PLANSPONSOR - December/January 2020 - 20

RESEARCH | 2019 PLANSPONSOR BEST IN CLASS DC PROVIDERS
themselves by offering this value can help
them keep a competitive edge.
Travis Whitten, senior vice president
at CAPTRUST, in Dallas, says, as an
adviser, his role is to marry up the goals
and objectives of each client with the
recordkeeper that best fits that particular
client. Change is inevitable, at both at the
client and recordkeeper level, he says.
Change of a company's fees and services
is also inevitable. " That's why it's important
that, every five to seven years, plan
sponsors go out to bid and see what other
options are out there that can meet those
goals or objectives, " he says.
What differentiates the providers?
" They all have different objectives and
end games, " Massa says. " And their
approach to education and guidance is
based on what other goods and services
they could put in front of plan participants.
Some recordkeepers such as T.
Rowe Price and Fidelity are more tied
to asset management; at the end of the
day, their strategy is to manage assets.
Schwab and Fidelity, somewhat, are
going after the retail brokerage side of it.
And Empower and Principal have other
ancillary services such as financial wellness
protocols, and they may be pushing
some insurance. "
Whitten notes that advisers play a
specialist role here, helping clients understand
the pros and cons of each recordkeeper
so as to help them meet their end
goal. " Some have better technology than
others; others are trying to get up to speed
when it comes to technology. What does
the participant interface look like? How
can that provider engage employees and
get the best outcome possible? " he says.
The survey that follows remains
a valued means by which to evaluate
providers, based on plan sponsor reviews.
We present our findings in six asset-based
market segments. Providers are included
in each segment where they earned
enough feedback to receive a score. A plan
sponsor seeking to benchmark its provider
can simply look for information supplied
by sponsors in the segment that corresponds
to its plan. -Judy Faust Hartnett
METHODOLOGY
THE 2019 DEFINED CONTRIBUTION (DC) SURVEY summarizes plan sponsor satisfaction
with DC recordkeeper offerings in 23 areas of participant and sponsor services
covering five broad categories: technology, education, plan administration, fees and
investments, and account/client service teams. Responses were gathered via an online
questionnaire distributed to approximately 30,000 DC plan sponsors listed in the
PLANSPONSOR magazine database, as well as to client lists supplied by DC recordkeepers;
a total of 2,698 usable responses were received by the close of the survey
late this past November. To qualify for inclusion in the published results, a provider
had to meet quotas in each of six asset-based markets (see charts starting on page 24
for details). A total of 23 providers qualified for listing in at least one market; more
information on the markets serviced by these and other providers can be found in our
2019 Recordkeeping Survey, available at plansponsor.com.
Best in Class (BIC) Awards are based on sponsor satisfaction within a given area
of service. Ratings were derived from the percentage of respondents " completely satisfied "
(9 or 10 on a 10-point scale) less those that were " dissatisfied " (6 or less). The three
highest-scoring providers in each service category earned a Best in Class Award, as did
those providers with a net satisfaction rate above the asset group's benchmark score
(also listed in each chart).
Service Commendations were given to recordkeepers that did not receive Best
in Class honors but exhibited strong client satisfaction within a service attribute-i.e.,
more than 67% of clients were " completely satisfied " with the service offering.
Results are presented by market to reflect differences in the competitive landscape.
Leaderboards are used to show the highest scoring providers in certain areas. Expanded
listings are available online. For more information, email surveys@issmedia solutions
.com.
Net Promoter Score® (NPS)*
ALTHOUGH there are several possible techniques for measuring and reporting client
satisfaction, the goal of each is to help inform and drive improvements in client
service. Over time, market researchers have worked to distill client satisfaction into
a single number that effectively communicates the strength of a client relationship
without ignoring or overweighting certain respondents. In some ways, it is as much
art as it is science.
Last year, PLANSPONSOR migrated its measurement of service satisfaction
to Satmetrix Systems' Net Promoter System (NPS). Because of its correlation with
positive business outcomes-e.g., client retention, long-term growth, etc.-NPS has
become somewhat of an industry standard for benchmarking customer loyalty.
NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who are " detractors " -
giving a score of 6 or less-from the percentage who are " promoters " -giving
a 9 or 10. The thinking is that this measure gives equal importance to clients who love
a company's product or services as it does to those who are less happy-and possibly
at risk of leaving for a competitor that offers something better. " Passives " -7s and
8s-are thought to be only somewhat satisfied and do not influence the final score.
For additional information, please visit netpromotersystem.com.
Overall, the Net Promoter System has its own collection of promoters and detractors,
but such debate overlooks the fact that the exact measure is less important than
consistency of measurement throughout the process.
*Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons
are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
20 PLANSPONSOR.COM December 2019 - January 2020

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PLANSPONSOR - December/January 2020

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