How Nostra AI took control of its benefits renewal in 6 weeks

Nostra covers nearly all of each employee's premium, and several employees put their families on the plan. For a 12-person team competing for talent, that plan is part of the offer.

For 2 years, the plans came through Rippling alongside HR and payroll, and one person, the head of operations, owned every renewal. In early 2026 he left. Benefits landed on Suhani Perera, Nostra's business operations lead, on top of billing, contracts, HR systems, onboarding and every vendor renewal in the company.

"I just knew we had open enrollment every year and that everything was managed by Rippling. That was pretty much it."

That's the norm. 41% of SMB leaders assume their broker is handling the renewal, and 6% have checked. Without the group's own risk data, there's nothing to check against.

Then the Oct 1 renewal landed with increases across the plans, some of them significant. The team spans New York, New Jersey, Indiana and Colorado, so any replacement had to work in all 4 states. And Suhani had one non-negotiable: nobody loses coverage they count on.

"There's always a bit of a risk involved when you're moving to another partner. We don't know how the new service is going to be."

Ignition started with the data carriers use to price a group. Suhani sent a census (the list of employees, ages and states that carriers quote from) the same day she started on it. On the second call, Ignition showed Nostra its own risk profile: an average age of 24 and a risk score 48% below average. That's a group carriers should be fighting for. Arthur Root, Nostra's founder and CEO, named Ignition broker of record (the broker who represents the company to carriers) on the spot.

"They really look at what the data is right now, what the current situation is. And then they suggest what we can do from there."

James Taylor, Ignition's chief producer, has spent 27 years in benefits. He took that profile to market and put 4 carriers in competition: Anthem, Aetna, Health Net and Blue Shield of California. Blue Shield won with its Tandem network PPO, matched plan for plan to Nostra's UHC coverage and in-network in every state where Nostra has people.

Dental and vision got the same treatment. Nostra planned to renew with its existing carrier until Ignition surfaced a Beam plan with near-identical coverage at a lower price. Suhani signed off on Aug 25.

From approval to go-live, Nostra had 6 weeks. Ignition ran the switch end to end: carrier applications, the UHC termination, the Rippling setup, and an open enrollment window extended to Sep 11 when Suhani needed more time. The medical application was the one heavy lift on her side, and the Ignition team answered her questions as they came in, usually the same day.

"[Ignition] was answering it every single day… I was able to get help immediately."

Employees got the same care. Ignition built the plan guide and deck, Suhani shared them ahead of time so people showed up with questions, and James ran an all-employee walkthrough on Aug 31, recorded for anyone who was out.

"When you're changing insurance carriers, employees really don't know what changed. Having that call was a good transition for them to really know what changed and what they should know about claiming."

Nostra owns its renewal now.

Ignition holds Nostra's risk profile and manages eligibility through Rippling, so next year's renewal opens with the data and a full market check. Suhani owns benefits with real fluency now.

"This year is when I really looked into benefits and really understood the deductibles, what limits we have, how much someone can spend within each of those policies. Coverage and all of it."

Zero lapse in coverage, for current and former employees.

New coverage started Oct 1 with no gap. 2 former employees on Cal-COBRA (California's continuation coverage for people who leave a small employer) moved over too. Ignition worked the handoff with Rippling and UHC, got on a call with Rippling to untangle it, and kept Suhani updated at every step.

"The transition was made very smooth because [Ignition] was handling a lot of the email communication with Rippling."

Hours back for a one-person ops function.

Every hour Suhani spends on benefits comes out of billing, contracts and hiring. Ignition took the carrier support work off her plate, including a Beam portal access issue and enrollment records that needed correcting.

"It was helpful rather than me reaching out to support and then waiting. I'm sure that saved a lot of time."

$25K+ a year back in the business.

Blue Shield came in more than $25K a year below the UHC renewal on medical, and Beam added savings on dental and vision. The math behind it: a young, low-risk group, 4 carriers bidding, and a broker at the table working for Nostra.

Asked how she'd describe Ignition to another ops lead at a 10 to 50 person startup, Suhani kept it short: "The process with them was very smooth, and their team is very helpful."

If your broker already brings carriers your group's risk data and makes them bid at every renewal, keep them. If your plan renewed on autopilot last year, Ignition will show you the math behind the number before you sign the next one.

Source for survey figures: Ignition Benefits survey of 503 U.S. SMB leaders at companies with 10 to 250 employees, fielded July 2 to 16, 2026.