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Why Clean Data is Crucial for Successful PRT Transactions

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Before considering a Pension Risk Transfer (PRT), plan sponsors should examine the data readiness of their participant population. Participant data accuracy has a significant impact over the PRT process and its pricing. Reliable and accurate participant data that will not need to be scrutinized later gives the insurer the confidence to provide a reliable price upfront. It also ensures that the participant is receiving communication, better understands the upcoming changes, and will receive future communications from the insurance company.

Clean and accurate data assures insurance companies that DOB, SSN, address, phone number and other information for the participant pool and beneficiaries is up to date. A data cleanse should also include finding missing participants and a death audit of the participant pool to confirm the plan is not making inaccurate payments.

Investing in a data cleanse and a death audit will generate a positive return for plan sponsors as it will attract more insurers interested in quoting and assure a more accurate price. For insurers, it will give them the ability to identify and include more participants in an annuity lift-out. Clean data will also ensure more effective and efficient participant communications which will help provide a better participant experience when the insurer takes over administration.

In a recent PBI webinar, industry leaders weighed in on the importance of clean data prior to a PRT transaction.

Curt Marusik, Vice President of Pension Risk Transfer at Alight said “It’s important to have a thoughtful participant communications process and remember that these are not just transactions, there are real people involved and they are dependent on these funds every single month to show up on time without exception…and making sure that at the end of the day those people are your priority, that is the job.”

Norman Stein, Pension Rights Center, added comments about the importance of fully communicating the pros and cons of the PRT. “There is a high level of anxiety for participants when there is a PRT. They have so many questions. So it’s critical to have the data in order and up to date to give participants an opportunity to find gaps and correct errors and get their questions answered”.

Glenn O’Brien, managing director, head of U.S. market, Prudential, said the data standard for an annuity transaction has one of the highest thresholds associated with pension plan management. This is because of the irrevocable nature of PRT transactions.

“Once the assets leave the ERISA jurisdiction, they come to the insurance company framework, and the owner of the assets and liabilities is the insurance company,” O’Brien said. “For the insurer, it is critical to have the ability to assess and underwrite the transaction correctly.”

Finally, there is growing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Labor, state regulators, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regarding PRT transactions, and data cleanup will help to reduce the cost and risk involved in the plan transfer.

Make Sure Your Battery Backup Has Your Back

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UPS Battery Maintenance Tips

You are ready for a power outage. You have the right UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) system to provide a bridge of backup power for your equipment if the power goes out. The UPS system will guard against surges, keep you running during shorter outages, or allow for graceful shutdowns during longer ones.

So, nothing to worry about, right?

Yes, if your backup battery is young, healthy, and fully charged. While a UPS system acts as an insurance policy for your equipment, ensuring the battery is well maintained is critical to making sure your UPS system is ready when a power outage occurs. Of all the causes of UPS failures, half are due to battery failure.

What impacts battery life?

Time
Time is the most clear-cut guideline in determining if you should replace your battery. Most UPS batteries have an expected life of 3-5 years, but other factors can also shorten the life of the battery, such as temperature, humidity, and frequency of power events.

Temperature
Make sure your UPS unit is in a cool and dry location. If the batteries operate in an environment that is too hot or too cold, it can reduce their ability to store energy. Generally, for every 15°F average temperature above 77°F, the life of the battery is reduced by 50 percent. Leave at least 2 inches of space on each side of your UPS unit for proper airflow. The temperature recommendation from the manufacturer should be strictly followed.

Humidity
Heat and humidity often go hand in hand. Too much moisture can also affect battery life. In more controlled environments with consistent power, you can probably plan for closer to 5 years of battery life. Most UPS manufacturers will specify the maximum relative humidity of an environment safe for the UPS. Avoid installing a UPS near open windows or areas with high levels of moisture.

Frequency of Power Events
Power quality issues, such as voltage fluctuations, harmonic distortions, noise and power outages can cause the UPS to shut down and activate the backup battery. After a UPS operates on battery power during a power failure, the battery recharges for future use, an event known as the discharge cycle. Each discharge and subsequent recharge slightly reduces the capacity of the battery.

