MyTools News

Proximiti Announces MyTools, An Innovative Application for Benefits Management for Smart Phone, Tablet, and Personal Computer Users

TAMPA, FL – February 25, 2014
Proximiti Communications announced that its innovative MyTools application is now available for employers to better communicate with employees about benefits programs and providing helpful links to information and help sources.   Unlike applications and web sites from specific benefit providers, MyTools aggregates all of the information of various benefits in one easy to use app.   Set up allows employees to only view the benefits applicable to them.   Employees appreciate the immediate access to the information they need, when and where they need it.   Employers benefit from lower call volumes and the instant ability to update benefits programs in one place.

MyTools can buzz or otherwise alert an employee of important messages or calendar items that need attention and unlike a HR web site or e-mail is designed to get fast attention from users instead of waiting on users to log in and retrieve messages or visit web sites.

Gregg Smith, CEO of Proximiti comments:  “We designed MyTools with the assistance of benefits professionals including benefits consultants to meet the diverse needs of employees and employers.   MyTools works for any company, large or small and can be set up quickly with the assistance of Proximiti personnel.   It’s free for spouses and dependents who are often significant users of employee benefits.”

MyTools also includes helpful corporate tools as well including a phone book, human resources calendar, emergency contact information for employees and family members, and bulletin boards that allow for a wide range of message types including video and audio.   Employers are finding innovative ways of using MyTools including CEO’s recording video messages that can be viewed by employees on phones, PCs, or tablets.

Smith continues:  “If you forget a health insurance card, no problem, you can fax or e-mail it instantly from your phone in the tablet to your doctor.   This is just one simple example of how apps can simplify business management tasks and make employers more productive while providing important benefits to employees.”

Proximiti partners with benefits professionals to deliver MyTools to companies and their employees.   While a simple app to set up and use, it’s very powerful and can handle diverse needs.   MyTools users better appreciate the benefits they receive and have all of their data in one place.   There is no need to post bulletins in coffee rooms, instead, the data is instantly available on any smart phone, tablet, or PC.   MyTools is an indispensable part of any HR communications program and can even be used by benefits providers to introduce useful voluntary benefits, including video summaries and PDF forms.   Users can make a single click and be routed to enrollment engines managed by benefits consultants or their providers increasing take rates and can supplement traditional programs or make smaller employers profitable to offer voluntary benefits.

For more questions, call Mark Herring at 813-579-1003 or e-mail at mark.herring@proximiti.com.

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OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR PROVIDERS OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

Are you Concerned Enough About Technology Disruption Affecting Your Business?
By Gregg Smith, CEO of Proximiti Communications

It’s hard to underestimate the impact of technology on distribution models---particularly soft goods or services whether it’s music, books, mortgage loans, or travel.  Financial services have been affected too but not the seismic changes witnessed elsewhere.  But that might not be the end story----change is accelerating and the growth of apps and mobile devices potentially are the keys for additional disruption.

What seemed novel five years ago and a potential threat is often overblown early but then is cataclysmic in the intermediate term.  A famous Bill Gates quote applies well here: “people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the short run and dramatically underestimate it in the intermediate term.”  Newspapers, travel agencies, bookstores, auto insurance, and other providers of core services that were thought impregnable for 30 years or more seemed immediately at risk once the Internet arrived.  When massive changes didn’t occur overnight, many thought that the risk would pass.  Yet five years later big changes happened.  A newspaper worth billions sells for less than the book value of the assets.  Blockbuster misses online delivery of videos and heads to bankruptcy.  The neighborhood travel agency is no more.

So clearly many companies don’t adapt well to changes that technology enabled in their industries.

What did they get wrong?  Clearly there was no surprise that change was afoot.  Yet despite massive expenditures with consultants and others, companies still failed to adapt.  There are two primary reasons that often occurs with legacy providers in an existing industry when facing changes driven by technology and even regulatory adjustment.  The first is cultural---it’s not easy to change.  The second is less appreciated---its understanding and respecting economics, not just of your own company, but those of clients, suppliers, and technology companies that enable changes.  Innovative companies determine how to drop overall costs of a business process markedly with some of those savings flowing to clients.  It might also increase potential revenues or change the dynamics of supply chains.

You don’t’ have to be an expert in technology or even technology economics.  But getting a good grounding can make a huge difference in how you decide to move forward.  Done well, it can be a win-win-win proposition----your client saves money, you can make more money, and your partners win too.  Think about these models: VISA and MasterCard with banks, ticketing for airlines is a major business for large computing firms, Netflix with production companies, and there are hundreds more.  Cost reduction is one cornerstone, new sales models another, and even other revenues like advertising injected into a business process yet another.  An industry changes---the economics for end users too---and some companies thrive while others disappear.

