Symbl.ai is a growing machine-learning startup with employees in both the U.S. and India. While they already offered health insurance for their U.S.-based workers, managing the network was overly complicated between multiple time zones.
Their current provider just wasn’t meeting their expectations when it came to customer service or administrative concerns. The platform was a bit outdated, something Symbl.ai wasn’t really thrilled about as a young tech company.
Since Symbl.ai focuses on improving workflows for other companies, the team wondered if there was a better way to deal with their benefits, too.
Then, they found Pebble.
We recently got in touch with Priyanka Nagpal, director of finance and operations at Symbl.ai, to learn more about why they made the switch to Pebble and what changes they’ve seen so far.
Symbl.ai was founded in 2018, and Priyanka has been with the company almost the whole time. For years, they’d been getting health insurance through Premera, and while their employees were pretty happy with the plan, they were having issues with the administrative side of things.
The team at Symbl.ai wanted a provider they could get in touch with easily and that understood the challenges they faced as a startup. They found getting in touch with their current provider to be challenging, and they just weren’t getting their questions answered.
“It was definitely (difficult) during off-boarding,” Priyanka notes. “We might have faced a couple of issues just in terms of getting to understand whether they've actually been removed from the system. Plus, there was a lot of back and forth.”
Symbl.ai is all about making things more streamlined and easy for their customers, and they wanted to bring that focus to their employee’s health insurance, too.
The team knew what they weren’t happy about with their current provider, so they also knew what they wanted to address. They wanted a health benefits provider who could help them:
With this in mind, they started looking around for an alternative.
Priyanka first learned about Pebble from Symbl.ai’s chief financial officer (CFO). They’d discussed changing providers for a little while, so it wasn’t too big of a surprise, but some of the features a benefits broker like Pebble offered were.
“It was great because we were definitely looking for a switch, and we were looking for someone who would be more available and also with the software and the service and even the Pebble Card,” Priyanka says.
Adding the Pebble Card was one of the biggest changes to their benefits plan. The Pebble Card is almost like a companywide debit card that Symbl.ai funds. If their employees have health-related expenses that aren’t covered by insurance, they can use their Pebble Card to help cover them.
It’s been a really popular feature at Symbl.ai, and it has meant employees have a lot more options when choosing a healthcare provider.
Making the change was a lot faster than the team expected, too. They reached out to Pebble in the first quarter of 2023 and joined in April. Overall, they have found the process to be quick and seamless.
So far, Symbl.ai’s experience with Pebble has been positive. Priyanka hasn’t had any complaints from her team, either.
She was a bit surprised at how easy to transfer was, especially as their U.S. team of roughly 20 employees is spread out over several states.
“Pebble actually did a quick intro session with the entire U.S. team,” she explains. “We recorded that. So even now when there are new joiners coming in, we show that recording so they have an insight as to exactly what Pebble is. I think that was a really helpful part.”
Symbl.ai’s benefits are almost the same as before they joined Pebble, which is what they were looking for. They have the same health insurance provider and the same plan, but the administrative side has become much simpler.
“Our previous vendor was not integrated with our payroll system,” Priyanka says. “With Pebble, we're integrated with the payroll system so we don't have to manually get employees to fill out the forms. In this aspect, as soon as a new employee comes in, they join in on our payroll vendor and they get an automated email with the health insurance details.”
Integrating with payroll has streamlined the onboarding process. And since they use Quickbooks, they’re looking forward to Pebble’s new integration with the software.
Symbl.ai likes the level of customer service they receive with Pebble. They can reach out with any questions or feedback and usually get a response within 24 hours. They also like how they work with the same person most of the time, so they don’t have to explain things over and over.
So, would Symbl.ai recommend Pebble to other startups?
“100% yes,” Priyanka says before expanding on why she’s so enthusiastic.
“This is your one-stop shop. Basically, it provides everything that you're looking for, especially for a company of our size. Pebble has also been very flexible in terms of reaching out and understanding our needs because we're also growing at this stage.”
Priyanka also agrees that Pebble has helped them stay competitive as an employer, as their benefits have helped them attract new employees.
Pebble understands the unique challenges a startup faces. The benefits broker has helped Symbl.ai cut down on a lot of the administrative work they have to deal with — without compromising their benefits.
Symbl.ai has also managed to save money by making the switch.
Symbl.ai is happy with its switch to Pebble. They love how they have a consistent point of contact and the smooth onboarding and off-boarding. They also like being able to choose the benefits plan that works for their team.
Their employees really like the Pebble Card and the flexibility that it brings, too.
Are you looking for more flexibility from your health insurance provider?
Why not see what Pebble can do for you.
