For Other Providers

Third-party administrators, trust companies and insurance companies can all be in the business of employee benefit plan administration. SBA has a niche specialty in partnering with these other types of providers. We can work with you in the areas of business operations, managing or repairing client relationships, and improving your sales process. In addition, we can provide services not available to you in-house through a strategic alliance.

Data cleanup and general issue resolution

Benefits consulting and plan design – We partner with clients to solve specific issues ranging from special-project support to complete plan design. Projects can encompass DB, DC and health & welfare plans, including plan design, data cleanup, regulatory updates and audits, one-time benefit calculations, due diligence and oversight of acquisitions. We evaluate benefit provisions and costs against your business objectives and provide options and recommendations as appropriate; we also address complex plan issues with practical solutions. We have extensive experience in the administration of benefit plans and ensure plans are crafted to maximize administrative quality while minimizing costs.

Plan compliance reviews – We perform full-scale or limited scope reviews of administrative, operational and regulatory plan procedures and requirements and provide thorough assessments with practical recommendations.

Historic benefits data cleanup and data analysis – SBA’s data analysis strategies, combined with our deep understanding of employee benefits, uniquely qualify SBA to organize, analyze, research and resolve data issues. If you are undertaking a new system implementation or conversion from an old system, data issues can derail even the best-executed implementation. If your issue is health claims data and the trends behind the data, let us put our data analysis expertise to work for you. If your data is not centralized, if some is on paper and some is in a database (or multiple databases), we can develop a data consolidation plan, execute that plan and analyze the results. All our data cleanup and data analysis projects are well-thought-out and executed against a detailed test plan.

Vendor relationship management

Vendor contract negotiation – Once you select an outsourcing administration vendor, SBA can negotiate the final agreement or contract, including all redlines of proposed wording. We go through the vendor’s proposed contract, flagging it for any items that may require modification. Our goal is to ensure the contract is in the best interest of the plan sponsor, that it includes needed safeguards, and it protects your investment in the vendor.

Vendor monitoring and management – SBA’s principals have successfully managed large DB, DC and health & welfare outsourcing operations. We understand the pitfalls and the areas that must be monitored and controlled. We can perform a thorough analysis, pinpoint issues, develop and implement action plans, and work with your provider to keep your outsourced operation on track.

Recovery of outsourcing vendor relationships – SBA pioneered the service of vendor relationship recovery. We all know that searching for outsourcing vendors is hard work. Transitioning to a new vendor is even harder – and very expensive. So, it pays to make your current partnership work. Even if your relationship with your vendor seems destined for divorce, SBA may be able to help you salvage the partnership, repair the damage and keep you happy for years to come. We offer our clients assistance with contract and fee negotiations, review and negotiation of change orders, ongoing monitoring of services, and daily problem resolution. Our performance improvement process is actionable, it’s measurable and it works.

Project and implementation management

Project management and administrative support – We can provide complete project management or technical and logistical support for internal project managers and teams. SBA can support your projects or operations with expertise and personnel to help you cope with workload caused by plan changes and conversions, high-volume periods and special plan events. We run small and large projects including providing status reports, tracking and resolving issues, evaluating and reporting risks and more. Our support can be provided on-site or at a distance. We make sure your projects come in on time and within budget.

Organizational support – We can provide help in designing or redesigning organizational structures, job descriptions, performance objectives and performance metrics.

Communication services – All your strategic and administrative efforts will be wasted if your employees don’t understand their benefit plans. Better yet – an effective communication program could help build appreciation for your benefit programs. SBA’s available communication deliverables include summary plan descriptions, summary annual reports, account statements, benefit calculations, benefit statements and modelers, enrollment materials, newsletters and Web portals.

Process documentation and engineering – For both in-sourced and outsourced clients, we have completely documented and, in most cases, re-engineered existing administrative processes. After creating complete catalogs of all processes that exist both with the plan sponsor and with outside vendors and providers, we completely process-map and document each step. We then re-engineer all processes that are subject to inaccuracy or inefficiency. Revised process maps are stored in a user-friendly system that clients can quickly access for training, auditing or day-to-day use. The system also generates individual checklists for each position to ensure all processes are executed at the right time.

Project resources to supplement your staff

Supplemental resources – SBA provides supplemental resources to plan sponsors to tackle special projects or day-to-day tasks such as administrative transactions. SBA can add expertise to your staff for any short-term or longer-term projects that are impeded by your day-to-day job responsibilities. We can fill-in for a job position that is temporarily vacant; or, provide additional resources for special projects that consume your staff. Work can be performed in our offices or, if preferred, on-site at your location.

Separate implementation testing – Clients who are moving to a new benefits administration system may require separate implementation testing. SBA will develop test cases and complete the testing process, reporting all results to you. As a next step, we will analyze any issues that emerge from the testing process, use regression testing to identify any bugs, and ensure that the final system performs to your specifications. As an alternative, we can manage the implementation process in its entirety.

