88% of employees use up to 5 apps for health benefits — and fewer than 10% actually engage with them.
Vendor bloat is costing employers real money and delivering minimal results. This guide helps HR, Benefits, and Finance leaders cut through the noise with 4 practical steps: defining the real problem, building the right evaluation team, setting measurable success criteria, and budgeting for adoption — not just access.
If you’re reading this, it probably means your point solutions are looking a little like… a Franken-stack.
No judgement – it’s an easy mistake to make.
A great pitch comes in for a new shiny step challenge. Then a nutrition platform. Ooh, and then a sleep app. Before you know it, you realize your employees aren’t actually using any of this tech, and your budgets are taking a stern beating!
Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
There’s an enormous vendor bloat problem for employers right now. In fact, 88% of employees use up to 5 different apps just to access health benefits?!
And take a wild guess how high the utilization is… you guessed it. Minimal! Less than 10% to be exact.
At Personify Health, we built it all in one. And that’s just one of the reasons why our average member engagement reaches 51%.
So how do you cut through the noise and actually choose the right employee health vendor?
It starts with getting honest about what you actually need and asking the right questions before you sign anything.
- Start with the real problem, not the shiny solution
Before you even open a vendor’s pitch deck, get clear on what you’re trying to fix. Low engagement? Care gaps? A benefits navigation experience that nobody can figure out? Name it. Write it down. Rank it.
This sounds obvious, but most evaluation processes skip it. Teams end up comparing features instead of outcomes, and that’s where vendor bloat is born.
- Get the right people in the room early
Digital health decisions touch HR, Finance, IT, Communications, and leadership. If any of those voices show up late in the process, expect delays, last-minute blockers, and tools that nobody actually adopts.
Bring an executive sponsor, a day-to-day lead, and IT/security into the conversation from the start. Give them real authority. Keep the group tight and focused.
- Define what “good” actually looks like for your organization
Not in vague terms. Get specific. What does success look like at 90 days? At 180? (This could be anything from increased average physical activity or improved overall morale) What integrations are non-negotiable?
What would make your Finance team stand up and cheer?
Separate your must-haves from your nice-to-haves and document them. When you have clear criteria, you stop being swayed by impressive demos and start evaluating what genuinely fits.
- Budget for adoption, not just access
Here’s where a lot of employers leave value on the table. They budget for the platform, but not for the communications, incentives, and internal champions that make people actually use it.
When employees truly engage with their health benefits, the results are significant:
- 3x higher likelihood of taking preventive action
- 20% fewer avoidable ER visits
- 17% fewer inpatient admissions
Want to explore 6 ways to drive platform engagement and show ROI? Download our eBook.
- Pressure test vendors with real conversations
Written responses can only tell you so much. Ask follow-up questions that are specific to your workforce, your challenges, and your goals.
The best vendors won’t just answer your questions; they’ll ask questions back that show you they’re invest in your success. That’s how you spot a genuine partner versus someone who’s just trying to close a deal.
Ready to stop guessing and start choosing the right vendor with confidence?
We’ve put everything above and a bucket-load more into a practical guide built specifically for HR, Benefits, and Finance leaders who are done with vendor bloat.
It includes 5 structured steps, 25 targeted questions to ask every vendor, and a decision worksheet you can use right now to score and compare your shortlist.