Among the many challenging responsibilities of state and local governments is the administration of employee retirement plans.
Despite the costs and complexities of running these plans, many agencies perform the work much as they did decades ago, relying on paper-based processes to execute transactions and respond to inquiries from employees. Yet, paper-based operations add to the retirement plan administrator’s costs while creating delays, errors, and other headaches for the employees
Modern web technologies can ease these issues, reducing the need for highly skilled personnel to execute transactions, answer questions, and provide counseling. These platforms also give employees (also referred to as members in this paper) 24/7 access to tools with which to carry out their own transactions and get answers to complex financial questions.
However, multiple issues have made it difficult for state and local governments to offer online capabilities that rival those offered by the private sector. One involves the pressing need for security. Another involves the scarcity of highly specialized IT resources within government agencies – people with the skills and experience needed to design and build modern web capabilities, integrate these seamlessly with existing systems, and ensure the delivery of an excellent customer experience.
This paper discusses the benefits of adopting modern web platforms, for both member and the state and local government agencies that administer their retirement plans.
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