BCBSVT Sees Gains with New Compensation Management System

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Vermont is already seeing the results of a strategic IT investment: so far, its compensation management system has helped it to streamline operations and has lead to half a million in savings. Another $2 million in savings is expected over the course of the implementation.  Developed to overhaul incentive compensation and agent management capabilities, the Microsoft .NET Framework-based application will enable the company to decouple broker commissions from insurance premiums, reduce manual interventions by 97 percent and go paperless with broker commission statements.  The insurer’s story is not unlike those facing other companies. Before it tapped Computer Solutions & Software International’s (CSSI) VUE Compensation Management system, the insurer paid brokers a percentage of insurance premiums, and as these premiums rose, commission payouts increased from $3 million to more than $10 million. To curb these rising costs, it needed flexibility to structure commissions on subscriber contracts or pay-for-performance agreements rather than on medical premiums.  Since the start of the implementation in March 2007, VUE Compensation Management has enabled us to examine every broker compensation arrangement in place, identifying out-of-date incentive programs and recognizing cases where broker commissions were not leveraging the desired business result,” says Ellen Yakubik, marketing director for the company. “As a result of this data cleanup and improved processing controls, BCBSVT has saved nearly half a million dollars. Over the next few years, we expect VUE Compensation Management to help us further refine our broker payment processes and focus our commission costs on maximizing the value from our distribution channels.”  In addition, VUE Compensation Management has created a single data store for all broker information and has facilitated the insurer to disburse 85 percent of broker payments electronically. The time spent processing commissions has gone from 65 hours per month to only six, and as the organization continues to go paperless, it expects further savings.  Based on the Microsoft .NET Framework, VUE Compensation Management has delivered a solid platform to streamline BCBSVT’s complex commission and incentive programs. The solution integrates with Microsoft SQL Server 2005, a scalable and highly secure database providing the capabilities needed to store and access large volumes of data present in BCBSVT’s commission and incentive programs. BCBSVT utilizes SQL Server Reporting Services to provide comprehensive reporting and the intelligence needed to efficiently run their organization.