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© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the June 2000 edition of
BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Nothing but net
Online communications have come a long way. And we're just getting started.
it is our pleasure to present the winners in the Third Annual BENEFITS CANADA/Canadian Pension and Benefits
Institute (CPBI) Communications Awards this month. Louis-Joseph Régimbal and I will make the official
presentations June 14 in Regina, Sask., as part of CPBI's Annual National Conference. You'll find stories
on all of our winning entries beginning on page 28.
In addition to our award winners, we have a three-feature package on benefits and communications this
month. There are also important findings on the subject in Aventis Pharma's third annual Canadian
Consumer Survey on Healthcare.
Aventis Pharma and The Angus Reid Group polled over 1,500 Canadian plan members this spring on a variety of
benefits-related issues. The report finds that while an increasing number of plan members recognize the
advantages of online communications, there remains significant concern about privacy and the security of
personal information. The most favoured information vehicle is a toll-free telephone line.
Does this spell trouble for online communications? Not at all.
Let's tackle the data security issue first. The worry expressed by the plan members in the survey may be
due, in part, to the fact that the survey only addressed Internet communications. There is a difference
between information housed in a password-protected Internet site and a closed intranet site. Both are
secure, but they are different. That said, real advances have been made in data encryption--a fact too few
Canadians are aware of. Plan members are safer e-mailing personal financial information to you than they
are giving their credit card number over the phone to a pizza delivery guy.
Second, the survey participants who voted for a toll-free info line are not saying no to Web-based
communications. They're asking for someone to talk to. They want personal service.
That is hardly a vote against the World Wide Web. Quite the contrary--it is a call for the development of
online communications in an important direction. If plan member Internet/intranet sites are designed
properly, there is absolutely nothing a call centre operator can do over the phone that can't be done
better online.
Imagine, if instead of picking up the phone and rummaging through print material, your plan members could
videoconference with that same operator online. Users could be directed to appropriate areas of the Web
site, questions could be answered verbally and then printed information could be e-mailed immediately after
the session.
A new study by Statistics Canada shows that home Internet use surpassed workplace use for the first time in
1999. Clearly, we are becoming increasingly comfortable online.
The challenge then is to further develop the capabilities of online communications without losing site of
basic human needs. Plan members want personalized information provided in a manner they understand, and
trust.
Therein lies the great potential.
--Kevin Press
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