Lots of useful tools that we are able to utilize as a broker. Love the 1095 build outs and quick reports.

Can be a little difficult for a new person to navigate. Would love to see a help feature similar to something you might see on a Microsoft Office programs.

Efficiency and continuity of information delivery of insurance benefits in addition to legible enrollment forms with complete information.

The toggle inputs make setting up the portal easy, and, if you have all the pieces (census, subgroup designations, rates, and benefit summaries), a portal can be setup in a day, versus 6-8 weeks on other systems. We utilize the portal mainly during open enrollment since it provides an easy way to post age rates or composite rates and provides a delivery mechanism for ACA required Summary of Benefits and Coverage. It leverages much of the data held in the system to pre-populate enrollment forms and collect actual signatures (via touchscreen or mouse).  It also offers Onboarding capabilities (I-9, W-4, Handbook receipts, etc.) for those companies who want to go paperless.  We launched the portal with our 50+ clients first in order for them to capitalize on the 1095 reporting capabilities with BerniePortal then rolled out portals for smaller clients at their renewal. The system is compatible with any device that can connect to the internet so even field employees can enroll using their phone. We have monthly support calls with our BerniePortal Account Manager to discuss newly released features and provide feedback on cases in progress.

The system architecture is updated frequently and changes are not always announced, so sometimes we find feature changes that we did not know were happening. Many times these are minor, and improvements, but there have been features removed that we appreciated using. Most rating methods can be accommodated like age rates and composite rates for standard lines of coverage. Disability rate tables can be challenging to setup yourself, but the BerniePortal team is available to handle some or all benefit setups. They have a Defined Employer Contribution mechanism, but currently do not have a Defined Employee Contribution mechanism. Adoption and use by the HR administrator is ultimately needed to gain the most value and utility from the system. Standard client data reports are available for download, but custom reports cannot currently be generated.

The only thing that I liked about this software, is that employees were able to enroll into their benefits, and BP would send me a summary sheet.

There is a pto tracker, however it only tracks by hour, and does not work if you have different employees with different amounts of pto earned each year. BP does not integrate well with many of the big name healthcare providers so even though they give you that summary sheet, you still have to enter the information in yourself. Customer service is slow and terrible. It takes days for someone to get back to you, and sometimes, it's just to tell you that they still don't have the answer. I also had an instance where another company's documents were uploaded onto our profile for employees to review and sign off on.

Our overall experience with BerniePortal is great. Our customers are coming around to using it and those that do, love it. I've been able to get Open Enrollments done quicker, processing is quicker since we are not continually tracking down employees to receive needed information from paper apps and in some cases with small groups, the need for employee meetings has reduced.

I like the clean, easy to read look of the software. It's not a "busy" website where you get lost in knowing what to do next. This software is the most user friendly I've seen from an online enrollment site.

Sometimes I just don't know how Bernie "thinks". LOL. Sometimes the questions asked can be perceived in different ways. For example, Salary updates: "Effective with first paycheck after this date". Answering this question can be complicated since, we as the broker, are often assisting with this question to make sure that Disability rates calculate correctly during renewal.

Buying into an enrollment platform was a big decision, and we did not take it lightly. After vetting multiple options, we made the investment with BerniePortal and it has far exceeded our expectations. We would not hesitate to make the same decision again, and would highly recommend this platform to any broker looking to solidify their standing with clients and expand their book all while making things easier for your admin staff!

BerniePortal addresses those pain points that our clients and admin staff have complained about for years, and offers a robust solution. So much more than an online enrollment platform, BerniePortal offers HR tools, compliance help, integrated billing with some carriers, payroll integration and integrated COBRA administration. Our clients rave about the portal and our admin staff needs have decreased since we began using BerniePortal. The service provided by the BerniePortal staff is second to none!

The reporting in BerniePortal could be improved - it is sufficient but could be upgraded to be more intuitive for the admin staff and clients alike.

You can view your current benefit selections at any time, even if the HR team is off the clock at work.

The portal doesn't save all entered data so medical insurance benefits get inputted incorrectly, doctors get assigned incorrectly, and life insurance gets selected at incorrect amounts. It's also difficult to access different parts of the site without getting a direct link from HR, which is tedious.

