BTPS’ new pension administration system delivers a market-leading online member experience
The highlight of 2021 for Procentia was enabling BT Pension Scheme (BTPS) to deliver a market-leading member portal experience via IntelliPen, Procentia’s best-in-class software platform.
BTPS is the UK’s largest pension scheme and one of the biggest pension funds in Europe, paying out £2.5 billion to its 200,000+ pensioner members and their beneficiaries every year. With this thought in mind, the objective for BTPS was to source a world-class, cost-effective and flexible pension administration system that would underpin its vision for system optimisation. The company wanted a system portal that offered everything in one place, providing members with a quick and secure way to view their BTPS pension online whenever required.
By choosing Procentia’s IntelliPen fully integrated web-based solution, BTPS knew it could become more self-sufficient and perform numerous configuration tasks in-house. The IntelliPen platform also allows members to model retirement plans and make more informed pension decisions by drawing data on demand through the online member portal.
As a family of products that delivers a complete occupational group pensions system, the IntelliPen platform appealed to BTPS as it features a sophisticated database and data structures that deal with the complexities that occur in large schemes with multiple payrolls. Alongside optimal pension administration, IntelliPen offers class-leading levels of process automation, communication capabilities and reporting.
The Procentia-developed member website solution provides complete integration between the IntelliPen administration platform and the online member portal. In contrast to conventional self-service member portals, the proprietary technology of Procentia ensures BTPS members can access advanced self-service features previously only available to pension administrators.
Live since May 2021, BTPS members can now manage their pensions online with ease, which in turn encourages more member engagement with their financial planning. Featuring automated calculations, workflows, reporting, payments, document imaging, letter generation and online member access, the system is completely web-based (deployed on Microsoft Azure) to deliver fully integrated pension administration.
The degree of complexity, in combination with the need to achieve highly automated operation, makes the project remarkable. To date, the transfer of more than 500,000 member records and almost 3 million member documents has taken place as part of BTPS’ transition to the new system. BTPS is the first Procentia client to use the latest version of the software, IntelliPen.Net v2.5.
BTPS Head of Pension Services Delivery, Dave Tomlins, says: “We are transforming how the sector provides a relevant experience to its members. With Procentia’s pension software at the centre of our efforts, we are improving the online member service. IntelliPen provides us with a unified solution in a way not possible using other systems. We can meet the changing expectations of our members by focusing on improvements across our processes, teams, technology and training.”
Ultimately, BTPS has benefited from Procentia’s market knowledge and the value the company attaches to customer care. The success of this landmark project builds on Procentia’s impressive track record of excellence and innovation in the delivery of pension software solutions. It also demonstrates that Procentia has the technology and expertise to manage the most complex pension schemes on budget and on time.
Despite the limitations of working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the on-budget delivery of this large project is a matter of pride for Procentia, particularly as the project takes in the automation of highly complex workflows (covering all the options available to members on retirement) built on an extensive calculation suite.
It is clear that the full implementation of the BTPS project represents a major step forward in pension administration software. As opposed to many products in this space, Procentia’s IntelliPen represents an entire single-system solution, delivering all the functionality required to run automated administration services that save time and money, while simultaneously providing better outcomes for members.