We did a demo with Common Census and were very impressed. There are only a handful of companies that can compete with their capabilities. The are a first rate pick for enrollment ease, data management, setup and customer support. Our company was looking for a self-enrollment solution for groups where census data was not available. We also needed to reverse eligability through a PDA and instant registration process. These were not fully available. Thus, this system wasn't for us. However, this system would be great for 99% of traditional employee benefits management firms. We are just a little out side the box.

I love the enrollment setup. It makes it very easy to bring in a new group/enrollment.

Didn't offer a reverse registration process when no census data was available.

Very satisfied with the team that handled the install. Our rep was responsive and knowledgeable. He took care of items that came in right away.

The system is very functional and easy to set up. It's user friendly and has good capabilities. It's ideal for brokers that have an enrollment team that will interview employees on the phone and enroll them remotely.

I think it could have been a bit more robust. EDI connectivity took a long time to set up.

tabs for benefits, personal information, employment information, etc.

not easy to use. cannot complete EOIs during enrollment. the EDI feed was not correct to the carrier. customer support was not user friendly. when you complain the company gets their feelings hurt and shuts down on you.

Common Benefits allows us to build our own cases, on our own schedule, at a very reasonable price. Because of their relationships with nearly all major voluntary benefit carriers, we're able pull a wide variety of core and VB products onto one platform, which is a real pain point with other products that are often unable to handle one or the other. The system is very flexible and allows for a variety of solutions to typical enrollment and reporting challenges. This flexibility also means that the learning curve can be steep, but we have felt very well supported by the company's staff. They are quick to respond and are very solution oriented. With Common Benefits we can usually set up a new case for enrollment in less than two weeks, at minimal cost (sometimes free). Outsourcing the same case to another vendor would typically take at least six weeks and cost us thousands of dollars or, depending on the carriers, be free but take more like 8-12 weeks.

Some of the features that seem like they could be 'built in' require custom scripting, specifically some of the rating and enrollment rules for certain benefits. A couple very common reporting challenges are not handled well, specifically reporting on changes to data within the system. With that said, the staff is more than helpful with providing ready-to-use solutions to these and other issues. None of this requires us to have programming knowledge or to hire someone specifically to do it.

My company has been using and providing our clients with the Common Census enrollment/ben admin platform for over a decade. During that time we have consistently been impressed with the team from Westbrook, Maine, as well as their flexible system. Common Census allows producers and employers the ability to manage annual and ongoing enrollment, life event processing, and EDI file feeds via a flexible suite of tools that can accommodate nearly any benefit configuration.

Attractive pricing (sometimes free!), intuitive navigation, simple build process, responsive home office team, willingness to evaluate "out-of-the-box" solutions, integrated with numerous insurance carriers, multi-language support... There is a lot to like.

Perhaps not as "flashy" as other platforms. This is not a true negative, in my opinion, as many other platforms offer lots of bells and whistles that are seldom utilized by HR or employees, and can detract from the true objective, which is selecting benefits. Some may lament the lack of flashier decision support tools, but I don't.