Why Pasito is partnering with PEO, HCM, and benefits administration platforms

More than 233,000 businesses now use a professional employer organization, according to NAPEO, and many more run payroll, HR, and enrollment through an HCM or benefits administration platform.¹ For most of those employers, the platform is where benefits actually happen. It's where a new hire gets onboarded, where open enrollment opens, and where an employee clicks "confirm" on the plan they'll live with for a year.

That's exactly why we're partnering with these platforms. Pasito has spent years working alongside brokers and carriers, and the work has pointed us to the same next step: meet employees inside the systems they already use. We're building partnerships with PEOs, HCM platforms, and benefits administration solutions, through integrations and embedded experiences, and we're excited about what it opens up for tech providers, for Pasito, and most of all for the employers and employees these platforms serve.

How brokers and carriers led us here

Brokers and carriers came to Pasito looking for a better way to help employees understand their benefits. Our platform turns complex plan documents into interactive benefits guides, personalized microsites, conversational AI guidance, and decision-support tools. When benefits are explained clearly, and employees can easily get answers to their questions, they understand their options better and choose their coverage with more confidence.

Those results shaped what we heard next. The brokers and carriers who see the best engagement kept asking the same question: can this show up where my clients' employees actually enroll? Employees don't think in terms of channels. They think in terms of the portal their employer pointed them to. If the best guidance lives somewhere else, it gets skipped.

Following that employee mandate deeper into the technology layer doesn’t mean we’re pivoting from our focus on carrier and broker experiences. It's the natural evolution of what's already working and delivering value for employees.

What we mean by partnering with PEOs, HCMs, and benefits administration platforms

These platforms do the hard operational work of benefits: eligibility, payroll deductions, carrier connectivity, compliance, and enrollment. What most of them weren't built to do is continuously educate the employee as to which benefits they should be taking full advantage of. There is still an education and communication gap between the benefits and the employees’ understanding of those benefits. 

That's the gap Pasito fills, and we see two ways to fill it together:

• Integration. Pasito connects with a platform so plan, case, and employee data flows in both directions, and groups don't have to be set up by hand. The platform partner remains the system of record. Pasito brings structured plan data and guidance into it.
• Embedded solutions. A partner places Pasito's Decision Support, Benefits Microsites, and AI Benefits Assistant directly inside its own ecosystem, branded for the partner and designed to work without heavy engineering. An employee gets a personalized recommendation, and then returns to the partner's cart to make the election.

Neither approach replaces the platform partner. Pasito’s intent is to enhance the enrollment experience by embedding intelligence into the workflow. The result is a more confident and informed selection process.

Why this partnership model works for tech providers

For an HCM, PEO, or benefits administration platform, building a comprehensive, AI-driven benefits experience in-house means a long roadmap and a large investment. Partnering offers a much smoother route:

• A faster path to a richer employee experience. Pre-built guides, microsites, and conversational AI support can plug into an existing enrollment flow without a major build. Not to mention the ongoing engineering work needed to maintain security and technical support.
• A stronger answer to "what makes your platform different?" Enrollment technology is crowded. Guided recommendations and always-on benefits support give a platform something employers and brokers can see and measure.
• A shared opportunity. We design partnerships so an integration is a way for a platform to grow alongside Pasito, not just another cost on the roadmap.
• A head start on what employers will expect next. Decision support is quickly becoming an expected part of the enrollment experience, whether it comes from native tools or outside providers. Collaborating with a specialized tech partner who focuses on delivering excellent benefits decision support helps a platform lead on that rather than react to it.
• An automated plan builder to transform standard plan documents into a ready-to-deploy enrollment experience within your system.

What it means for employers and their employees

Employers don't choose a benefits platform because they want another tool (they’re already suffering from point solution fatigue). They want their employees to understand and use the benefits they're paying for. Here's what gets in the way, though: Voya found that 91% of employed Americans typically re-select the same health plan as the year before, and 49% spend less than 20 minutes reviewing their options.² In EBRI's survey, half of privately insured adults spent less than an hour choosing their health plan.³

When guidance sits inside the enrollment flow, employees get it at the moment of decision rather than in an email they skimmed last week. And the results show up in the numbers we've seen with Pasito clients:

Employees also say they want clarity, education, and guidance during enrollment. In Voya's research, 84% rated a guided, interactive tool that gives customized benefits guidance as important to their decisions.² The mandate is clear; it’s just a matter of finding the right partner to build it with.

Why brokers and carriers benefit, too

This channel doesn't compete with Pasito’s long history of serving broker and carrier needs. In fact, these new tech partnerships strengthen those existing relationships. Brokers, carriers, and technology platforms all work with the same employers and the same employees, so a better experience in any one of those places makes the others stronger.

• Brokers get engagement they can point to at renewal, such as participation rates, election mix, and utilization, from the platform their client already uses.
• Carriers see guidance reach employees where elections are made, which supports better-fit choices and coverage that sticks.
• Technology partners get a specialized partner to build with, instead of building alone.

Each of these groups feeds the same structured employer, plan, and employee data. That's why we think of broker, carrier, and technology partnerships as one connected network rather than three separate channels.

What's next

We're approaching this the way we've approached every Pasito relationship: start with where there's real demand, build something that works inside the partner's workflow, and let the results do the talking. We're actively partnering with HCM platforms, PEOs, and benefits administration providers that serve all-sized employers, and we're looking for partners who care as much as we do about employees making informed benefits choices.

If you're a technology provider thinking about how to bring better guidance into your enrollment experience, we'd love to talk. And if you're a broker or carrier who wants Pasito in front of your clients' employees wherever they enroll, tell us which platforms matter most to you. Talk to our team to see how an integration or embedded experience could work for you.

FAQ

Why is Pasito partnering with HCM, PEO, and benefits administration platforms?

Because that's where employees enroll. Success with brokers and carriers showed us that engagement is highest when guidance is part of the experience employees already use. Partnering with technology platforms puts decision support, benefits education, and conversational AI support inside those experiences.

Does Pasito replace a benefits administration platform?

No. Enrollment still happens in the benefits administration or HCM system. Pasito works as a guidance layer that comes before enrollment and helps employees arrive at their elections informed.

What's the difference between an integration and an embedded solution?

An integration connects Pasito to a platform so plan and employee data moves between them. An embedded solution places Pasito's Decision Support, Microsites, or AI Benefits Assistant directly inside the platform's own enrollment flow. Many partners start with one and add the other.

Which technology vendors can partner with Pasito?

We're focused on PEOs, HCM technology vendors, and benefits administration platforms serving mid-market and enterprise employers. If that's you, reach out to our team.

References

1. NAPEO, "PEO Industry Statistics" (Industry Research & Data). https://www.napeo.org/what-is-a-peo/about-the-peo-industry/industry-statistics
2. Voya Financial, "Majority of working Americans select same health plan from prior year during benefits open enrollment." https://www.voya.com/news/2024/10/majority-working-americans-select-same-health-plan-prior-year-during-benefits-open
3. EBRI and Greenwald Research, "2024 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey." https://www.ebri.org/content/new-health-care-report-of-2-000-privately-insured-adults-surveyed-in-the-united-states-finds-confusion-regarding-basic-aspects-of-health-plan-design