Executive Summary: From Chaos to Clarity - How AI Is Transforming Employee Benefits Support
Summary: AI-powered benefits platforms are saving HR teams thousands of hours by providing employees with instant answers to benefits questions. Companies like Samsung Semiconductor and Zscaler report 61% adoption rates, 5,000+ hours saved during open enrollment, and 24/7 coverage for employee benefits questions, including the 40% of inquiries that arrive after hours. Implementation takes weeks, not months, and phased rollouts help build stakeholder trust while minimizing risk.
Open enrollment overwhelms HR teams every year. Questions flood in at all hours, employees struggle with complex terminology, and traditional support channels can't keep up. Avante’s AI-native benefits platform is changing this reality, and the results from early adopters offer a compelling roadmap.
What are the biggest challenges in employee benefits support?
In a poll of HR professionals conducted during the webinar, the top open enrollment challenges were clear: 34% cited lack of data and insights on employee needs, 21% pointed to employees making uninformed decisions, and another 21% struggled with overwhelming volumes of repetitive questions.
These problems feed each other. Without timely answers, employees make poor decisions. Without actionable data, HR teams can't improve programs. And when benefits information lives in silos, leaders operate blind.
Sarah Schutzberger, Senior Benefits and Well-being Manager at Samsung Semiconductor, captured the core issue.
How does AI benefits support work?
AI benefits platforms combine conversational AI for employees with data analytics for employers. Employees get instant answers in natural language, available 24/7. Employers gain connected insights across previously siloed data sources.
Modern AI benefits tools go beyond simple chatbots. They compare plan options against a spouse's coverage, translate conversations across 100+ languages in real-time, and personalize responses based on individual circumstances, all without human intervention.
How fast can companies implement AI benefits platforms?
Faster than most expect. Samsung Semiconductor went from first meeting in April to full open enrollment launch in October. Because Avante’s well-documented trust center and security materials, the security review, often a major bottleneck, took just 15 minutes.
Samsung embedded their AI assistant everywhere employees already go: benefits guides, new hire materials, internal Samsung chatbot, and the company intranet. And when employees emailed questions, team members queried the AI, shared the response, and introduced the tool organically, urging employees to start with AI first the next time they want an instant, accurate response.
The multilingual capability proved unexpectedly valuable for Samsung's international workforce. One employee had an entire conversation in Korean with seamless real-time translation; no content rewriting required.
What's the best strategy for AI benefits rollout?
Zscaler's experience offers a blueprint. They first attempted building an internal AI solution and quickly discovered the challenges: data cleanup, content formatting, accuracy issues, and ongoing maintenance overwhelmed their team.
This informed their vendor approach. Dene Sparrman, Global Head of Benefits at Zscaler, prioritized security review, transparency, and collaborative problem-solving. Their rollout followed a phased strategy: start with analytics to prove value, pilot employee-facing AI with a 500-person acquisition, then expand after demonstrating success.
That pilot achieved 61% adoption, proof that employees embrace AI when it genuinely helps them.
What results can companies expect from AI benefits support?
The numbers are striking:
5,000+ hours saved during open enrollment for a 10,000-person company
4200+ of questions answered in three weeks at one organization, which would have required 18 full time employees to answer manually
40% of questions arrive after hours and on weekends, when traditional support is unavailable
61% adoption during Zscaler's acquisition pilot
Improved benefits literacy and outcomes, with over 14% of conversations involving advanced scenario modeling to optimize plan selection
Beyond time savings and smarter decisions for employees, AI provides new insight to employers, helping them maximize investments, and giving them the confidence and clarity that their programs are working as intended. Dene Sparrman describes investigating GLP-1 medication trends and total costs of care in the clip below.
How should HR teams get started with AI benefits?
Early adopters recommend four key steps:
Prioritize security. Both Samsung and Zscaler required rigorous AI security review, but prepared vendors pass quickly.
Start small. Begin where risk is lowest and value is clearest. Build stakeholder trust through early wins.
Integrate intentionally. Put AI tools where employees already look and within their existing workflows and tools: email, Teams, Slack, benefit portals and your HRIS. Train your team to introduce the technology through daily interactions.
Think year-round. The greatest value extends beyond open enrollment to life events, ongoing questions, and continuous insights.
The transformation is achievable. Trust is important in the benefits space. AI, implemented thoughtfully, helps benefits teams earn that trust at scale, without adding headcount.
Want to watch the whole webinar? Watch it on demand here.