Mergers and acquisitions – The transformation of your organization through a merger or acquisition can create a variety of benefit challenges. SBA can assist you through the entire process, beginning by conducting due diligence. We can consult with you on the issues of plan consolidation and/or plan design, and work with you through implementation - either from a distance or as extra hands on deck. Inevitably, as an acquiring entity, you will inherit pension plan data, the accuracy of which may be questionable. SBA can provide data cleanup services to ensure your “new” old pension plans can be administered efficiently and precisely.

Administrative vendor searches

If you need to perform due diligence on your existing administration provider or know that it is time for a change in providers, we can support your search for the right long-term partner. We do more than simply ensure that technical aspects of your search are addressed. Our goal is to work with you and the providers to identify the best fit and minimize any possibility that you will have to repeat a search and conversion for a long time. We assist clients with full scope searches for administrative providers by drafting RFIs and RFPs, analyzing results and costs, organizing vendor presentations and on-site visits, and performing negotiations and final contract execution. Having run significant outsourcing organizations, we have a unique insight into vendor analysis and negotiations.

Data security consulting

Your employees' data may be at risk of unauthorized use, deletion or modification. Most security safeguards are designed to prevent misuse of client data, but what about your own employee data? SBA has developed a methodology to evaluate a company’s security strategy, provide a roadmap to correct security deficiencies, and participate in the execution of the strategy, if the client desires.

Our Vulnerability Assessment is the basis for all recommendations and suggested security improvements. This assessment takes stock of your current situation by analyzing the following areas:

  • Physical security
  • Internet security
  • Data security
  • Policies and procedures

SBA’s detailed check list is objectively scored section by section to yield an overall score of exceptional, acceptable with suggested changes, and unacceptable with required changes.

From there SBA can recommend and implement changes to enhance your organizational security.

Operational consulting in support of benefits delivery

Operational consulting – Our services can include a deep evaluation of your organization, identification of existing talent, as well as gaps, specifications for effective systems changes, process design, resource plans and much more. We will deliver a comprehensive action plan and assist in executing as much or as little of the plan as you desire. In a full service model, we can assume responsibility for running a unit during a turnaround and, when complete, transitioning the unit in an orderly fashion to the permanent leadership.

New operations consulting – If you are contemplating the development of new capabilities, or acquiring an existing operation for DB, DC or health & welfare administration, we can play an instrumental role that will help lead you to success. If you are acquiring, we can perform your due diligence to determine the positive and negative aspects of the target operation. We will identify the capital and other resources that will be necessary to place the organization in a position for success. If you are developing new start-up capabilities, we can help with the identification of necessary structures, systems, personnel, processes, sales strategies, partners and more.

Strategic sales consulting – We employ – and can teach – the techniques of selling strategically, a disciplined process used by countless successful sales organizations but modified specifically for the retirement services industry. We have used this selling model and process for over a decade within our industry with outstanding results. This technique creates focus, gathers critical information and drives a common sales strategy for a prospect. We will train your sales staff and work with them as needed to apply this process to specific prospects. With the disciplined use of this technique, you can achieve close rates that were previously unthinkable.

Strategic alliances to provide supplementary services

Instead of bringing in a potential competitor to provide services that your firm doesn’t offer, partner with SBA to provide the services your clients need. We can help your organization provide value-added retirement consulting services for your clients such as actuarial services, strategic consulting services, data cleanup expertise and general issue resolution consulting, while preventing competitors from gaining access to your client base.

We do not provide any type of defined contribution or defined benefit administration or outsourcing. Therefore, our organizations will not have overlapping services and will not compete against each other.

Strategic alliance services may include:

Actuarial services – We provide the full array of actuarial valuation services for pension plans, including analysis and preparation of data, funding requirements, financial accounting standards expense and disclosure, multi-year projections and government reporting. We can support other strategic client projects, including early retirement windows, layoffs, acquisitions, divestitures, union negotiations, plan design changes, surplus asset management and more. We provide benefit calculations for entire populations or for individuals and calculation of benefit splits when both qualified and non-qualified plans exist.

Benefits consulting – We will partner with you to solve specific issues for your clients – from special project support to complete plan design. Projects can encompass both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including data cleanup, regulatory updates and audits, one-time benefit calculations, due diligence and oversight of acquisitions. When we do plan design, we determine the features of a benefits program that best match your client’s specific corporate objectives for their participant demographics and can then lead the organization through a successful transition.

Communication services – Offering communication services can give you a leg up on the competition. SBA’s available communication deliverables include summary plan descriptions, summary annual reports, account statements, benefit calculations, benefit statements and modelers, enrollment materials, newsletters and Web portals.