What better way to find out what 401(k) plan sponsors want out of fintech than to ask? Principal Financial Group went straight to the source, polling its customers and considering their input before today unveiling a convenient new offering. It’s an online chat feature that makes it quick and easy for sponsors to get answers about plan administrative questions from a (real, live!) customer service rep.
“The pace of life and work continue to accelerate, and the beauty of online chat is it can be the best of human customer service and technology combined,” Jerry Patterson, senior vice president of Retirement and Income Solutions at Principal, said in a statement. “We’ve worked closely with our customers to build out a chat feature which makes their retirement plan management tasks easier by coupling our expertise with customer-first technology.”
The Des Moines, Iowa-based financial services firm expects to launch the new feature this fall. It will roll out in a staged format, testing first with a pilot group of small- and medium-sized business customers.
The technology is the first-of-its-kind exclusively dedicated to providing responsive support and self-sufficiency to retirement plan sponsors, according to Principal. Its functionality was informed by the end user, who “value the problem resolution ability of an experienced service team member.”
“On average, the small- and medium-sized business plan administrator can only dedicate 5 to 10 percent of their job to managing the retirement plan offered to its employees, so the ability to quickly accomplish tasks and get back to running their business is essential,” the company noted in its announcement.
Aiming to connect employer-sponsors to client service associates in real-time throughout the workday, the chat feature will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.
Jessa Claeys is a writer, editor and graphic designer.
