Dive Brief:
- According an article at Fortune, Jellyvision Labs, which got its start with the 1990s "You Don't Know Jack" trivia game, is making health and other benefit plan decision-making much less confusing.
- Jellyvision, based in Chicago, offers an interactive animated "cyber-adviser" named Alex.
- By using the Alex character, employee benefits plans can be made to be much more appealing to employees faced with tough, often complex choices. Jellyvision's thinking is Alex helps people relax and learn before hitting the "accept" button.
Dive Insight:
Employers as different as Adobe, American Eagle Outfitters, Best Buy, Comcast and FedEx use sucscription-based Alex, according to Fortune. While health insurance, due to its complexity, is the main target for Alex, it can be adapted to other benefits such as retirement planning, for example.
Jennifer McCarthy, manager of enterprise health and wellness communications at FedEx, told Fortune that with Alex, a "larger percentage" of its workforce is reviewing "jargon-free" benefits information. It's also an on-demand service, which cuts costs on things such as group meetings, traveling presenters, and human resources support calls, according to McCarthy.
