Part
01
of one
Part
01
Please teach me about thomson Thomsons Online Benefits as below items;strategy, target ,their solutions, and what is their competitive point compared with competitor, their main customer, partner for sales
Hello and thank you for contacting Wonder with your question about Thomsons Online Benefits! The short answer to your question is that their strategy is to create a uniform platform to offer benefits regardless of location via a program called Darwin, their target is international companies, their competitive point is their focus on benefits software as well as high employee morale, their main customers are Microsoft and Google, and their partners are ADP, Xerox, Buck Consultants, Benefitfocus Inc., Northgate Arinso, and Success Factors. Below you will find a deep dive of my research and how I came to this conclusion.
METHODOLOGY
I visited the company website and signed up for a demo of Darwin, the company's Cloud-based software. In addition, a colleague of mine found an interview with the CEO, a YouTube video about the company, and a Crunchbase overview. My colleague also found several articles on Darwin, as well as an article about the company's partnership with Benefitfocus. Finally, I read a Corporate Adviser article about the company.
THOMSONS ONLINE BENEFITS STRATEGY
According to Corporate Adviser and an interview with the CEO, Thomsons' strategy is to do one thing well--offer an online benefits platform that works regardless of location. This platform is called Darwin, and it supports benefits in four ways, according to the company website: increasing employee engagement, controlling cost, managing risk (securing data), eliminating paper-based tasks and enrollment. Their idea to do this was unheard of at the time of the company's founding. “Back then we were a couple of benefits consultants who thought that online software would revolutionise the workplace benefits market. People thought we were mad,” said co-founder Chris Bruce. However, the idea took off, and the company has grown considerably. It currently has offices in the United Kingdom, Romania, Singapore, and the United States. In 2010, Darwin was live in more than 20 countries, and the company had more than 200 employees. Crunchbase reports that the company currently has between 501 and 1000 employees. CEO Michael Whitfield told a reporter that the company has contracts in 120 countries. Chris Bruce said "One of Thomsons’ USPs has always been about offering companies with an international footprint the ability to manage everything from a single hub."
TARGET CLIENTELE
Thomsons' target market is international companies. According to Corporate Adviser, Chris Bruce said “Our biggest focus is on global multi-nationals and large UK employers that reduces manual inputting, provides an amazing user experience and gives people access to information their benefits around the world.” The client list is impressive; according to CEO Michael Whitfield, Thomsons represents eight of the top ten global companies. Clients include Microsoft and Google. According to YouTube, Darwin has half a million users in 60 countries, and 260 companies rely on Darwin to manage benefits.
COMPETITIVE POINT
Thomsons' main competitive point is their focus on doing one thing well--offering Darwin, a benefits software. The website reads "Transform and automate your benefits and reward management processes to minimise risk, reduce costs, achieve a better return on investment, and increase employee engagement. Let Darwin™ help you create a seamless, engaging and personalised experience of benefits selection for your employees and ensure they have access to the right benefits at the right time. Darwin takes a clear, step by step approach to benefit selection, ensuring your employees have all the information they need to make the right choices. Inbuilt workflows ensure employees can add dependants, input any extra information and select the right level of cover for them. Intuitive, automated reminders empower employees to complete their own selections."
Another strong point is high employee morale, according to an interview with the CEO. Many of the software engineers do not show up until ten in the morning or even noon, but work late. "I just want them to be in their optimal state to write code," he said. "This is about allowing people to do what they want in their lives, while also delivering the work we want at the appropriate time. I’m after getting the best quality, and having happy brilliant people working.”
PARTNERS
One of Thomsons' partners is Benefitfocus, according to that company's website. Thomsons North America manager Chris Wakely stated “We are both committed to innovation and continued investment to meet the evolving business needs of employers. Our collaborative effort offers businesses a strategic benefits administration solution that meets multi-country market requirements so they’re able to deliver an engaging enrollment experience to all of their employees.” The partnership focuses on healthcare benefits.
According to the Thomsons website, other partners are ADP, Xerox, Northgate Arinso, Success Factors, and Buck Consultants in the United Kingdom.
UPCOMING MERGER
According to Mercer, as of December 2016, the company agreed to merge with Thomsons. Terms were not disclosed. “The combination of Thomsons’ Darwin™ technology with Mercer aligns to the growing demand from multinational employers to offer a common yet locally tailored employee benefits platform that delivers the latest in creative engagement, modern design, analytic insights and administrative efficiency and support,” said Julio Portalatin, Mercer's president and CEO. "The acquisition also drives future growth in local markets across the world where Thomsons and Mercer are already well established by putting technology at the heart of addressing employer and employee needs.”
Thomsons CEO Michael Whitfield agreed, telling the press “The acquisition by Mercer will provide our clients with world class broking and consulting, wherever they need it, as well as offering the ability to continue to work with Thomsons as an agnostic technology solution. It further allows us to scale the development of Darwin™ faster globally, as well as locally."
Thomsons co-founder Chris Bruce added “Now global organizations have a trusted partner who has the end-to-end benefits offering and experience essential to support creating a healthier, happier and more engaged workforce. ... Technology is changing every function of HR and the greatest opportunity to have an impact is in benefits.”
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Thomsons' strategy is to create a uniform platform to offer benefits regardless of location via the award-winning Darwin, their target is international companies, their competitive point is their focus on benefits software as well as high employee morale, their main customers are Microsoft and Google, and their partners are ADP, Xerox, Buck Consultants, Benefitfocus Inc., Northgate Arinso, and Success Factors.
Thank you for contacting Wonder with your research needs! Please feel free to ask us anything else!