ABOUT PROXIMITI

Proximiti Communications is a Tampa, Florida software developer and communications service provider that offers integrated products and services to small and medium business customers, large insurance companies including Humana, and over 400,000 users access their services each day.  Services range from custom apps for smart phones and tablets to phone systems and VOIP.  More information can be found at www.proximiti.com.

ABOUT GREGG SMITH

Gregg Smith is a co-founder and CEO of Proximiti Communications.  Smith founded two public companies prior to starting Proximiti and has raised over $600MM in capital over 20 years for his firms.  His companies have always focused on leveraging advances in computing capabilities and software with advanced communications networks and currently focus on the growth of IP communications (voice, text, e-mail, apps, web sites) with business processes.  Communications now includes real time, dynamic, and static components and integrating with business processes offers compelling economics addressing real challenges for many companies.

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Culture Is The Big Impediment to Adapting to Technology Driven Change
By Gregg Smith, CEO of Proximiti Communications

In my prior article, we covered the ground shaking impact on many industries of recent changes in technology from inexpensive and powerful computing to always on high bandwidth networks.  Distribution models are changing rapidly in many industries, remaking existing markets, and creating new ones.  Financial services has felt the impact but may well see more rapid change in the next three years.  We identified two primary impediments to adapting to these changes: (a) internal and cultural resistance; and (b) inadequate understanding of the economics of technology integration and how to partner with the right companies to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities.

The first challenge for any existing successful business is cultural.  It’s so important that almost nothing else matters.  A huge checkbook can’t offset a rigid business culture that repels change even faced with new economics that shatter existing business models.

An employee benefits firm was likely built by having talented and aggressive sales people that built a Rolodex of C-Level executives and are excellent at proposal generation, benefit acquisition, fitting benefits into an overall budget, and managing initial and annual rollouts.  The market isn’t really the individual employee in this model: instead, it is the executive team at the client company that selects the programs and pays the bills.

This model has worked for over 40 years and is only now starting to see signs of change.  A wholesale model changing to retail or at least seeing strong retail type processes deployed as part of the process seems inevitable.  I suspect 100% of the readers of this article would agree with this general description of the future---but there the agreement may well stop.  What this means to their firm and how to get there might yield many different answers.

I would not underestimate the challenge of getting your entire organization committed to whatever changes you believe are necessary to succeed.

Most executives of employee benefit firms I interact with recognize that a transition in how they do business is coming but generally believe it’s not here just yet.  When you ask them “where do you see things in three years?” their answers suggest major changes in their current business model are arriving reasonably fast.  If you ask, however, what they are doing about it internally, the real answer is not much.  The focus remains on day to day blocking and tackling and managing regulatory changes.  40 years of success is a long time---and success is an impediment to change no matter how clear the challenges are on the horizon.

Culturally, technology companies are highly conditioned to rapid change.  Many companies start and are closed or sold within ten years.  Breakeven analyses are measured in months.  Technology company employees have lost jobs because of a failure by their employer to keep up with the marketplace----so instead of being inhibitors to change, technology employees are often pushing for them. Costs have relentlessly declined.  Computing hardware is often less than $300 for a robust server.  Software development costs are 50% less expensive than five years ago.  Communications costs have dropped to pennies.  So change happens fast.  Adapt or get run over.

Most industries have the other model: top executives see changes coming and try to rally the troops around them to both see and act on the changes needed but often fail.

Doing business as usual is a strong cultural component of many companies----and for good reasons too.  It avoids mistakes.  Not to mention training costs, customers need for certainty, and relationships with suppliers and professionals.

I will leave it to the reader to determine when and how they make changes how best to do so organizationally----technology companies often adopt flatter organization charts than other industries and often use an “existing” and smaller “new” team structure with one team looking at running the existing business and then a small team building a prototype of the “new model” until the teams are merged and old and new systems are thoughtfully integrated.  A proven key: don’t worry too much about the exact mechanics or other process management techniques, instead, get the economics and attitudes right, and necessary adjustments will flow as part of the process.  It’s more important to get started than it is to have a perfect lift off.

ABOUT PROXIMITI

Proximiti Communications is a Tampa, Florida software developer and communications service provider that offers integrated products and services to small and medium business customers, large insurance companies including Humana, and over 400,000 users access their services each day.  Services range from custom apps for smart phones and tablets to phone systems and VOIP.  More information can be found at www.proximiti.com.

ABOUT GREGG SMITH

Gregg Smith is a co-founder and CEO of Proximiti Communications.  Smith founded two public companies prior to starting Proximiti and has raised over $600MM in capital over 20 years for his firms.  His companies have always focused on leveraging advances in computing capabilities and software with advanced communications networks and currently focus on the growth of IP communications (voice, text, e-mail, apps, web sites) with business processes.  Communications now includes real time, dynamic, and static components and integrating with business processes offers compelling economics addressing real challenges for many companies.

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A Key Skill for Financial Services Executives: How to Partner with Technology Companies
By Gregg Smith, CEO of Proximiti Communications

In our prior two articles, we reviewed the potential impact of technology on financial services firms and in the second article, we highlighted the importance of addressing corporate culture in meeting the challenges and opportunities in the years ahead.  This last article suggests that a new skill might well be needed by many financial firms---even if they are not technology oriented----and that is how to select the right partners for technology implementation and integration for internal and external needs.

We often find that many of our client partners don’t really think about a “technology ecosystem” and how to leverage change in technology for their own benefit.  Financial services firms don’t have to go alone—technology companies like mine aren’t really doing “software sales” anymore---instead we are looking at whole new business models that can be strategic and that are not easily copied by others.  We have relatively low overhead so incremental business is valuable.  Partnerships can reduce risk for both companies while greatly leveraging internal expertise.

If you look at HR and employee benefits, the “Cloud” is already arriving in force.  BenefitsFocus indicates the power of this model with a huge market cap relative to revenues ($1.2BB market cap versus $100MM in annual revenues and large losses).  It might be just as important for an employee benefit firm CEO to understand at least at a high level how to partner with a solid technology company interested in the industry as how to negotiate with large insurance carriers.

Here are some things to keep in mind when looking at potential technology partners if you are interested in changing your business:

1. Software as a business is moving very rapidly to a “per user” or hosted model. No more purchase of licenses and annual support fees. As a result, your technology partner is often as interested in your growth as you are---and you are sharing risk too with new initiatives.
2. If your primary client remains upper management of HR or the company you serve, an important need will be to become more visible to end user employees of the services you help provide. This is a major opportunity and challenge---but getting an “electronic connection” with employees could be highly strategic in the years ahead. The control of this connection shouldn’t be simply given to your benefits supplier.
3. Don’t overlook the opportunity to enlist others with interests in employee benefits to help you build a working and highly economic system. Display ads on web pages or mobile apps are one example. The costs of providing apps to every employee you serve could be totally underwritten by such an approach.
4. You should look to integrate with client HR systems and processes---it’s hard to remove a working system once it is enabled.
5. You can leverage apps and web sites to be your retail storefront---not just to serve employee benefits but also market individual services. Voluntary benefits and defined contribution benefit plans offer rich opportunities. You can integrate your call center resources (even if small) for pennies a transaction. An employee gets a free app that includes an offer for a voluntary benefit—with a single click, a user can instantly be connected to your or other call center for assistance.
6. Disk space isn’t free but it’s not much----and servers can now cost $300 or less and do a lot. Off load functions for clients that aren’t part of their core business---and get a 10 year client.
7. Mobile phone penetration is now almost 100% in the United States and worldwide. Think about how your technology partner leverages an “always on” and now increasingly graphic/video capable device.
8. Most non technology oriented business firms are not familiar with the low costs of development or operation of advanced communications business and consumer tools. A breakeven analysis today might only require 1/10th of the users of three years ago. It may be only 5% of users to make it a successful project.
9. When looking at advanced communications solutions based on technology, think too of avoidable costs and particularly human intervention costs. A phone call costs over $10 on average---a text message might be just 3 cents.
10. Core software capabilities are important features but the real money might be in the integration with existing management systems, yours and others. Look hard at consumer communications being included as part of any solution set---that means supporting web visits but also apps, e-mail, and texting. The card in the wallet may well be replaced by an app on the phone.
11. Highly creative business models can be developed---and so the “smarts” of your technology partners can help you reduce risk but also create an entirely new business which is additive to or replaces much of what you do now for some things.

While technology can be complicated, maddening, and exciting all in one, the end game is all economics.  Technology today often deliver more capabilities for less than is being spent today doing things in a traditional way---if so, the technology enabled process will win, and the argument switches to “how long will it take” and “can we do it too?”  And, who can help me get there?

Good luck---it’s actually exciting and easier that you think to adapt the rapidly moving technology into your business and join the winners in the years ahead.

ABOUT PROXIMITI

Proximiti Communications is a Tampa, Florida software developer and communications service provider that offers integrated products and services to small and medium business customers, large insurance companies including Humana, and over 400,000 users access their services each day.  Services range from custom apps for smart phones and tablets to phone systems and VOIP.  More information can be found at www.proximiti.com.

ABOUT GREGG SMITH

Gregg Smith is a co-founder and CEO of Proximiti Communications.  Smith founded two public companies prior to starting Proximiti and has raised over $600MM in capital over 20 years for his firms.  His companies have always focused on leveraging advances in computing capabilities and software with advanced communications networks and currently focus on the growth of IP communications (voice, text, e-mail, apps, web sites) with business processes.  Communications now includes real time, dynamic, and static components and integrating with business processes offers compelling economics addressing real challenges for many companies.