It is highly customizable which is very valuable to our firm and the small group market we primarily serve.

It tackles online benefits administration and onboarding in a very unique way. It is designed by brokers with brokers in mind. It is intuitive and has a user interface that is easy to understand. It is constantly being updated and improved. It gets better every day.

The build out process can be painful. The build out request form leaves a lot to be desired. There are always a lot of errors in the way the groups and plans are built and because testing a portal is difficult sometimes those errors don't get discovered until the site is live. There is not user guide/manual/step by steps/instructions available so you can't independently trouble shoot, I always have to send an email.

I am finding Bernie Portal to be a great value add for my agency. My groups like the portal, it is easy to use, and it helps me get new business and retain what i already have. I am a big fan!

I like the fact that Bernie Portal is so focused on the broker. The fact that they build each website for me and update each year on renewal makes Bernie Portal such a great partner for my agency.

Every now and then i run into something that a group may want to do that Bernie Portal just can't accommodate. Usually however, many of these small issues at some point in time get resolved as Bernie continues to innovate and upgrade their portal.

BerniePortal has allowed me to entirely streamline our HR functions. Insurance renewal time is a breeze, onboarding is a non-event, and we now are compliant on all employment sign-offs, etc. I am able to now financial steer the company instead of reacting to HR events.

- The onboarding solution streamlines the process - The insurance application process allows for ease of submission directly by the applicant - We were able to upload our updated Employment Handbook and all related policies in to require signature from employees. - The PTO solution takes the record-keeping burden off of my group as managers directly approve PTO requests. - The customer service group is very responsive - The development team seriously considers user feedback (implementation of a PTO calendar view)

The PTO solution requires a bit more flexibility with regard to rolling-over unused PTO to the subsequent year and/or loading the annual PTO at the beginning of each year

Overall experience is great! Support team is easy to work with and responsive. The system is customizable and simple to navigate. Even if employees don't have computer access, the masquerade feature overcomes this issue.

The system is very user friendly and customizable.

The system exports various reports and any SSN's that begin with 0 do not reflect 0 at the start. No major dislikes.

After utilizing Bernie Portal for a few weeks, there are a few comments/suggestions I would like to pass on. Employee enrollment changes – When I go back to correct errors I have to completely recreate the employees enrollment, from start to finish. When an employee elects to make an HSA contribution change, I shouldn’t have to completely remove and re enter his enrollment just to update something so simple. Reporting – First, I cannot pull a report with HSA contributions, they come over as a PDF with a page for each employee, even if they are not enrolled in an HSA. I then have to search for changes. Second, our spousal and children vol life or AD&D plans are not tied to the spouse or child, they should be tied to the employee. When I pull a report for the vol life and AD&D plans, have to manipulate the data and move it to the employee as it is populated on a line/record that has census data for the spouse or child. I would like to see the data tied to the employee. Pending enrollments – some of our plans require additional steps such as evidence of insurability forms to be completed be fore the employee is actually enrolled in the plans. I would like to see Bernie Portal have the option to mark an employees enrollment as pending and thus exclude it from billing and payroll deduction reports.

Bernie Portal has good customization options, and they responded quickly when we needed to make a change to the view/setup of our plans.

We offer 12 different benefit plans with multiple options and tier selections. Bernie Portal isn't equipped to handle this many plans effectively. The reporting feature is not customizable and cumbersome to extract the data that I need. There is also not the option to edit/change an employees enrollment without completely starting over. Pending enrollments that require approval or additional processing such as an Evidence of Insurability form cannot be removed from reports or the billing feature. This causes lots of manipulations to the reports on our end to ensure accurate data.

From the brokers admin standpoint the software provides an online solution to administer and maintain benefits, especially for the smaller to midsize groups. It gets more complicated with larger groups that have multiple levels. Working closely with a BP rep that is a good fit for the firm is extremely important to make these build outs and renewals go smoothly.

The software's functionality is fairly easy to use from the standpoint of the brokers admin. I am able to easily train our groups admins to manage their groups benefits, enrollment and renewal process.

The reports feature is limited and not very robust. It would be great to create reports with only the information needed and in the order your like to see it displayed.

Rolka Loube is very happy with BerniePortal and is excited to keep using the portal/new services for years to come.

