Manulife, Sun Life partner with tech firms to simplify benefits administration

Manulife Financial Corp. is partnering with Vitech Systems Group Inc. as a software provider and system integrator for its Canadian group benefits business.

Vitech’s insurance administration product, V3, supports group health, dental and life insurance from quote through to claim.

“Vitech and V3 will support our focus on providing customers and distribution partners with a seamless, fast and accurate customer experience,” said Michael Doughty, president and chief executive officer of Manulife Canada, in a news release. “This is critically important in an industry where customer engagement and transparency are more of a priority than ever.”

Read: Manulife rolls out group benefits option through Amazon’s Alexa service

Sun Life Financial Inc. has also partnered with a technology company, SecureKey Technologies Inc., to use its blockchain technology to simplify the way plan members verify their credentials.

“As part of our relentless focus on making it easier for our clients to do business with us through new digital capabilities, we are proud to team up with SecureKey to offer an even more simplified online experience,” said Mark Saunders, executive vice-president and chief information officer at Sun Life Financial, in a press release. “As we take the next step along our digital transformation journey, we’ll soon be able to streamline and simplify the onboarding process for new clients by using SecureKey’s permission-based tools and blockchain security to instantly verify personal information.”
 
For plan sponsors, the new technology will help streamline certain administrative processes. For example, where plan members have multiple addresses, it will remove the possibility of mixing up the address provided to Sun Life with the one provided to their employer, noted Saunders in an email to Benefits Canada. “The digital identify environment in SecureKey Verified.Me enables flexibility that reduces the administrative costs for the sponsor.”
 
The new system, which will roll out in the coming months, will allow plan members to share credentials in a fast and secure way, as well as easily update their information. It also aims to make it simpler for new members to verify their information in real time.
 
Read: How blockchains, AI can transform pension administration