3 moves that transform benefits administration

Picture this: An HR team thinks they are finally past the worst of open enrollment chaos. Their new benefits platform is live, the integrations are set, and employees have a shiny new portal to use.  

Then the emails start coming in. Missing deductions, outdated coverage information, employees locked out of the system. By the end of the week, the team is reconciling spreadsheets manually — again.  

For many HR teams, this story is too familiar. Technology has made benefits administration more turnkey, but not necessarily more connected. HR, payroll, and benefits often live in separate systems that don’t talk to each other. Employees navigate multiple logins and confusing interfaces, while HR spends hours fixing errors behind the scenes.  

The result: More frustration, higher costs, and less appreciation for the investment employers make in their people.  

The technology isn’t broken — the approach is.  

To make benefits administration truly work, organizations need three things:

Step 1: Choose the right platform to unify systems 

To improve benefits administration, you need technology, but not just any technology.  

The right platform will do more than digitize processes. It should eliminate friction entirely, starting with unified data. When HR, payroll, and benefits live in a single system, there’s no need for nightly syncs or manual reconciliation. A change made in HR — such as an update to an employee’s status, salary, or classification — should appear instantly across payroll and benefits. No lag time and no cleanup required.  

The technology should also be flexible and scalable. Organizations need to adapt benefits for diverse employee populations while maintaining speed and accuracy. A system that can’t evolve with the business quickly becomes a burden instead of an asset. And it must deliver real-time visibility. Leaders need clear insight into costs, participation, and performance. The right program turns data into decisions, aligning HR and Finance around shared outcomes.  

Step 2: Choose the right partner to optimize systems

Choosing the right partner isn’t about outsourcing responsibility but extending capability. The right relationship amplifies your team’s capacity to deliver accuracy and impact. A benefits administration partner should understand both the system and the strategy. They know how to configure the technology to fit your organization, maintain data accuracy, and keep processes running smoothly long after implementation. Many employers underestimate the post-implementation phase — true value from your technology investment is realized through sustained performance and continuous optimization, not just reaching the go-live milestone.  

Questions to ask a potential partner include: 

• Do they administer benefits directly in your platform, or do they rely on a separate system that adds complexity and cost? 
• How do they maintain data accuracy? Are there established audit processes to prevent and correct errors before they reach employees? 
• Can they demonstrate deep expertise in both the platform and benefits administration? 
• Do they have proven experience managing compliance requirements like ACA filings and COBRA administration? 
• How will they help you evolve from day-to-day support to strategic optimization that reduces costs, minimizes errors, and improves employee experience?  

Step 3: Choose the right employee engagement tool to enable the utilisation of their benefits

Even the most advanced platform and experienced partner can’t succeed if employees don’t understand or use their benefits. Engagement is the final piece — and too often, the missing one.  

The right engagement tool integrates with your benefits platform to guide employees through their decisions with clarity and confidence. It doesn’t replace your system; it enhances it by helping people choose and use their benefits wisely. 

Modern solutions are moving beyond static portals and PDFs to offer AI-driven decision support that personalizes the experience. They can recommend the right plans during enrollment, remind employees to use benefits throughout the year, and anticipate needs before they arise. The outcome is not just better decisions, but higher satisfaction and stronger retention. When people understand what’s available and how to use it, the employer’s investment finally pays off.  

Bringing it all together: The connected benefits ecosystem 

When the right technology, partnership, and engagement come together, benefits administration stops being a burden and becomes a strategic advantage. That’s what happens when Workday, Strada, and Nayya work as one. 

Workday provides the foundation: a single, unified system where HR, payroll, and benefits operate seamlessly. Data flows in real time, eliminating silos, manual processes, and delays. HR gains control and visibility across the entire employee lifecycle. Strada brings the operational expertise that turns that technology into performance. With deep Workday and benefits administration experience, Strada manages the daily details so HR teams can focus on strategy instead of system maintenance. And Nayya completes the picture by transforming the employee experience with AI-powered guidance that helps employees make smarter, more confident choices during enrollment and throughout the year.  

Together, this connected ecosystem delivers what every employer is aiming for: 

• Simpler operations through a single, integrated platform. 
• Smarter administration powered by expert configuration and oversight. 
• Stronger engagement that helps employees understand and use their benefits. 

Technology isn’t the solution by itself — but when the right program, partner, and engagement tool work in concert, the promise of modern benefits administration finally becomes reality. 

If you’d like help with your 2026 benefits administration strategy or just want an informal chat with one of our experts, get in touch with us here.