Always be Prepared

Periodic power evaluations can help determine if your battery is still able to switch to battery mode when a power event occurs, but the age and condition of the battery will affect how long the battery will last.

Review your power environment. For example, if you live in Florida and have a UPS exposed to higher heat, humidity, and power fluctuations due to active storm seasons, you probably should err on the safe side and replace your battery every three years. In more controlled environments with consistent power, you can probably wait five years for replacement.

Other battery tips

Register your UPS systems and keep purchase records. That way if your battery dies before the warranty expires, you can get a replacement battery from the UPS manufacturer. A certified replacement battery from the manufacturer will give you peace-of-mind that the battery is fully compatible with your UPS system and include a warranty.

If you have an existing UPS that has already had a battery change (meaning the UPS is getting on to 7-8+ years old) you may want to consider purchasing a new UPS system instead. A new UPS will have better efficiency, resulting in lower costs in the long run, plus peak surge protection, as well as enhanced features.

When a new battery is needed, CyberPower has your back with the right replacement battery.

The Most Common (but easily preventable) Mistake in Email Marketing Campaigns

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The most common mistake? Ignoring the 40-40-20 Rule.

Over many years, marketers have studied direct response results and have discovered a breakdown of what generally makes an e-campaign or any direct response campaign successful. The results are as follows:

40% is the quality of the LIST

40% is the quality of the OFFER

20% is the quality of the CREATIVE

Of course, every campaign is unique and there are variations of the rule, but 40-40-20 is easy to remember and serves the purpose.

Most marketers like to focus on the creative because that’s the fun part. But now we know creative is only 20% of what’s needed to be successful. The fact is too much time is often spent over-analyzing and revising the creative concept, images and copy.

If you’ve ever created a direct response campaign, you’ve seen this movie. Everyone wants to see the concepts. Then everyone wants to put their mark on it and then it gets reviewed again. The creative goes through endless rounds of revisions until it becomes sanitized and diluted by too many cooks spoiling the creative broth. In the end, everyone is equally unhappy.

To be clear, the creative is important – it needs to grab attention and trigger a response. But instead of so many revisions, make sure the creatives understand the audience/message. Then make sure they create very specific and targeted concepts. Finally, have one creative director who approves the creative.

Back to list. Before you even look for a list or start the creative, spend time creating your audience profile. Try to refine it down as far as possible. Remember your campaign can only get a response from prospects already interested in buying. Don’t try to sell to anyone else. THEY WILL NOT RESPOND. You can’t create demand – only satisfy it.

So, the list must be comprised of people who are most likely to buy your product. Seems obvious, but finding the optimal list requires a clear understanding of your best prospects. That may require some additional research and strategic thinking.

Even with the perfect list, it’s important to understand that only a small number of people will respond:those already interested in buying and can be motivated to buy NOW. Keep in mind, a successful campaign might generate just a 2% response.

With the time and budget limitations every marketing campaign faces, you need to focus on only the best prospects. Develop your own and/or buy one from a list company. If your list includes current customers, then you have an excellent list. But if you’re trying to grow beyond those audiences, you need to ensure that you’re talking to good prospects. Do some research and connect the dots. You’ll likely discover smaller customer segments that have even more reason to buy.

What about the offer?

In this context, the offer refers to more than just a promotional discount. It includes both the unique appeal of the product combined with any special discount to buy now. You need both and they must be quickly and clearly communicated. You could offer pet rocks at 70% off and not get any response (unless maybe you had the right list, of course!).

So remember the 40-40-20 Rule. It has decades of results to back it up. There are no guarantees in direct response marketing, but a successful email marketing campaign will require:

  1. Quality list (ONLY those prospects most interested in buying your widget)
  2. Must-have offer (e.g. this unique widget is half off, if you order today!)
  3. Powerful creative and Call To Action (on target message, not diluted!)

Good luck!

The 40-year evolution of a brand to reach the pinnacle in its industry.

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Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a follower and a leader. “

In the death audit and participant locate market, PBI Research is the clear leader and constant innovation has been the catalyst. But it didn’t happen overnight. It started 40 years ago when the company began helping pension funds find unreported pension decedents and locate missing plan participants and beneficiaries. This unrelenting focus to provide accurate data on a consistent basis propelled the company upward.

