Cloud8, the digital employee benefits platform provider, has launched BRIDGE - a new provider panel available to all subscribers to the company's BEAM at Work™ platform.
Still in its infancy, BRIDGE has already secured preferential rates with leading employee benefits providers including Ernst & Young LLP (EY), Canada Life, Next Jump, and Cushon.
In the UK, there are currently more than 12 million people employed by SME businesses, underserved and in need of access to relevant employee benefits. Cloud8's BRIDGE panel has been created to close that gap, bringing great benefits, at great rates, to smaller companies which have - until now - may have been priced out of these opportunities. Cloud8's large user base has allowed them to flex their collective buying power and bring big-business benefits and perks, to SMEs.
These partnerships not only show confidence in Cloud8 but in digital benefits themselves and what's to come.
Ian Rummels, CEO at Cloud8, says: "Cloud8's vision is to shake up the employee benefits sector with intuitive, technology for employees. By accelerating digital transformation across various industries, Covid has reinforced the real, and immediate, need for all of us to get up to speed with relevant, online benefits that employees can access digitally."
The following provider products are now available through BRIDGE - Cloud8's panel of preferred providers.
- Canada Life: The UK's number one group protection provider. Workplace voluntary protection products for employees and their loved ones, if they fall ill or pass away.
- Cushon: Giving employers the power to grow employee financial wellbeing through workplace savings and investments, together with the world's first Net Zero pension.
- EY TaxChat™: an on-demand mobile tax preparation service that connects individuals with EY professionals in an easy-to-use online environment, making filing tax returns simple, fast and reliable.
- Key Solutions: A whole of market mortgage broker providing independent mortgage advice.
- NextJump - Perks at Work: An employee perks program that sources perks that matter to help employees live a better and healthier life.
- Nest: Making sure employees have the right insurance, so they won't be out of pocket should their home or its contents need repairing or replacing as the result of damage or theft.
- Untangl: Instant third-party inbound spreadsheet file conversion to internal requirements for administrators, helping advisers spend time doing what they do best - not spreadsheets.
New benefits for advisers and providers.
Dipa Mistry-Kandola, Client Strategy Director at Cloud8 says: "Our new BRIDGE panel offers some really exciting benefits to advisers who license to our platform. As well as offering basic core / traditional benefits, they can offer their clients a full package of benefits meeting the needs of a varied employee demographic. It also allows them to give their clients access to market-leading products at preferential provider rates with a simple set up process - which is key when running a small advisory firm. SME employers until now haven't been able to access benefits in this affordable way. It's a digital package which truly rivals the expensive, full-service platforms. And it's a brilliant alternative to flex, which remains out of reach for many."
Access to full package of market-leading benefits at preferential rates + designed for SME clients = business growth.
Mistry-Kandola also points out the potential gains that providers can make by applying to become a BRIDGE preferred provider. "Being a member of our BRIDGE panel opens up multiple opportunities for providers. Providers have not historically targeted smaller brokers and employers due to the limited returns on time invested and onboarding costs Vs the take up volume. With BRIDGE, benefits can be turned on en masse to our subscribers, for minimal cost and legwork, giving direct access to the adviser and employer market segments, including those 12m employees!"
"The launch of BRIDGE is an exciting time for us at Cloud8, but it's also a game changer for advisers and providers who work with us. The employees using our platform are engaged, digital natives who are ready to embrace online benefits in a way we haven't seen before. BRIDGE is the seamless connection between providers, advisers and SMEs."
About Cloud8
Cloud8 creates intuitive cloud-based employee benefits platforms for advisers, intermediaries and employee benefits consultancies, to transform the way employee benefits are delivered in the workplace. Its affordable, subscription-based, white-labelled software, BEAM at WorkTM, manages and reports on employee benefits whilst enhancing employer and employee experiences.
To find out more about BRIDGE and BEAM at WorkTM drop Cloud8 a line at [email protected] / www.BEAMatwork.co.uk.
