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New Workplace Benefits Domain Task Force to establish uniform standards

WINDSOR, Conn. and NEEDHAM, Mass., May 1, 2018 — The Object Management Group^® (OMG^®), an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium, and LIMRA, a worldwide research, consulting and professional development organization for the financial services industry, today announce they have entered into an agreement to drive forward technology standards for the workplace benefits market.

“LIMRA has been working with our members to establish a uniform standard to transmit electronic data between benefit administration/HRIS organizations and insurance carriers,” said InAh Chambers, client relationship manager, LIMRA. “We believe this initiative is critical for our industry, saving money and resources for our member firms. We are pleased to partner with OMG to help advance this initiative.”

“Until now, there hasn’t been a uniform standard to transmit non-medical benefits data between benefits administration technology companies and insurance carriers. As a result, companies spend an enormous amount of time and resources to process incoming data,” said Karen Shunk, OMG director of Technology Programs. “For close to 30 years, OMG has provided a proven framework for developing and maintaining standards. New data exchange standards will help workplace benefits providers streamline processes, and reduce the complexity and associated costs of processing employee and company information.”

OMG has chartered a new membership class and a task force called the Workplace Benefits Domain Task Force to advance standards within the LIMRA data exchange initiative, using the disciplined OMG technology standards process.

The chairs of this task force are: Edie Bice, enterprise architect, Unum Group; InAh Chambers, member relations and sales director - workplace benefits, LIMRA; and Aaron Roby, vice president, partner enrollment and implementation strategies officer, Texas Life. Companies most interested in joining this task force will be carriers of group and worksite benefits, third-party benefits administrators, benefits administration technology companies and insurance brokerage firms. The task force will create standardized values and data exchange mechanisms for products and services for non-medical, non-retirement employee benefits.

The Workplace Benefits task force will have its first face-to-face meeting at the OMG June quarterly meeting from June 18–22, 2018, in Boston, MA.

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About LIMRA

LIMRA, a worldwide research, consulting and professional development organization, is the trusted source of industry knowledge, helping more than 850 insurance and financial services companies in 64 countries. Visit LIMRA at www.limra.com.

About OMG

The Object Management Group^® (OMG^®) is an international, open membership, not-for-profit technology standards consortium with representation from government, industry and academia. OMG Task Forces develop enterprise integration standards for a wide range of technologies and an even wider range of industries. OMG's modeling standards enable powerful visual design, execution and maintenance of software and other processes. Visit www.omg.org for more information.

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