In today’s business world getting your message out is both easier and more difficult. With the internet, Smartphones, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, and more, it is really easy to publish your message for the world to see. You type, hit a button, and it is available to the world. In that sense it is easy to get your message out. It also easier for your competitors to get their message out. The hard part is getting anyone to listen and getting someone to find your message in a world of information overload. Whether you like it or not you have to play the game. If you don’t spread your message and define yourself others will and not always in the way you want. When that happens you will have to respond. Just look at the “noise” created during a Presidential campaign. The candidates spend as much time trying to define or label their opponent as they do defining themselves.
That gets me to the purpose of this article. I am about to launch a marketing campaign that I know will be misinterpreted by the market. Maybe saying misinterpreted is the wrong word because those who directly hear my message will more likely understand what my message is. What I do anticipate is that there will be noise created by others who do not hear my message that will misrepresent my message in the market. Some simply don’t want to take the time to listen and others may have their own agenda. This article is intended to clearly state my message for those that want to understand my position as it relates to this issue with ADP.
My firm, HR Technology Advisor (HRT), is launching a big marketing campaign highlighting how employee benefits brokers can leverage ADP to deliver a Private Exchange or Defined Contribution plan to the employer market. This concerns brokers because many see ADP as a competitor. Other technology firms who we do business with will not like it because ADP is a big competitor to them and I am promoting an idea based on a competitor. To many brokers, payroll companies, and HR and Benefits Technology vendors, ADP is arch-enemy number 1. As a consultant to benefits brokers and by extension an objective advisor to their clients when choosing technology, this “perceived” favoritism to ADP may not sit well. The key word is perceived. Let me get into the details.
At a high-level some people don’t understand the core purpose of my (our- Don Rowe is my partner) company, HR Technology Advisors. HRT is first and foremost a consultant to benefits brokers. Our job is to help benefits brokers understand how technology is impacting their business; how it will impact their clients HR and Benefits; know who the players are; and help position their firm competitively in the market. And then, as a paid representative of the brokers firm, we assist the brokers with direct client and prospect situations where we help them advise their clients on HR and Benefits technology and sometimes help them get prospects by participating in prospect presentations.
This is where ADP comes in. According to our statistics at HRT, employers are predominantly looking for technology that includes either HR and Benefits functionality or HR, Benefits, and Payroll in a single platform. Many have heard me say employers don’t want one system to track vacation days, sick days, and performance reviews; another to track benefits and enroll employees; and a third to process payroll. In fact, in 2013, close to 90% of the employers we assisted wanted a system that included HR and Benefits or HR-Benefits-Payroll all in one. And according to a recent market survey we did, ADP has a 46% market share of those employers using technology for Benefits Enrollment. Paychex was second with 29% and the next closest was 7%. So whether a broker likes ADP or not the majority of any brokers’ clients are going to be using ADP as a tool to manage their benefits. It is not a broker’s choice as to what technology an employer wants to use to manage their HR-Benefits-Payroll. It is also not our choice at HR Technology Advisors. As a consultant to employers we work with ADP more than any other company because they have the largest market share. I equate this to the average benefits broker who may work with their local Blue Cross plan more than any other insurance company. They do so because in most markets Blue Cross has more than 50% market share. That does not mean the broker is solely a representative of Blue Cross nor are we only a representative of ADP.
As a consultant to brokers we use this knowledge to help our broker clients position their firm more competitively. While many brokers are running from ADP because they think they are a competitor (We addressed this in an article written in 2009 titled, “ADP – Friend or Foe” – download at www.joemarkland.wordpress.com ) we understand the value that brokers can bring their clients by having a service model to support those clients that have ADP or want ADP. Trust me, many clients need help with their technology and most brokers aren’t delivering the help. Here are a few questions I have asked brokers.
– Have you ever helped your client test their ADP Benefits Enrollment System for accuracy?
– Have you ever analyzed the pages employees would be accessing when enrolling in their benefits and see how well the benefits information is presented?
– Have you ever uploaded a 2 minute video on the ADP platform that explains to an employee what Critical Illness Insurance is?
I have never had a broker answer yes to all of these questions. Helping clients with ADP is a service clients will value.
Now in 2013 Private Exchanges hit the market. Many brokers scrambled to sign-up with some benefits only technology vendors. At the same time we continue to engage clients who repeatedly tell us they want HR-Benefits-Payroll in one system. I found this conflict between what brokers were delivering and what clients wanting to be very interesting so I wrote an article titled “An Alternative Approach to Private Exchanges” (also on my blog) and held webinars with the same title. In my article and on my webinar I predicted that ADP will be the largest Private Exchange technology vendor within 2 years. Not because I am going to make them but simply because more employers are using their system to manage their benefits than any other platform. So, as a consultant to brokers and employers I have helped employers figure out how to use their current ADP platform as a Private Exchange of Defined Contribution plan. Why? Because that is what employers wanted. They did not want to use another system simply to provide their employees with more medical options in a Private Exchange. So we worked hard with ADP to develop a model using third-party technologies, content from insurance companies, and internal programming resources to help employers leverage their ADP system as a Private Exchange. My marketing campaign is designed to bring our methodologies and message to the market so that employers can get what they want and the brokers that deliver this solution a competitive advantage.
I want to finish this by addressing the other technology vendors we have worked with at HRT. As I have stated we represent the brokers interest and by extension their clients. We have sold and implemented solutions from many vendors and there are many great solutions in the market. Yes, ADP has 46% market share, but they don’t have the other 54%. That being said I had one vendor ask me why I am doing this with ADP and not them. My simple response is because nobody asked. If a HR-Benefits Technology vendor does not offer the ability to administer a Private Exchange simply ask and I will show you how.
JOE MARKLAND 