However, the defining moment that would dramatically change the company’s trajectory came later. In 2011, the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF), started limiting the number of reported deaths due to concerns about the rise of identity fraud. It turned out to be a sea change for the industry as the DMF went from reporting 95% of deaths prior to 2011 to just 23% in recent years.

So, after 2011, pension plans and insurance companies could no longer rely on the DMF to find most of their decedents, which meant they had to do the work themselves – spending countless hours combing through disparate obituary data and various media sources from around the country. Or they could turn to companies like PBI for help. But even with the assistance of outside experts, the best they could hope for was to find 70% of deaths.

PBI was determined to do better. The company made the decision to invest millions of dollars into data technology and assembled the largest team of data experts in the industry to bring customers a better outcome. It took years, but the result was the introduction of CertiDeath® in 2019 – a game changer.

Using AI, over 26,000 obituary databases and their team of specialists, CertiDeath was able to identify 95% of deaths with 99.9% accuracy. Since its introduction, CertiDeath has helped clients eliminate over $200 million in overpayments and release billions in related reserves.

Building on its CertiDeath success, PBI continued to innovate. In 2022, PBI introduced CertiCensus®, the first and only complete population management solution available on the market. For plan administrators, record keepers, and insurance companies,  CertiCensus manages participant communications and finds missing decedents, participants, policyholders and beneficiaries.

As a true end-to-end solution, CertiCensus can significantly reduce plan management costs, eliminate overpayments, align with regulatory compliance, and mitigate cybersecurity risk. But perhaps most importantly it ensures a better participant and policyholder experience, locates beneficiaries with the benefits they deserve and helps ensure the longevity of the fund.

This year PBI is introducing CertiSearch®, the soon-to-be premier participant locate service on the market. Like our other offerings, it leverages our state-of-the-art data systems and team of experts to find more missing participants and beneficiaries than any other service.

You’ll also notice our new look. We’ve refreshed our logo, colors and design which reflects our never-ending commitment to reach higher in everything we do.

It’s true, innovation drives our growth, but customer service sustains it. Our customers can always rely on our dedicated sales and account teams to make sure they get what they need every day – satisfaction reflected by a 98% product renewal rate. At the end of the day, PBI customers can rest assured they’re doing what’s best for their plan, participants, beneficiaries and policyholders.

Small Businesses Now the #1 Target for Hackers

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A new report by cybersecurity firm 4iQ reveals data breach attacks to small businesses surged over 420% in 2018, exposing almost 15 billion identity records including credit card numbers, bank accounts, and email addresses. According to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report, small businesses now account for 58% of malware attack victims. In 2017, cyberattacks affected 61% of SMBs according to a Ponemon Institute report.

Why the increased threat to small businesses?

First, smaller companies are being increasingly targeted because they don’t have sophisticated security and larger companies are getting tougher and tougher to hack. Small companies are more vulnerable and often have valuable information. Second, the number of hackers has dramatically increased because the dark web has made powerful hacking tools available to anyone and a marketplace to easily sell stolen data.

Think your small business is below the radar and too small to be hacked?

Think again. Regardless of your industry or company size, you’ll likely have data thieves want to steal such as confidential customer information that can be easily sold to identity thieves on the dark web. Your database may also contain other kinds of confidential data such as customer credit card numbers, employee personal records, and trade secrets. Plus, hackers don’t just steal data, they can corrupt it or hold it for ransom (ransomware).

What you should do:

1. Make sure your employees are properly trained.

You need to have procedures for securing data. Most security problems, particularly at small companies, are caused by employee-related errors – clicking on bad websites, opening up infected files, etc.  Make sure your employees are well aware of potential problems to avoid putting your small business at risk.

At a minimum, employees should:

  • Change passwords on a regular basis
  • Not open emails, download files or click on links from suspicious sources
  • Ignore popup messages
  • Keep laptops secure (password protected and locked away at night)

2. Secure remote worker access.

If an employee or contractor is working remote, then they’re connecting to your network through online services which have a risk of being hacked. Even employees who bring their laptop home risk having their laptop lost or stolen.

