Darwin will integrate fully with Compass, Buck Consultants’ new employee benefits portal, enabling Buck Consultants’ clients and their employees to manage their benefits package online, giving them the flexibility to choose the benefits that are meaningful to them. It will also allow HR departments to review costs, conduct risk analysis, carry out benefits administration and complete reporting requirements.
The employee benefits portal Compass is being launched later this month. Compass will provide employers with the capability to deploy one portal solution for employees to access all information on their reward. This will include final-salary scheme benefits, whether closed or open, to defined contribution management and funding tools. Additional features include share plan valuations, elections for saving, selection of health, wealth and career benefits, and decumulation modelling arising from the Pension Freedoms.
John Deacon, head of corporate solutions at Buck Consultants at Xerox, says: “This partnership is a part of Buck Consultants’ wider programme of providing the best client service through market leading technology solutions, across our whole range of employee benefit services.
“With technology moving at an unprecedented pace, we wanted to offer clients a sophisticated, adaptable solution to meet their changing requirements. After undertaking a rigorous evaluation of the UK market, we selected Thomsons’ Darwin software to support our Compass portal because of its unparalleled ease of use, ability to support multiple devices and deep integration capability.
“Our strategy is to provide our clients, both UK and globally, with tools to enable their employees to better engage with their benefit schemes. We believe that Compass and the services it will offer, which will include Darwin, will enable us to achieve this goal.”
Ed Smithson, head of flex, shareplan and communications at Buck Consultants at Xerox, comments: “By offering our clients the best available advice and customer service, combined with market-leading technology, we are able to deliver the strongest flexible benefit proposition in the UK market. This relationship is the perfect fit, as both Thomsons and Buck Consultants are dedicated to the continued development of creative solutions in the UK flex, total reward and benefit administration market.”
Michael Whitfield, CEO of Thomson Online Benefits, says: “The global benefits market is constantly evolving but our technology has the inbuilt flexibility and scalability to enable businesses to anticipate these shifts.
“Buck Consultants has been successful in the benefits arena over many years. The experience it has accrued in consulting, implementing and servicing its clients using flexible benefits software make us a fitting partner choice for the next stage of its technology journey.
“Working with partners globally is one of the key strategic areas we are focused on at Thomsons, as this will ensure we continue our rapid growth. We see the opportunity of working with Buck Consultants as a key part of this strategy.”