Paul Crossdale explains how benefitsConnect's app consolidates total rewards, speeds up plan administration, and uses AI to cut costs for plan sponsors
Paul Crossdale has spent 36 years in the employee benefits industry. As founder and CEO of benefitsConnect, he’s watched the business move from mailing in paper claims to real-time API connections and argues that too many firms have failed to keep up, particularly when it comes to a benefits technology platform.
Crossdale was also recognized as a BPM Top Consultant earlier this year. When asked about the achievement, he points to a service model that prioritizes value over price.
"We are doing things that other firms in Canada are just not doing it. And I think clients are starting to recognize that," he said. "We're able to advise our clients instead of looking at the price, we’re looking at the value that our insurance company partners bring to the table as well. We're able to serve them a la carte, the types of benefits and products and services that they need as a company."
Consolidating total rewards into one platform
That model hinges on a proprietary app that consolidates an employee's entire total rewards package, ranging from benefits, savings, wellness tools, claims information, all into a single mobile platform. The concept, Crossdale said, was partly inspired by Zenefits, a US platform that bundled payroll and benefits into a single product before licensing issues derailed its insurance operations. He took the core concept - consolidating everything into one place - and built it out for the Canadian market.
According to Crossdale, the app acts primarily as a communication tool, one designed to put information directly in employees' hands rather than leaving it scattered across multiple insurer platforms. Employees can view beneficiary designations, personal profile details, mental health resources, and wellness services in a single place, regardless of where their benefits or savings sit.
He believes that consolidation solves a real problem, since employees who split coverage across carriers often struggle to find what they need through any single insurer's portal.
The app also surfaces information that Crossdale said can catch costly errors before they compound. For example, a worker listed as single instead of family or a missing beneficiary designation. A built-in chat function connects employees to HR in real time, and a library section stores onboarding videos, claims reports, HR policies, and digital benefits cards that employees can download to their phone wallets.
BenefitsConnect funds part of the app's wellness offering through what Crossdale calls a “one, one, one philosophy,” directing one per cent of profits to clients, one per cent to employees, and one per cent to charity. The firm uses those dollars to pay for wellness products and services bundled under its Wellness Connect program, Crossdale said, adding that “it saves employees money and time.”
“You could have different providers for a client. You could have Canada Life holding the employee benefits, you could have Sun Life holding the savings program and then layer on all of those other parts. For an employee, sometimes it's hard to go into an insurance company app and get everything. That is not the case with the benefitsConnect app because everything is in one spot. It's a fulsome offering of your entire total rewards in one place,” he explained.
Integrated communication and administration tool
But Crossdale emphasized the app also functions as both a communication channel and an administration tool. Notably, the app allows HR managers to push targeted content through a communication banner. For instance, articles on mental health during Bell Let's Talk month, RRSP contribution reminders during tax season, or legislative updates relevant to the workforce. Crossdale argues this addresses a structural gap in how benefits information reaches employees.
"Traditionally, insurance companies have hoarded this information but with this, we're able to push it out through the app," he said.
On the administration side, the platform processes employee additions, deletions, and enrolments in real time through API connections, eliminating the file feeds and manual handoffs that Crossdale said still define how most MGAs and TPAs operate. He said the firm can onboard a small company in a day, compared to the two to four weeks a traditional insurer might need.
The firm has also layered AI into its reporting workflow, with tools Crossdale said are already live with more than half of benefitsConnect's client base and set to reach all clients by January 2027. Tasks that once required an hour of manual work now take five minutes, he said, and the accuracy rate sits at 99.4 per cent.
“Now, you're getting the information to your clients quicker, it's more accurate and you're saving them money because you don't have to hire people,” said Crossdale.
According to Crossdale, most plan sponsors have little visibility into how their employees engage with benefits. That’s why benefitsConnect aims to address this, through click-tracking data built into the app. The firm monitors employee interactions with wellness products, newsletters, and other resources, then presents those metrics during annual reviews to show clients where engagement is rising and which tools are getting used.
He’s also been pressing insurance companies to share claims-level insights that would allow advisors to act on health trends within a workforce. If a client's employee base shows elevated usage of diabetes medication, for example, Crossdale wants that data flagged so the advisor can bring in a specialist or organize an education session. He has made the same case on pricing, arguing that employers with healthier workforces should receive premium discounts rather than facing the same inflation-driven cost increases as everyone else.
Financial literacy remains key component
Additionally, the current economic climate is putting pressure on employers, employees, and families alike, which has made financial literacy a more urgent priority in benefits design. BenefitsConnect addresses this through two channels within its app — a financial literacy component embedded in its Wellness Connect offering and a standalone program called Financial Connect — both of which give employees access to insurer-provided resources and educational content.
The firm also built out what it calls a Group Savings Department, led by a managing director who conducts financial education sessions with client workforces on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. Employees can attend those sessions, bring questions to the team directly, or access the same information through the app or the firm's website. Crossdale said the goal is to make financial guidance more accessible rather than leaving it buried in plan documents or insurer portals.
On the individual side, benefitsConnect also works with wealth planning specialists who can guide employees transitioning out of group savings plans into LIFs, RRIFs, or other decumulation vehicles, allowing the firm to support members from enrolment through to retirement.
The next phase of benefitsConnect’s app
Client feedback has also shaped the app's development as much as internal planning, with employers regularly suggesting features the firm has then built into subsequent versions, noted Crossdale.
According to Crossdale, the next major evolution of the app will come in September or October, when AI functionality is introduced on the employee-facing side. The plan administration site already has a chatbot, but the update will let members type in plain-language questions, like how much paramedical coverage they have left, whether a specific drug is covered and receive answers directly. He said the firm is working with insurance companies now to build those data connections.
"Continually listening to our clients and what they need and us pushing innovation in the app right now will really lead us to create that employee experience that everybody is clamoring for," he said.
