CHARLESTON, S.C., Dec. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Benefitfocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNFT), a leading provider of cloud-based benefits management software, today announced its Winter Software Release, which includes platform investments to simplify end-of-year reporting and deliver data-driven insights for 2018 planning. The release also includes new communications capabilities to increase transparency and improve personalization to ensure open enrollment success.

"Our Winter Software Release is the capstone on another great year of innovation for the Benefitfocus Community. During the past 12 months, we've delivered a number of major advancements across our entire solution portfolio including Benefitfocus COBRA Administration and Benefitfocus Consumer Directed Healthcare Accounts," said Ray August, Benefitfocus President & COO. "By working closely with the Benefitfocus Community of employers, brokers and insurance carriers, we consistently delivered new features throughout the year to simplify benefits management. In particular, 45 of the new features we delivered in 2017 were sourced directly from the Benefitfocus Idea Community, our industry-leading innovation platform."

Features included in the Winter Software Release were designed to improve both the employer and insurance carriers' customer experience on the Benefitfocus Platform. Key features and enhancements include:

For Employers:

• Boosting open enrollment success – enhanced ability to track and report on open enrollment performance to drive participation
• Data-driven insights for planning – increased data collection and submission features Core & Advanced Analytics enable more data to be captured around the plans employees choose
• Ensuring ACA compliance – updated ACA Management & Reporting capabilities based on new IRS requirements
• Enhanced open enrollment communications – new messaging capabilities BENEFITFOCUS® Marketplace improve scheduling and tracking, as well as the ability to measure effectiveness of messaging to ensure employees are supported and engaged during open enrollment

For Carriers:

• Enhanced billing support – improvements in Benefitfocus eBilling™ including self-service support and the ability to edit status and disable invoices strengthen customer relationships
• Improved group and personalized communications – simplified messaging tools in BENEFITFOCUS® Marketplace – including scheduling and tracking tools for event-triggered emails and text notifications – help administrators drive open enrollment completion by giving employees the reminders and education they need
• Greater insight into employee behavior for better planning – an update to Premium Reporting allows carriers to view rate factor survey responses, helping them better understand how consumer behavior impacts benefit premiums for improved planning and budgeting 

Current Benefitfocus customers can learn more about the Winter Software Release and receive training with these new tools through the Benefitfocus University.

About Benefitfocus

Benefitfocus (NASDAQ: BNFT) provides a leading cloud-based benefits management platform that simplifies how organizations and individuals shop for, enroll in, manage and exchange benefits.  Every day leading employers, insurance companies and the consumers they serve rely on our platform to manage, scale and exchange benefits data seamlessly.  In an increasingly complex benefits landscape, we bring order to chaos so our clients and their employees have access to better information, make better decisions and lead better lives. Learn more at www.benefitfocus.com, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Actual results or performance might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the need to innovate and provide useful products and services; changes in government regulations; our ability to compete effectively; the immature and volatile nature of the market for our products and services and other factors that could impact our anticipated growth; management of growth; fluctuations in our financial results; general economic risks; reliance on key personnel; our ability to maintain our culture and recruit and retain qualified personnel; privacy, security and other risks associated with our business; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our SEC filings, copies of which are available free of charge within the Investor Relations section of the Benefitfocus website at http://investor.benefitfocus.com/sec.cfm or upon request from our investor relations department. Benefitfocus assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

SOURCE Benefitfocus, Inc.