Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company's new Web-based Harmony enrollment system was designed to help businesses address concerns regarding benefits enrollment management, including such issues as:

o Employees do not understand their benefits and don't realize the value of what their employer provides.

o Health plan changes that must be communicated to all employees.

o A handful of employees who are located in remote locations.

o Their strapped human resources department doesn't have enough staff or resources to conduct the enrollment.

"Advances in enrollment technology make it easier for employers to get their arms around their enrollment issues," says Henry Price, senior vice president of customer acquisition services for Colonial Life.

"For example, because the Harmony enrollment system is Web based, the employer can get daily reports on enrollment progress. It also offers offline options when Internet connectivity may be an issue for an employer."

In today's business environment, companies aren't all neatly packaged in one location with in-house employees, Price points out. "You can't take a one-size-fits-all approach to enrolling your employees," he says.

The Harmony system tracks enrollments through a reporting dashboard that provides daily information on all aspects of the enrollment, explains Price.

"The system uses Excel for data management, so it's easy to get employee data into the system and to transfer employee elections back to the employer's payroll area," he adds. Harmony has an online, centralized database that's secure, encrypted, and uses unique employee user IDs and passwords.

"The goal is to help businesses better manage enrollments from start to finish," says Price.

Colonial Life, which is based in Columbia, S.C., recently was honored by the Columbia Chamber of Commerce for its development of the Harmony system. The chamber presented Colonial Life with the Palmetto Pillar Award for technology in industry.

Stan Dowd, Colonial Life's vice president of information technology, accepted the award on behalf of the carrier at the award ceremony. "With Harmony, we can help employers across the nation build a more loyal and satisfied workplace and, ultimately, a stronger business," Dowd said.

"We've made a significant investment in developing enrollment technology that enhances the benefits education and enrollment experience for employers and employees nationwide," Dowd continued. "We are grateful to the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce for recognizing the value that technology brings to our industry."

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