All around good product/software. The team(s) at BerniePortal are always there to help and are extremely professional every time I have spoken to them.

The only con I would say that I have would be with the PTO feature we have set up. It has been giving us issues almost the entire time we have been using it. But will say that BerniePortal is always there to help with those issues.

difficult, slow, and not intuitive to users needs, many issues with items that required varying amounts of coverage

less paper electronic, quicker turnaround time for employees

slow to find employees, reports are not customize-able. many steps just to find a small piece of information

It's okay, I really appreciate the help, direction and response time of our team, but the portal itself it just clunky.

Basic enrollments (Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, STD, LTD) and normal contributions, it's really easy to build and use.

Anything that needs to be slightly customized it doesn't have the capability. ie: A group I had contributes a flat amount for Medical, Dental, Vision and EE Group Life. The group does not contribute to dependent group life, vol std, vol ltd, fsa or hsa. It is unusual set up, but I had to find different work arounds, non of which were "easy" and slightly confusing for both the employer and employees The other thing is that updates given to the plan, do not automatically update on the subgroup level.

Customer service, reporting, build out support

Cumbersome, reporting features nice concise

BP partnered with our insurance agents from Buckman Mitchel makes the hard job of an HR professional much easier.

Automating the onboarding process and including benefit elections into the onboarding ensures that an employee will not be forgotten when they become eligible for benefits. BP gives employees the opportunity to complete new hire documents prior to their first day, giving them more hands on time. I find employees read the handbook since they have the time to and it is provided online through BP.

I do with there was an E-Verify option, for the fact I still need to see the work eligibility documents on the first day.

Intuitiveness and ease of use. Slick interface. Clients love it. Relatively small learning curve. ...

Having to redo elections when we make small changes. Not being able to term or add a dependent without redoing elections.

Since day 1 I have loved this system. I love the fact that it automatically sends you updates as personnel make changes, and that it sends a clear accounting of all elections for enrollment periods.

This program is perfect for staff who are not computer literate. I have many field technicians who have great difficulty maneuvering through systems, but they are very quick to get through BerniePortal with little to no assistance.

Would like a component that allows us to process our payroll internally and not sending information to a payroll vendor.

Not that impressed with the product. I would like a better platform that is easier to work with.

A solution for employees to sign benefits forms electronically, reducing the need for printing forms and distributing as well as tracking if employees returned them. Can easily send out reminders for those that haven't signed forms.

Reporting is difficult and its not easy to navigate to find employee paperwork and download documents.

My clients absolutely love BerniePortal. The benefits enrollment is great, and the onboarding tools are a huge bonus. What a difference from collecting paper applications from all employees!

As a broker, ease of use for my clients is critical. Online enrollment is the future in benefits, and getting on board with a system that does it right was essential. BerniePortal delivers!

The only thing I would add is a short benefit summary on the Election screens for each plan. As it is set up now, the employee has to click on a PDF to view the benefit summary. It is still far better than paper, but a short summary on the screen would be helpful.

Even though we have only been using it for a short time (approx. 6 months), I have been very pleased so far. Anytime I have an issue or need something customized, my broker works directly with the BerniePortal customer service team and the response time is usually very quick.

Bernie Portal has greatly improved our Onboarding and Open Enrollment processes. Having everything captured electronically is a huge time saver for both HR and employees.

Would like to see more robust reporting capabilities/options to run custom reports. Currently have to do a lot of manipulation once data is exported.

Bernie Portal, besides making open enrollment a breeze, made the COBRA integration and ACA compliance one of the easiest parts of my job. Love it!

I love Bernie because it's so easy for both me and my employees to use. It's made open enrollment a breeze.

The only con I can think of is that it doesn't integrate bills properly. But I'm not worried too much about that.

It's been wonderful!

Bernie Portal is mobile-friendly which is helpful because most of our employees work in the field and don't always have access to a computer. It is more user-friendly than our previous software and the customer service is friendly with quick response time. The onboarding of a new hire is simple but saves a lot of time and paperwork.

It's been a little more difficult to send out memos to all employees than our previous software.

Easy to navigate the site and access information as needed. Some bugs with refreshing - overall just needs an updated user experience

Bugs during onboarding and revisiting certain items got to be a bit tedious, took a few times to access