The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in March 2025, retirement benefits were available to 72% of private industry workers. Each employer has its own systems for managing benefits, and some may find it more difficult than others to do so.
The good news is that technology is changing the way companies manage employee retirement benefits. Here’s how they’re utilizing tech for streamlined processes and more.
Better Participant Data Creates a Stronger Foundation for Retirement Administration
Technology is making it easier for companies to maintain accurate and current participation records, even if there are large and complex retirement plans available. Traditionally, they’d rely on spreadsheets and paper files, which need to be periodically updated manually.
Now, companies can use automated data matching and verification tools to identify:
- Outdated addresses
- Duplicate records
- Incomplete information
- Changes in participant status
For example, ABL Tech supports pension management through mortality verification, locating missing participants, and beneficiary research. These processes can help retirement plan administrators maintain accurate participant records and support compliant benefit distributions.
Automated Mortality Verification Helps Prevent Pension Overpayments
In the past, mortality verification would need significant manual research across different records and databases. Modern platforms can now automate much of this work, as they can compare participant information against mortality data and obituary records.
This matters because payments that continue after someone’s death can create significant overpayments. Regular verification can be an ongoing administrative process that gives pension teams better visibility into their obligations. It can also help protect plan assets and improve the accuracy of financial reporting.
Digital Searches Make It Easier to Locate Missing Participants
It can be challenging for retirement plan administrators to find participants who have moved, changed contact information, or become unresponsive. Technology is making their jobs easier by combining:
- Databases
- Address information
- Phone records
- Outreach efforts
These documented search processes can be repeated and monitored over time, which saves lots of human time and energy. In addition, the audit trail shows what steps were taken, and this is useful when retirement benefits remain unpaid because an administrator can’t establish reliable contact with the relevant people.
Beneficiary Research Can Help Benefits Reach the Right People
Unfortunately, retirement administration doesn’t just end when a participant dies. Companies will likely still need to identify and contact beneficiaries, as they’re entitled to receive the remaining pension or retirement benefits.
Outdated beneficiary records, incomplete contact information, name changes, and family circumstances can complicate the contact process. But technology is helping administrators since it combines commercial databases with investigative techniques. This allows companies to help identify beneficiaries and reconnect them with benefits after a participant’s death, which prevents cases from being unresolved just because beneficiary information is incomplete.
Technology reduces the time that administrators spend conducting manual searches, and it also creates a more structured process for resolving outstanding claims.
Integrated Technology Makes Pension Management More Proactive
Retirement administration typically involves reactive problem-solving, but integrated technological solutions shift it to continuous monitoring and proactiveness instead. Companies don’t have to wait for annual reviews to uncover things like outdated records, unverified deaths, missing participants, or unresolved beneficiary cases.
Instead, they can use digital systems to identify issues all throughout the year. This gives them chances to address discrepancies before they become costly to do so.
Technology can also connect different stages of pension management. As a result, businesses have a more complete picture of each plan member.
Technology Is Streamlining the Retirement Benefits Process
Retirement administrators used to struggle, but not anymore. With modern technology, they can spend less time and effort managing their cases, and things are more organized and streamlined as well.
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