Tampa Bay Business Journal - October 17, 2005
http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2005/10/17/smallb1.html
BUSINESS PULSE SURVEY:
Will the Legislature's special session on insurance yield results?
HR-Ease works the Web with employee benefits
Online benefits management attracts big-name companies
Tampa Bay Business Journal - October 14, 2005
by Margie Manning
Senior staff writer
TAMPA -- Going wholesale has been the key to growth at HR-Ease, a company that develops and provides the
technology for online enrollment and management of employee benefits.
HR-Ease initially staked out trade shows, trying to sell its products to companies on a one-by-one basis until it
found a more efficient sales method. It now works through insurance agencies and brokers, third-party
administrators, payroll firms, call centers and professional employer organizations to distribute to clients Web-
based programs through which workers handle their health insurance, retirement plans and changes to personal
data.
\"Our philosophy is we take our product, wholesale it to them and they have their people out selling it for us,\" said
Michael Shea, VP of sales.
The strategy shift has produced results. In 2001, its first year of operation, HR-Ease had 1,000 covered lives, or
individuals who used its technology to enroll and manage their benefits. The company expects to end this year with
100,000 covered lives.
Growth potential is strong. A 2004 employee benefits trend study by MetLife found that fewer than half, 47
percent, of U.S. employers offer benefits Web sites. By early 2006, 36 percent of the companies not currently
offering online benefits enrollment plan to do so, the study found.
Building the business
Susanne Kinsella Gill, a certified public accountant who previously built and sold a software-consulting firm,
founded HR-Ease in 2000.
She was convinced that employee self-service applications would be the next big thing. While there were companies
already offering online benefits products, there wasn't anything in the market that was reasonably priced for
smaller companies, said Gill, president.
It took a year to build the technology and 10 people -- five on HR-Ease's staff and five from the beta client, Blue
Cross and Blue Shield Association. HR-Ease \"went live\" with its products in 2001.
\"We thought we had one of the best widgets out there, but we couldn't get any business,\" Gill said. \"There were big
competitors with lots of investment dollars in them, while we were bootstrapped by ourselves.\"
Making connections
It turned out Gill needed marketing more than money. In 2002, she added Shea as a partner. He previously worked
for BeneComm, a benefits administration outsourcing service that distributed the HR-Ease platform through its
agency system, where it was private labeled and sold on a wholesale basis.
At HR-Ease, Shea strengthened the distribution channel, relying on key contacts such as Stan Shaffer, principal
and Florida business leader at Mercer Health and Benefits (formerly Marsh USA) in Sunrise. The two firms began
working together in October 2003.

A significant portion of business has come from FBIT, a Lake Mary-based employee benefits and services
organization primarily for community banks that made connections with HR-Ease in July 2003. FBIT previously
used a manual process, sending out paper forms to its groups' employees and entering the data into computers.
\"It was a dramatic change for us to convert all of our benefits to the Internet,\" said Paul Harvey, president and CEO
of FBIT, which represents 250 employers with 25,000 employees.
In four months, Harvey said, HR-Ease successfully put in place a system with 14 separate insurance interfaces,
allowing computers to communicate data accurately.
Adding credibility
HR-Ease's client list has grown to include some of the biggest names in the restaurant industry, such as Cracker
Barrel Old Country Stores, a division of CBRL Group (Nasdaq: CBRL), and Brinker International (NYSE: EAT),
which owns restaurant chains Chili's Grill & Bar, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Maggiano's Little Italy.
Cosmetics firm Elizabeth Arden (Nasdaq: RDEN), the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association in Chicago, Banco
Popular (Nasdaq: BPOP) and Musicland Group Inc. also are clients, as is Tampa-based roofing firm Gulf Eagle
Supply.
HR-Ease customizes each company's online benefits site with logos and other unique identification.
The more big names it adds, the more credibility the company has, Gill said. HR-Ease has exceeded sales targets
three or four times in 2005 and expects to end the year with $1 million in revenue. Margins are high because the
staff is small -- there are just nine people, including Gill's husband, Hank, who oversees the technology -- and most
costs are upfront in development.
The company is profitable because it didn't have outside investors to repay, Gill said.
mmmanning@bizjournals.com | 813.342.2473
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