3. Look for signs you may have been hacked.

  • Login problems. A hacker may have locked your account after too many unsuccessful attempts to log in. Or worse, they got in and changed the password locking you out.
  • Popup messages, anti-virus warnings, new toolbars, should raise concerns.
  • Slower network. Can be caused by hackers transferring files out of your network.
  • Fake or phishing emails sent to your employees.
  • High turnover and/or disgruntled ex-employees.

Some of the ways we help protect our clients from data breach threats:

  1. Multilevel security. It takes more than antivirus software to protect your business. We can recommend the best tools for your specific environment and budget and will use a multi-layered approach to implement and manage those tools for you.
  2. Affordable remote access solutions. Many companies think remote access tools are out of their reach. However, secure remote access is easy, offering you both the productivity and accessibility your employees need, while keeping your data and networks secure from threats.
  3. The best defense is a good offense. Our OneCare managed services plan offers companies the ability to proactively protect their networks.
  4. Responding to clients promptly. Each ticket that comes in is reviewed and escalated within 12 minutes, regardless of how the ticket is generated.

How Retailers are Cashing in on Halloween

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Remember a time when Halloween was simple? Those days are over. For category managers, the huge opportunity (over $9 billion expected in sales this year) presents a daunting array of products and strategies to consider.

Second only to Christmas in dollars spent, Halloween continues to grow. This year, consumers are expected to spend $3.4 billion on costumes, $2.7 billion on candy, $2.7 billion on decorations, and $410 million on greeting cards. Greeting cards? We have to assume this includes party invitations.

Some retailers that are doing fright right.

Target

It starts with Target’s Hyde and Eek boutique on their website. Like their stores, Target’s Halloween landing page is clean, uncluttered and upscale. Target presents three different home decorating themes. When you click one, you’ll find home décor items that that go together. Coordinated Halloween décor? Who knew! Plus, Target’s product page offers a unique user experience. When you move your cursor over an individual product, it shows how the product might look in an actual home setting.

The lesson for category managers is always keep your core customers in mind even if it’s just a seasonal promotion. Target is a discounter, but its success is based on appealing to customers from middle to upper income brackets. Coordinated Halloween decorating themes in upscale settings likely hits home with these customers. Target understands their target audience. No bones about it.

Party City

Party City has capitalized on the Halloween opportunity by adding pop-up locations to augment sales at their regular stores. Pop up stores are especially popular with Millennials and because so many brick and mortar stores have closed, there are plenty of good locations and great deals.

If you visit Party City’s website, you’ll find they’ve taken the lifestyle theme to another level with 13 “house illusions”. Each includes the suggested scene, a paragraph describing how it works and a complete list of items needed.

It’s also interesting to look at “Customers Also Bought” sections on Halloween sites. E.g. on Party City’s website, when you click on the “Animated Possessed Doll” and scroll down you’ll find even more creepy ideas such as: Animated Terror Clown, Light-Up Mourning Zombie Baby with Sound Effects, Light-Up Bonnet Baby with Sound Effects, etc.

Amazon

Amazon is expected to grab the largest share of Halloween related purchases. Not surprisingly, their Halloween store is easy to navigate with the key categories at the top. Then featured essentials, costumes sorted by genre so you can quickly scan options you’re interested in. It also has Halloween toys (unusual) and a banner link to “Halloween for Teens.” Plus, Amazon offers safe treats that are free of the top 8 allergens: peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. Even with Halloween, it seems Amazon offers everything from A to Z.

Grandin Road

While some furniture e retailers dabble in Halloween décor, Grandin Road offers 17 pages of higher end décor you simply won’t find anywhere else. Grandin Road’s innovative thinking was further evidenced when they tried inserting pop up Halloween stores in Macy’s two years ago.

Get Social

Pinterest is a favorite go-to site for costume ideas. In fact, 27 million Pinterest users pinned Halloween content last year. 17% of all costume buyers used Pinterest for ideas, up 133% since 2012. So? Well, Millennials are in their prime Halloween costume buying years and they are heavily influenced by peer recommendations.

Finally, remember Halloween is $9 billion opportunity! Start planning now for next year. Do your homework. Find out what others are doing. Get creative. Don’t be afraid to think outside the coffin. Take a stab at something different. As long as you give it your best shot, no one will say boo.