As a plan sponsor, you know what entity provides administration services and recordkeeping for your defined contribution (DC) retirement plan—whether it’s a recordkeeping provider or third-party administrator (TPA). But do you know what is behind all of the processing your recordkeeping provider or TPA does?

There are a number of technology providers in the retirement plan market that offer certain processes for recordkeepers with their own proprietary or legacy systems, as well as end-to-end recordkeeping for TPAs.

According to Balaraman Jayaraman, co-founder and CEO of Congruent Solutions in the San Francisco Bay area, a lot of legacy platforms do not really lend themselves to leveraging modern technology to provide a better customer experience, so Congruent launched a suite of technology solutions for the industry. Its CORE solutions include plan set up for recordkeeping or compliance testing, data management, contribution calculation, compliance testing, reconciling investment information with contribution details, preparation of forms and schedules for both audited and non-audited plans, daily processing and year-end packages.

Jayaraman says that together, each module creates an end-to-end solution, but providers and TPAs can use modules separately. Lucas Soucy, head of North American operations, says one reason for a modular approach is that legacy providers have large integrated systems they have used for years, and they don’t look at breaking it all down in one fell swoop.

They can utilize Congruent’s cloud-based modules to offer plan sponsor clients a better experience and functionality with a smaller footprint. “At some point, legacy systems will have to be reprogrammed to take advantage of services and tools of cloud providers to be able to handle processes more smoothly,” he says.

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