERC lies in the fact that they provide employees with the information that they need to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. I know, you´ve heard this a million times before, but Enwisen is different in that they present the questions that employees would ask and then provide answers for them.
For example, let´s say an employee knows that their company offers different types of medical benefit plans being offered through Health Maintenance Organization (HMO´s) and Preferred Provider Organization (PPO´s). That´s great, but how would that employee make the final decision about which medical plan to select and what plans would be best for their families?
Enwisen´s ERC answers each question step-by-step, not only educating the employee on what the differences are between HMO´s and PPO´s but specifically answers your employees´ questions to help them make the best decisions specifically tailored to their needs and wants. Here is a partial example of how the ERC works...
The ERC defines "Who you are",
§ i.e. single, young employee
§ A family with young children
§ An employee with chronic health problems
§ An individual who already has benefits coverage
§ And several others
After this definition, the ERC tells you specific things, according to your "who am I" definition that you should keep in mind when choosing a plan. For example, if you are from a family with young children, ERC reminds you that the common expenses will be child-related and therefore, describes what type of plan is best suited for frequent child care visits and immunizations.
Another section looks at "What is important to me" and outlines:
Enwisen also removes New Hire Orientation from the hiring manager or the HR department. A screen-by-screen guide with company-specified information is provided to help new employees or new users of the ERC comfortable with company policies through the ERC interface.
I hope from this description you can really see that what differentiates Enwisen from other online benefits ASP´s is the effort they have put into making your employee more knowledgeable about what your company can provide and how they can use this knowledge to put themselves at an advantage. Enwisen doesn´t simply connect employees to the benefit plans, they educate employees on how to make the best selections for themselves.
The remainder of the ERC is follows a similar design and instructs employees on what to consider when going through "life events" such as marriage, the birth of a baby, death of a spouse, planning for college, renting an apartment, etc.
A checklist is provided for each of these life events so that employees ensure that when these changes take place, they don´t have to worry about:
If a user has selected a life event, all the information is provided on what to remember and how to go about making the best decisions.
Employers will be interested in knowing there is a section on the site to post company-specific information such as employee handbooks, or a company policy manual. As well, there is a separate screen for managers and HR administrators, similarly designed to the Employee interface, to log in to update or edit employee information.
This review has focused mainly on showing how Enwisen´s ERC offers a unique solution to online benefits provision through the education and extension of knowledge to both employees and employers. I believe this educational tool to be a great innovation to the development and evolution of how companies are further using the Internet beyond simple connectivity and information dissemination. If you´re looking for an online benefits solution, take the time to check out Enwisen. (see below for company contact information.)
From Enwisen´s website,
Founded by human resources and benefits professionals in 1994, Enwisen is the industry leader in online employee benefits communication. Our products meet the needs of both employers and employees - reducing demands on human resource departments and providing easy-to-understand benefits information.
Our team transforms a company´s HR booklets, forms, and disparate information into an organized, self-service web site available on the employee´s desktop. Our product, the Employee Resource CenterTM, is a versatile, online human resources department, using a central server accessible through the Internet.
7110 Redwood Blvd.
Suite C
Novato, California 94945
Telephone: 415.897.0728
www.enwisen.com
Facsimile: 415.897.3863