Technology-backed or Technology-based
What’s your focus?
What do you expect from your broker when offering employee benefits?
Are you looking for a trusted advisor who will offer expert help and service so that you can choose the best benefits for your company? Or are you looking for a way to streamline paperwork and ease the administrative burden on HR? Either way, Southwest Risk Management has your back.
Southwest Risk Management gives you the expert guidance that makes the benefits selection, implementation and analysis process smoother, plus we’re technology-backed and can offer you our HR online tool, HRconnection®, to make the benefits administration process completely painless.
If you’re considering moving your HR tasks to the benefits platform and wrapping health insurance into the deal, you need to take a look at what you’re getting. Benefits can give you HR software, with benefits thrown into the mix, but it is technology-based and technology-focused. You won’t receive the benefits support and personalized, local service that Southwest Risk Management can provide.
The following chart compares what Southwest Risk Management can offer compared to benefits.
| Southwest Risk Management | Zenefits | |
| Industry Focus | Southwest Risk Management is focused on your needs and has the expertise to guide you through the process of choosing the right plans for you. We’re here to answer questions, provide guidance and support your HR needs with our HR tools: HRconnection® and HR Hotline. We’re here to serve you, and we have the personalized service, backed by technology, to help you succeed. | Zenefits is technology-based and focused on providing you with HR software. Once Zenefits lures you in with free basic HR technology, they encourage you to switch to them for your benefits; helping you with benefits is a concern secondary to the software. |
| Local Presence | Southwest Risk Management is located near you, and we’re proud members of this community. We understand what’s happening both locally and nationally, and we understand your business. If you want to communicate on the phone or over email, we’ll respond promptly. We’ll be there to sit down face-to-face and guide you through the benefits selection and strategic planning process. When you need us, we’re here for you. | Zenefits is headquartered in the Silicon Valley in California and in Phoenix, Arizona, and their representatives rarely, if ever, meet with clients. Zenefits lacks a local presence and understanding, and, if you enroll in benefits through it, you forfeit the ability to have personalized, face-to-face meetings to help you achieve your goals. |
| Service | Southwest Risk Management is here for you, and you never have to wonder if you’ll be able to reach someone. When you work with us, you’ll know who you’re talking to, and we bring an understanding of your business and a solid history of past exchanges to each new conversation. We provide consistent, prompt communication and guidance, and we’re ready to serve you. | Zenefits is massive, but its size can be a disadvantage for clients who want to know who they’re talking to and know that they’ll always have context and institutional understanding behind each new question or concern. |
| Pricing Transparency | Southwest Risk Management is upfront with you about costs. If we are ever going to charge you a fee for an added service, we’ll let you know clearly and in a timely manner that enables you to make an informed decision. We promise to never say “free” if we don’t mean free. | Zenefits claims to be free—and it is for its “core features.” However, beyond those basics, clients run into extra costs, including a per employee per month fee for certain features and even a per-employee charge for delaying implementation of core features. |
| Year-round Support | Southwest Risk Management is here for you year-round. Open enrollment is often the most challenging time of the year, but we don’t abandon you the other 11 months of the year. We help you choose the best benefits, guide you through the open enrollment process, run health claims diagnostics and sit down with you to develop strategic plans for lowering costs due to health claims. We understand that benefits are more than just benefits—they’re an important recruitment and retention tool, and choosing the right ones will help you keep your employees happy. We also provide you with compliance information and employee communications so you’re never left to struggle on your own. | Zenefits will automate what it can, but expert insight and advice can’t be obtained from a computer. |
| Content | Southwest Risk Management can provide you with content to meet your and your employees’ needs, and we give you access to MyWave® Connect, a content portal, where you can target the information you need if you want to self-serve. Need help with compliance? Want employee newsletters? Need articles explaining benefits or related topics? Want to start a wellness program? Want to make benefits education fun with short videos for employees? Whatever you’re looking for, we can deliver content customized for you. | Zenefits doesn’t have a content library, employee educational articles, videos or newsletters, or wellness program materials. |
When you choose between Southwest Risk Management and Benefits, consider what makes us different. Are you looking for a trusted advisor who can offer expert help while backed by technology to make the process easier? Or are you looking for a technology-based solution that kicks service and expert help to the curb?Technology-backed or Technology-based?
If you’re looking for a benefits expert who is technology-backed to meet your needs, contact Southwest Risk Management today at 1-866-924-7976 (SWRM).
