DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal Financial Group® announced today the fall launch of a first-of-its-kind online chat feature to answer retirement plan administrative questions. The new support option will connect retirement plan sponsors to Principal® client service associates in real time throughout their work day.
On average, the small and medium sized business plan administrator can only dedicate 5-10% of their job to managing the retirement plan offered to its employees1, so the ability to quickly accomplish tasks and get back to running their business is essential.
“The pace of life and work continue to accelerate, and the beauty of online chat is it can be the best of human customer service and technology combined,” said Jerry Patterson, senior vice president of Retirement and Income Solutions at Principal. “We’ve worked closely with our customers to build out a chat feature which makes their retirement plan management tasks easier by coupling our expertise with customer-first technology.”
The new functionality was co-designed with the end user and centers on providing responsive support, and self-sufficiency – all in one place. Plan sponsors value the problem resolution ability of an experienced service team member. The new Principal online chat feature should meet these expectations and more – offering an easy way to get administrative questions answered at a time that is most convenient to them while minimizing disruption to their work day.
“It’s important for Principal to support plan sponsors in real time so they can focus on the most impactful features of their retirement plan design, such as event automation and personalized participant engagement,” said Patterson. “Those features help improve retirement outcomes for our customers and their employees.”
The new chat feature will be launched in a staged format to a pilot group of small and medium business customers beginning this fall. In the meantime, check out what chat will look like for retirement plan sponsors. At launch, the service will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.
About Principal®
Principal
helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance
their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset
management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate
about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their
goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life
solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit
us at https://www.principal.com.
Principal, Principal and symbol design and Principal Financial Group are trademarks and service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.
1Percentages based on Principal review of multiple primary client experience studies conducted May 2017 – March 2018.
