At this time of the year, my boss, Scott Ault, often says “it'sall about football.” But in the voluntary business, we're in theheight of enrollment season. And these days enrollment is all aboutonline enrollment platforms, yet it's also about access toemployees. Exactly what is access to employees when onlineenrollment platforms are used?

I recently attended an industry meeting where this was the topicof a great deal of discussion. The observation was made thatbrokers like online enrollment because it gives employers what theywant, which is less intrusive enrollment with only limited on-sitemeetings, if any. While that might be the case, this doesn't meanthere is no connection with employees. Nor does it mean the brokerand insurance company can be passive about enrollment connectionswith employees on the theory that employees will go to the systemand enroll. It simply means the connection centers arounde-commerce concepts, and e-commerce can only work if employees payattention.

These concepts include using multiple ways to connect employeeswith their financial security needs, their risk of significantfinancial loss, and the answers to these needs provided by thevoluntary products being offered. Techniques include: