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San Francisco, CA — Monday, June 19, 2000 — BenefitPoint, Inc., the first employee benefits
infrastructure company for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products,
recently launched its state-of-the-art training program that provides BenefitPoint customers with highly
personalized, cost-effective training.
BenefitPoint's comprehensive, customized training program offers carriers and brokers varying levels
of support through a combination of hands-on training and web-based courses. The program is designed
to be useful for experienced and novice computer and Internet users. The complete training program
takes a three-pronged approach that includes onsite sessions, live webcast tutorials and self-paced
web-based training. The rich menu of training alternatives makes it easy for users to choose the
training modality that works best for them:
- Onsite. BenefitPoint account managers provide hands-on instruction in how to use and apply
the BenefitPoint solution. Because these sessions are typically held at their own offices, customers
can begin to apply the skills they've learned to their actual work immediately, typically on the
same day. At the end of the session, account managers and customers identify training needs and
outline a plan for customized, subsequent training via the Web.
- Webcast. Customers continue to learn about and practice using the features of the
BenefitPoint solution at regular intervals after the initial training, using live and recorded
webcast tutorials. The tutorials are interactive, instructor-led classes delivered over the
Internet. Customers enroll for classes in advance and can watch demos, view slide shows and practice
new skills. "Webcasts are also a powerful tool for giving people up-to-the-minute information about
new product features," says Ceil Tilney, Director of Education Services at BenefitPoint. "Customer
are excited about using webcasts to bring geographically dispersed offices into the same virtual
room for ad hoc meetings and information sharing."
Using webcasts, customers can interact in real time with BenefitPoint instructors via online
chat, e-mail, or through a telephone dial-up connection. Webcast classes can be recorded, so
that they're also available online for repeat training or for employees who missed the initial
training. BenefitPoint has partnered with Centra Software to provide state-of-the-art webcast
capabilities.
- On-line. Customers can review and practice BenefitPoint product functionality 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week, using BenefitPoint's web-based self-paced training. This part of
BenefitPoint's training program is ideally suited for customers who want to learn new features on
their own schedule, or who need a quick refresher course on specific skills. Tilney notes that
self-paced training also lets customers bring new employees up to speed more quickly, since the
company doesn't have to wait for a scheduled training session to run. BenefitPoint has partnered
with DigitalThink to provide state of the art web-based self-paced training products.
BenefitPoint Offers Substantial Cost Savings Over Traditional Training
Traditionally, companies train their employees on new systems in one of two ways. Employees either
attend classes onsite that are taught by a traveling crew of company instructors, or they travel to
classes at a large, centralized training. Both approaches are costly in terms of time away from work
and travel expenses.
Industry research has shown savings of as much as 67% over classroom training in companies that
use web-based training solutions. BenefitPoint estimates that the cost of training all of its customers
in a traditional classroom would be three times higher than web-based training. What's more, training
industry studies suggest that customized training delivered through the Internet results in better
comprehension and retention rates for employees as compared with traditional training.
"Because we deliver our solution to carriers and brokers through a variety of media, including in-person
traditional classes, we're able to help our customers make the leap from confusion to competence far more
quickly than they'd be able to using traditional classroom training alone," says Tilney. "New
technologies are making major advances in training effectiveness possible. BenefitPoint's use of
traditional and web-based training lets customers easily learn new systems at their desktops, applying
their skills to their own data and addressing questions with real-time training support. Our premier
training program is designed to make the best use of our customers' valuable time."
As Easy As One, Two, Three
BenefitPoint's web-based training, like the web-hosted BenefitPoint system itself, requires only that
users have:
- An email address;
- Internet access; and,
- A web-browser.
In addition to the comprehensive training included in the price of its product, BenefitPoint's Education
Services team can also produce custom training solutions.
About BenefitPoint, Inc.
BenefitPoint, Inc. delivers the leading Internet-based employee benefits infrastructure for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products. As the central nervous system of the employee benefits industry, BenefitPoint provides a complete set of b2b services enabling benefits professionals to manage the entire group health insurance and benefits lifecycle. Building on the existing industry relationships among carriers, brokers, employers, and employees, the BenefitPoint solution combines the efficiency of the Internet with the established distribution model of the insurance industry to eliminate paper (saving everyone time and money), to make it possible to deliver more products and services (giving everyone more choices), and to make better information available (enabling everyone to make better decisions).
Releasing its first solution in December 1999, BenefitPoint has already received widespread industry adoption by more than 105 major insurance brokerages and consulting firms, representing more than $30 billion in annual premiums.
The company, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at 415.837.4120 or at
www.benefitpoint.com. BenefitPoint, Inc. is privately held.
About Centra
Centra (NASDAQ: CTRA) is the leader in software and services for live eLearning and Internet business
collaboration. Centra's solutions include Centra 99, an enterprise Internet application for virtual
classrooms, online presentations and Web meetings; and the innovative CentraNow Web meeting service.
Centra's customers include Fortune 1000 companies such as American Express, Exxon, Mobil, Nationwide,
Compaq, Standard Insurance, Sony, and MCI Worldcom. Centra has business and software partnerships with
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Consulting, Microsoft and Global Knowledge. Headquartered in Boston's
technology corridor, Centra can be reached at 781.861.7000 or at
www.centra.com.
About DigitalThink
DigitalThink (NASDAQ: DTHK) is a leading provider of e-learning solutions to Fortune 1000 companies.
DigitalThink offers a 100% Internet-based solution that combines course content aligned with business
objectives, a compelling, results-oriented e-learning experience, reporting tools that allow easy
tracking and ROI measurement, and fully integrated technologies that are completely outsourced.
DigitalThink e-learning solutions are already at work boosting employee efficiency, fostering customer
loyalty and improving sales channel performance at smart companies such as KPMG Consulting, Tenet
Healthcare, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems, and Deutsche Bank. DigitalThink, headquartered
in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at 415.625.4000 or at
www.digitalthink.com.
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