Harleysville Life Insurance Launches Online Group Benefits Platform

Seeking to expand its group benefits business, Harleysville Life Insurance Co. (Harleysville, Pa.) has launched My Harleysville Life Link, a new online employee group benefits platform designed to increase efficiency and reduce costs for agents and their clients.

Currently live for new business, My Harleysville Life Link ultimately will become available for all business via accessHarleysville, the carrier's agent portal that provides frequently needed information regarding agents' accounts policies and billing information, as well as access to rating, quoting and policy issue systems for commercial lines, personal lines and life insurance business. My Harleysville Life Link provides agents and employers with the means for making policy changes—including adding and terminating employees, salary updates and other employee-related changes, as well as the capability to download billing statements (current and previous), forms (applications, beneficiary changes, claims and enrollment cards), employee certificates, policies, and other company information.

In order to maximize ease-of-use, Harleysville involved agents in the design of My Harleysville Life Link, according to Susan Reinhard, vice president of group operations, Harleysville Life. "The new platform provides our agents with another reason to sell Harleysville Life for group benefits—especially to employers of all sizes who want to administer their own accounts," Reinhard observes. "Conversely, agents also have the ability to offer their clients the additional service of administering the account for them, should they choose to do so. Either way, turnaround time for processing, billing and policy changes is greatly improved."

The insurer hopes the system's ease-of-use will drive the expansion of its group business, suggests Ted Majewski, president and COO, Harleysville Life. "The ease and hands-on approach of doing business online has become a huge factor in the sales process," Majewski comments. "This new platform positions Harleysville Life to improve retention of existing accounts and compete more effectively in the employee benefits marketplace for new business, including larger accounts with more than 100 employees."

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio