The 80/20 Rule of Platform Efficiency: You’re Probably Focusing on the Wrong 80
Everyone loves a good dashboard redesign. It’s exciting. It’s visible. It looks great in a slide deck. But too often in the retirement industry, that’s where the focus stops—on the 80% of enhancements that look good but don’t meaningfully change how the platform runs. Here’s the reality:
The real friction is usually hidden.
If you’re not looking closely, you’re probably optimizing the wrong 80%. At Convergent, we specialize in identifying the high-impact 20%—the parts of your system that cause most of the delays, rework, and user frustration.
Let’s break that down with two real-world scenarios:
Scenario 1: A Beautiful Loan Portal—Undone by a Manual Back-End
A large recordkeeper launched a modern self-service loan portal. The UX was fantastic—intuitive, mobile-friendly, and polished. However, loan requests still took 1–2 days to process. Why? Because, behind the scenes, a manual workflow took over: Batch exports → Data entry → Desktop tools → Email Confirmations.
We stepped in and:
Built an automation layer to push loan data into the legacy core in real time
Integrated amortization logic directly into the portal
Streamlined notifications using secure APIs
Result: The 48-hour process was reduced to 5 minutes, and 3 Ops resources were reallocated to strategic work.
Scenario 2: Data-Driven Product… with No Access to Data
Another firm’s product team was waiting weeks for key reporting data buried in Excel files and Crystal Reports. They needed it to enhance the plan sponsor portal.
We:
Identified the six most-used metrics that covered 80% of reporting needs
Created a centralized API to surface those metrics instantly
Enabled self-serve analytics, A/B testing, and real-time feedback loops
Result: Reporting lag disappeared. Product teams could finally iterate with speed.
These aren’t flashy feature launches. But they’re the kind of quiet wins that transform how your platform operates. Because platform efficiency isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing the right things better. Let Convergent help you focus on the 20% that changes everything.
