Press Release

Ascensus Unveils Retirement Website and Mobile Enhancements That Offer Simple, Seamless, and Supportive User Experiences

Issued by Ascensus

Sept. 14, 2021

Plan Sponsors and Participants Benefit from Continued Investments in Technology and Digital Initiatives Designed to Save Time and Improve Outcomes

Ascensus -- whose technology and expertise help millions of people save for retirement, education, and healthcare -- is pleased to announce a recent series of technology and digital updates designed to enhance and simplify retirement plan sponsor and participant user experiences.

Chief among these are participant website and mobile experiences that have been redesigned based on the latest feedback and user experience principles. Updates include more intuitive designs that are in line with Ascensus’ approach of keeping retirement plan engagement simple, seamless, and supportive for all users. The enhancements include a dashboard redesign, behavioral interventions, and experimentation to drive positive saver outcomes.

The participant dashboard redesign, which ensures important account information is prominently displayed and easy to understand, has received high marks, with four out of five savers preferring the new design over those of other financial websites. Ascensus’ mobile app now provides personalized, context-sensitive interventions that have successfully deflected 30% of participants who intended to decrease their savings rate. And through A/B testing and using behavioral economics principles, Ascensus was able to increase the number of savers who increased their savings rate by 50% over control.

“Ascensus is committed to investing in technology that delivers fresh, simple, and efficient experiences to plan sponsors and participants,” states Kevin Cox, president of Ascensus Retirement. “As a company that is constantly on the move, we’ll continue to evolve our online experiences based on user feedback and data-driven insights with the goal of delivering better outcomes for the plan sponsors and participants we service.”

In addition to the participant website and mobile redesign initiatives, Ascensus has also recently unveiled several other experience enhancements as a result of technology-related investments, including:

• Payroll: Ascensus has introduced several features to make payroll processing more seamless and intuitive for plan sponsors, including a wizard that assists with uploading files, the ability to track contributions and clearly see remaining steps in the process, and an option to update banking information within the payroll experience. These enhancements have been well received by plan sponsors who handle their own payroll processing.

  For plan sponsors who do not want to facilitate their own payroll processing, Ascensus continues to integrate with additional payroll vendors to offer more options, including Payroll 360. Ascensus has integrated with more than 100 payroll providers and is currently working on expanding a number of those into Payroll 360 integrations.

• Compliance: Our year-end compliance testing package has been refreshed with a clean, intuitive design to help plan sponsors ensure their plan operations and documents are current and compliant. Plan-level alerts are now available to assist with ineligible contributions and offer tips and best practices. The new experience features dynamic content and interactive digital links, with more enhancements on the horizon.
• Managed Accounts: We’ve expanded our strategic relationships to provide managed account optionality for institutional partners and advisors looking to deliver personalized account management services to their clients and savers.

“Our technology-driven investments demonstrate Ascensus’ commitment to providing enhancements to better support plan sponsors and participants,” adds Cox. “Since our independent service model allows for more choice and flexibility, our partners can leverage these enhancements to facilitate solutions that connect with their clients.”

“We’ll continue to develop our purpose-driven technology to make it easier for employers of all sizes to offer retirement plan benefits to their employees while also helping more savers save more,” concludes Cox.

About Ascensus
Ascensus helps millions of people save for what matters—retirement, education, and healthcare. Through co-branded, private-labeled, and other governmental partnerships, our technology, market insights, and business knowledge enhance the growth and success of our partners, their clients, and savers. Ascensus is the largest independent recordkeeping services provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator in the United States. For more information, visit ascensus.com.

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