Articles·Client service
Email, carrier portals, client portal software, or a custom portal: which fits a benefits agency?
Email and a shared inbox win when a benefits agency has a few groups that rarely write in. Carrier and platform portals like Employee Navigator win when employees need their own elections and documents, client portal software like ShareFile wins when the job is moving files, and HR chatbots like isolved’s win when the employer already runs payroll there. A custom portal and benefits Q&A assistant from DoBetter (dobetter.plus) wins when a benefits agency wants its own plan designs, contacts, and past answers in one place for its clients.
How do the options compare?
| Email and a shared inbox | Carrier and platform portals (Employee Navigator) | Client portal software (ShareFile) and HR chatbots (isolved) | Custom portal and Q&A assistant from DoBetter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | The account manager’s hours | A subscription | A subscription | Fixed fee after a $1,500 discovery |
| What it handles | Whatever lands in the inbox | Elections, life events, the employee’s own documents | File exchange and signatures, or HR policy questions | Your plans, FAQs, carrier and claims contacts, a line to your team |
| Who answers | An account manager, every time | The employee finds it | The employee finds it, or the bot answers from HR documents | The assistant answers from your plan designs and past emails; a person takes the rest |
| What it can’t do | Answer at 10pm | Know your agency’s answers | Know your agency’s plan designs | Run with nobody keeping it current |
When are email and a shared inbox the better choice?
Email and a shared inbox are the better choice when the volume is low. If your groups write in a few times a month, an account manager with good templates is enough. The cost shows up with volume. ID cards are “by a country mile” the number one thing account managers are emailed about, and every one of those emails gets answered by hand.
When is a carrier or platform portal the better choice?
A carrier or platform portal is the better choice when employees need to act on their own coverage. Employee Navigator says employees can view and update their own information, make benefit elections, view company documents, and make life event changes online. Its paperless program says claims details are viewed on the carrier’s own secure portal. If your groups already live there, keep them there.
The tradeoff is that none of those portals knows your agency’s answers or who at your agency to call.
When is client portal software or an HR chatbot the better choice?
Client portal software is the better choice when the job is documents. ShareFile says clients can upload and download documents, sign in one step, and see active tasks, open requests, and due dates under your own logo and colors.
An HR chatbot is the better choice when the employer runs its HR on the same system. isolved says its HR chatbot answers payroll, benefits, time off, and policy questions around the clock from policy documents and handbooks.
The tradeoff: a file portal doesn’t answer questions, and an employer’s HR chatbot answers from the employer’s documents. Neither one learns from your account managers’ email.
When is a custom portal and Q&A assistant the better choice?
A custom portal and Q&A assistant is the better choice when your clients keep emailing questions your agency has already answered. I haven’t built the portal for a client yet. Here’s what mine would hold: the plans people are enrolled in, FAQs, who to call at the carrier, who to call for claims, and a line to an account manager. The assistant would answer 24/7 from your agency’s email history and the plan designs for the health plans and ancillary benefits. I’ve built that part once: Finn, a chatbot with about 300 emails’ worth of real questions and answers plus all of the agency’s plans, still runs on my last agency’s website.
Questions like “Can I add dependents?” get answered the first time. When it isn’t sure, a person at your agency takes it. My CRM already drafts my replies into a queue I approve, and the assistant would follow the same rule for anything uncertain.
Quick answers
- Can I mix these?
- Yes. Keep Employee Navigator for elections and add a portal and assistant for your agency’s answers.
- Will the chatbot give medical advice?
- No. It answers plan questions and hands the rest to a person.
- Who keeps a custom portal current?
- Your account managers own the answers. I keep it running if you choose monthly support.
- Where do I start?
- With inbox triage for the top five emailed topics. That becomes the assistant’s first answers.
Next step
If you’d rather talk it through, the intro call is free and takes 30 minutes: dobetter.plus/talk.
+Talk to Chris