Competing with Larger Firms Through HR Connect and Brokerage Builder
Having technology products on hand has helped us. When we go up against a Gallagher or Lockton, they'll show an HR Connection and we can say, 'We have that too.' It makes us competitive as a small group.
BACKGROUND
Dan LaBroad has worked with Zywave for approximately 15 years, since the early days of his benefits brokerage. Ovation Life first adopted HR Connect and Broker Briefcase to move away from manual spreadsheets and disconnected enrollment portals that couldn't hold all the client information the growing agency needed to track.
- Saves producers' time
- Automates cold outreach
- Strong customer support
- Hands-on, responsive Zywave support throughout the pilot
- Collaborative implementation process with active iteration and improvement
- Strong long-term potential with a clear roadmap for continued growth
- Saves producers 10+ hours per week
- Reduces manual prospecting effort
- Potential to generate new business with minimal producer time investment
OPPORTUNITY
As Ovation Life grew and added staff, LaBroad needed a way to centrally track client census data, manage renewals across a growing book of business, and give clients access to up-to-date compliance resources, all without missing renewal deadlines or losing track of documentation across a larger team.
SOLUTION
Ovation Life expanded its use of HR Connect and layered in Brokerage Builder along with a client portal, creating a central system for tracking renewals, storing documents, and managing enrollments. The platform also gave LaBroad's team the ability to build and customize client-facing enrollment sites in-house.
IMPLEMENTATION
Over time, LaBroad's team made full adoption of Brokerage Builder a company-wide priority, training the entire service team to pull documents, track renewals, and manage client records directly in the system. LaBroad became proficient enough to build out custom client portals quickly, giving the agency full control over how it presents enrollment tools to clients.
When a billing issue threatened to disrupt access during a critical open enrollment period, a member of Zywave's team stepped in personally and helped resolve the issue within the hour.
RESULTS
Ovation Life can now pull up-to-date census and enrollment information at any time, a significant time saver compared to the agency's earlier manual process. The compliance document library gives clients an up-to-date, always-available resource center, and having enterprise-grade tools like HR Connect in place allows Ovation Life to compete directly with much larger firms in front of prospects, presenting the same caliber of technology as brokerages many times its size.
Having somebody to call and take care of things has been really good. The technical side of it is great, and our team gets answers pretty quickly, whether it's live chat or on the phone.