PLANADVISER - January/February 2022 - 22

improving outcomes / cover story
* Individualized information. What engages individual
participants on a website or mobile app can vary by demographic
factors such as age, Way says. When Corporate
Insight asked DC plan participants what financial topics are
most relevant to them, 49% of Millennials, vs. 13% of Baby
Boomers, said they would like information on college costs
and student debt. And 57% of Millennials expressed strong
interest in getting information on budgeting, vs. 48% of Gen
Xers and 32% of Boomers.
One of the most important aspects of the digital experience
now is whether a recordkeeper can customize it
down to the individual participant level, says John Quinn,
managing director and head of product and platforms for
Bank of America's institutional
retirement business in
Pennington, New Jersey.
" The idea of an individualized platform is very important.
We think your digital experience can't be the same as
another participant's, because each of the individuals is in
a very different place, " he says. " To [get there], we use the
data we have in our system, data provided by the individual,
and observed behaviors when an individual interacts with
our digital platform. "
Quinn gives an example of how Bank of America's platform
does that. " If we know someone is carrying credit card
debt or struggling to meet his monthly budget, when he
goes to the website or mobile app, we're not going to prompt
him to increase his contribution, " Quinn says. " Instead, the
participant may see a message that refers him to resources
that will help him focus on setting a budget or review his
spending patterns. "
* Mobile app functionality. This has become a key piece
of the puzzle when CAPTRUST evaluates providers, Kulick
says. " When we do an RFP, we request demo links, because
we want to see the functionality of the mobile apps, particularly
the transaction capabilities, " he says. Can participants
do all the transactions-e.g., investment or deferral
changes-with a mobile app that they can on the website,
or does the mobile app redirect a participant to the website
for a transaction?
A seamless platform experience between the desktop
computer and mobile app has become a chief differentiator,
according to Quinn. " We've built our system so that
anything you can do on our traditional website, you can
do on our mobile app, too, " he says. " That's important,
because mobile is becoming the dominant channel for
many people. That functionality does differ now among
recordkeepers, for sure. "
Help From Advisers
Advisers can play a more direct role in enhancing participants'
digital experience. As the people most often meeting
directly with participants, they can offer one-on-one expertise
about how to sort through and act on guidance a participant
received digitally.
" I talk a lot about 'high tech and high touch,' " Quinn says.
" Yes, we need to have great digital platforms, but there will
be phases in just about anyone's financial life when they
want to speak to someone. They want to be able to say, 'The
digital tool told me to consider X, Y and Z. Can you help me
think through that?' "
When meeting with participants, advisers also can
help increase understanding about helpful resources on a
recordkeeper's website or mobile app.
" Many times, the participants don't know what's available
to them, so it's creating the awareness that's important, "
Kulick says. " In group sessions, for example, we show
them how to download the mobile app. We've seen that,
once they have that mobile app on their phone, the probability
that they'll go in and check their balance goes up
dramatically. So we help hold their hand through the initial
process. "
For instance, many companies in the plan advisory business
now have their own financial wellness site. " Advisers
are starting their own participant sites, and some are
encouraging people to go to that site before they go to the
recordkeeper's site, " Pottichen says. " The workplace is the
next battleground for [winning] financial advisory clients. "
Advisers increasingly will offer guidance and resources
that help participants not just utilize their retirement
benefit better, but all their benefits at an employer, he says.
" Putting in a high-quality investment menu, educating a
sponsor on its fiduciary responsibilities and putting in fiduciary
governance processes, and monitoring fees to ensure
their reasonableness have become the minimum things an
adviser should do, to be competitive, " he says.
" The next phase we're moving into is, how do we
help employees better understand their overall benefits
package? " he continues. " It's one of the most expensive
financial decisions employees have to make every year,
and most people do that without talking to a financial
adviser first. "
CAPTRUST already has a broad platform for personal
financial and retirement plan advice for individuals, as well
as a whole curriculum of financial wellness tools, Kulick
says. Individual employer clients decide how much they
want to emphasize a recordkeeper's digital resources for
participants, vs. using CAPTRUST's digital resources, he
says. " We're not there necessarily to replace the recordkeeper;
we're there to allow for choice. We're an independent
and objective alternative. It's up to each employer how
it wants to position that. "
Plan advisers should keep in mind that some recordkeepers
will integrate an advisory practice's digital
resources with their own platform, while others will not,
Voris says. " Many advisers have wealth management practices
or financial wellness tools that can benefit a plan's
participants. So the issue is, how can a recordkeeper
create a partnership with the adviser, plan sponsor and
the recordkeeper? " he says.
" Some recordkeepers are more interested in integrating
a plan adviser's digital resources than are
others. Different recordkeepers approach the partnership
with plan advisers in different ways. " -Judy Ward
22 | planadviser.com January-February 2022
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - January/February 2022

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