By SAVVI TEAM 

‍Insights from the HVBA Webinar Featuring SAVVI Financial and Buckley Roberts HR Tech Consulting

Employers invest heavily in microsites, mailers, and webinars to boost open enrollment engagement. Yet, employees continue to make their most consequential financial decisions on autopilot. In a recent Health and Voluntary Benefits Association (HVBA) webinar, Jake Aldrich (SAVVI Financial) and Ben Yomtoob (Buckley Roberts HR Tech Consulting Group) diagnosed the root of this crisis and detailed how decision intelligence provides a structural solution.

Q: Why is benefits engagement still a crisis despite massive employer investments?

A: The issue is a structural design problem, not an employee awareness problem.

• As benefit programs have grown organically over time, they have become overly complex and clumsy.
• The benefits ecosystem is heavily siloed.
• Employees struggle to understand how major medical, voluntary benefits, and retirement accounts connect or impact their overall financial security.

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Q: How does SAVVI Financial’s platform differ from traditional decision support tools?

A: SAVVI replaces standard, static ranking tools with a holistic decision intelligence layer. Key differentiators include:

• Zero Survey Friction: The survey-less platform ingests relevant employee and benefits data upfront, bypassing the standard 7-to-10-minute employee surveys.
• Privacy-First Data Models: Claims data ingestion is optional. If an employee opts out, SAVVI leverages the MEPS national database, which aggregates regionalized healthcare usage data to maintain accurate modeling.
• Side-by-Side Financial Modeling: Employees receive a direct comparison of their net annual costs during an expected medical year versus a difficult medical year.
• Deterministic Mathematics: The recommendation engine runs on proprietary mathematical equations developed by MIT PhDs, bypassing the hallucination risks associated with generative AI guidance.

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Q: What measurable outcomes does decision intelligence deliver for employers?

A: By transitioning the conversation from separate products to holistic financial outcomes, the SAVVI platform drives significant behavioral changes:

• Significant reduction in benefits-related calls to HR during open enrollment.
• Significant increases in High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) enrollment.
• A 230% increase in voluntary benefit elections.
• Skyrocketing Health Savings Account (HSA) contributions.
• A 4.1x Return on Investment (ROI).
• An overall employee satisfaction score of 4.5 out of 5.

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Q: How does SAVVI address evolving fiduciary risks for HR professionals?

A: HR professionals are increasingly operating as fiduciaries, meaning providing informal enrollment advice carries legal risk.

• SAVVI removes the burden of benefits guidance from HR teams.
• Employees receive data-driven, mathematically sound recommendations.
• HR is protected from providing non-compliant advice while saving critical time during open enrollment.

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Q: How can brokers and employers integrate the SAVVI platform?

A: SAVVI is modular and accessible across the HR tech landscape.

• It serves as the embedded guidance engine powering Voya's enrollment experience.
• The platform is currently integrated into Benefitfocus and PlanSource, with Alight launching in the fall.
• For the 30+ other benefits administration and HCM systems on the market, SAVVI is available as a standalone tool that brokers can bring directly to their enterprise clients.

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