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News >> Technology >>
Patni Computer launches BPO Service
By agencies
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Wednesday, 08 June 2005, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI: Patni Computer Systems Ltd has announced the launch of its Defined Contribution BPO Services suite specifically designed for insurance companies expanding their offerings into lucrative financial services such as 401(k) plan administration.
The new offering allows insurance companies to offload common record keeping tasks associated with the administration of defined contribution plans. This enables administrators to reduce overall program costs and improve the quality of service while focusing their internal resources on their core business activities.
According to TowerGroup, insurance companies administer a large proportion of the U.S. retirement industry's defined contribution plans, especially in small-to mid-sized plans of $50,000 or greater.
Customers are increasingly turning to their insurance carriers to deliver more financial-oriented services, serving as a one-stop shop to meet their future financial needs. To meet this need, insurers have quickly moved to offer defined contribution plans as an extension of their existing portfolio of insurance services.
The company's Defined Contribution BPO Service transfers time intensive back-end record-keeping tasks to company's offshore delivery centers, reducing administrative costs and allowing insurance companies to focus on their core offerings.
For example, company's volume-based staffing model reduces costs by enabling seasonal compliance reporting tasks like Form 5500 to be completed on a per transaction basis. The service covers all facets of defined contribution plan administration, including: Master maintenance, Contributions, Cash release, Distributions, Loan and hardship requests, Check requests and Compliance reporting.
Leveraging company's team of experts trained in Six Sigma techniques, insurance companies will realize improved accuracy and faster turnaround of processed transactions, ultimately resulting in improved customer service. The service employs a "reverse ASP" model that leverages the customer's existing IT infrastructure, eliminating the burden of migrating to an unknown administrative platform.
"To compete with the traditional financial services players in the 401(k) administration arena, insurance carriers must manage costs more effectively, improve their processes, and increase their technology expertise," says Bill Budde, Senior Vice President and Head of Insurance Business Unit of the Company.
"Patni's Defined Contribution BPO Service gives insurance companies a head start in all three of these areas, enabling them to leverage the economics of offshoring and improve operational efficiencies through state-of-the-art technology," he added.