WEX Debuts AI-Powered Enhancements to Benefits Admin Tool

Commerce platform WEX says it is launching new AI enhancements to its benefits administration offering.

With open enrollment season set to begin, the company on Monday (Nov. 25) announced it is working with select employers to pilot a pair of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools: Benefit Assistant and BeneFITwise Premier.

“We believe AI can be a powerful and precise tool for solving our customers’ most pressing challenges,” WEX Chief Digital Officer Karen Stroup said in a news release.

“Employers are keen to drive well-being and retention without adding more to the plates of their HR teams. At the same time, employees are looking for insights that can reduce feeling overwhelmed and help with the decision-making process.”

According to the release, both tools use data to offer “personalized and actionable insights” for a range of health-related and financial scenarios, so that workers can make informed decisions and HR departments can spend less time on employee inquiries.

BeneFITwise Premier, meanwhile, “goes beyond traditional benefits management by offering a comprehensive, data-driven solution that simplifies the decision-making process for employees,” helping them pick plans based on their healthcare needs and financial situations without needing to consult their company’s HR department, WEX added.

The debut of these products follows last week’s launch of WEX’s digital shopping solution for its Medicare Advantage supplemental benefits platform.

The company’s Medicare Advantage marketplace expands the brick-and-mortar merchant network to which Medicare Advantage members already have access, letting them purchase eligible over-the-counter products and grocery items online from within WEX’s integrated member portal.

PYMNTS spoke with Stroup last month about how the B2B sector is proving to be a promising source of value and innovation for embedded payments.

Embedded finance is the integration of financial products such as payments, lending, insurance or credit into company operations and customer workflows. In the B2B space, these integrations in many cases help carry out high-value, complex transactions across industries.

For example, Stroup said, WEX focuses on embedding financial solutions into areas like travel, fleet management and supply chain, industries in which embedded payments facilitate cross-border transactions, manage multiple currencies and allow or secure and timely payments.

“Across B2B commerce, every second — and every dollar — counts,” PYMNTS wrote. “For decades, however, clunky, outdated payment systems have slowed things down, drowning businesses in manual processes and paperwork.”