CIO Magazine’s Agile 100 Award Highlights O.C. Tanner’s Transformation
O.C. Tanner Recognition Company has earned a spot on CIO Magazine’s prestigious “Agile 100” list, a distinction given to firms that demonstrate exceptional speed and flexibility across their entire enterprise. The award spotlights the company’s ability to blend IT agility with broader business agility, enabling rapid responses to shifting market conditions while delivering real competitive advantage. The announcement came as part of a larger celebration in Colorado Springs on August 24, where the magazine’s editors honored a roster of leaders that includes giants such as FedEx, Dell, and General Motors. The recognition underscores O.C. Tanner’s reputation for pioneering approaches in employee recognition technology and its commitment to staying ahead of the curve.
The announcement was made by Kent Murdock, O.C. Tanner’s President and CEO, who emphasized the core mission of the company: strengthening businesses through powerful employee recognition. “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do,” Murdock said. “By fostering a culture that rewards creativity and collaboration, we give our clients the tools they need to thrive.” He added that the partnership between business leaders and the IT division has spurred a “marvelous synergy,” translating into fresh ideas for client services, new market opportunities, and operational efficiencies. Murdock’s remarks echoed a broader narrative about the importance of aligning technology strategy with business objectives, a narrative that the “Agile 100” accolade helps to illustrate.
At the heart of the award is O.C. Tanner’s impressive track record of delivering more than a thousand system enhancements in a single year. Using agile software development techniques, the organization was able to roll out updates across multiple platforms, ensuring that each release met evolving client needs without sacrificing stability or performance. This rapid iteration cycle not only accelerated feature delivery but also reduced time to market, giving O.C. Tanner a clear edge in a crowded industry where speed is a competitive differentiator. The company’s focus on user experience and functional design helped ensure that new features were adopted quickly by internal teams and external partners alike.
Beyond product development, the award also acknowledges O.C. Tanner’s broader IT initiatives that improved supply chain operations, manufacturing processes, and customer engagement. By redesigning key workflows and integrating real-time data streams, the company cut customer support calls in half, freeing up resources to focus on higher‑value interactions. These operational gains are a testament to the power of agile methodologies in driving tangible business outcomes, demonstrating that technology teams can deliver measurable improvements in both service quality and cost efficiency.
The recognition has reverberated across O.C. Tanner’s organization, reinforcing a culture of appreciation and accountability. According to David Berg, Senior Vice President and CIO, the Information Technology group has embraced lean and agile principles since early 2002. “The transition was gradual but transformative,” Berg explained. “We began by streamlining processes, eliminating unnecessary steps, and fostering continuous feedback loops.” The result was a more responsive and engaged IT workforce that feels both recognized by the business and integral to the company’s success. The award serves as a tangible validation of the investment the company has made in its people and technology.
O.C. Tanner’s achievement aligns with a growing trend among enterprises that view agility as a strategic imperative rather than a tactical buzzword. By achieving a blend of speed, adaptability, and quality, the company sets a benchmark for others seeking to build resilient, customer‑centric systems. As CIO Magazine’s editors celebrated O.C. Tanner in Colorado Springs, they also highlighted the broader industry shift toward integrated, end‑to‑end agile practices that empower organizations to respond to disruption with confidence.
Agile Methodologies and Business Outcomes at O.C. Tanner
O.C. Tanner’s success story offers a practical case study for companies that aim to embed agile practices throughout their operations. The organization’s journey began with a clear objective: to enable faster delivery of employee recognition solutions while maintaining high standards of quality and reliability. The strategy involved adopting a mix of lean principles and agile frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban, which together fostered continuous improvement and rapid iteration.
The first step in the transformation was to map out the existing development workflow. By visualizing every stage - from concept to release - team leaders identified bottlenecks and duplicated efforts. This mapping exercise revealed that approvals, documentation, and manual testing were major sources of delay. The team then introduced automated build pipelines and unit testing frameworks, which reduced manual intervention and cut deployment time from weeks to days. Automating these processes also eliminated many human errors, increasing confidence in each release.
Next, O.C. Tanner restructured its product teams around cross‑functional squads, each comprising developers, designers, quality engineers, and business analysts. This arrangement allowed squads to own end‑to‑end delivery for specific features or enhancements, breaking down silos that previously hindered collaboration. Each squad operated in short, time‑boxed sprints, delivering incremental updates that could be evaluated and refined in real time. The iterative nature of sprints meant that stakeholders received tangible progress regularly, reducing uncertainty and improving overall engagement.
Communication and transparency were critical to the success of this model. Daily stand‑up meetings kept everyone aligned on priorities and challenges, while sprint reviews and retrospectives provided structured opportunities for feedback. These forums helped squads identify pain points early and adjust course accordingly. The culture of continuous learning ensured that lessons from each sprint were not lost but fed back into future planning cycles, gradually raising the organization’s collective competency.
O.C. Tanner also invested heavily in training and skill development. Workshops on agile practices, user experience design, and cloud infrastructure were held across the company, equipping teams with the knowledge they needed to innovate effectively. The leadership team played an active role in championing these initiatives, reinforcing the importance of agility as a core business capability. This top‑down support, combined with a bottom‑up culture of experimentation, created a virtuous cycle that propelled the company forward.
Operationally, the adoption of agile methodologies translated into significant measurable benefits. The company achieved a 50 percent reduction in customer support calls, as streamlined processes and self‑service portals empowered users to resolve issues quickly. Supply chain efficiency also improved; real‑time data analytics allowed the procurement team to anticipate demand fluctuations and adjust orders proactively, reducing excess inventory and associated costs. Manufacturing teams benefited from more flexible scheduling, enabling them to respond to changes in production demand without costly downtime.
From a financial perspective, the company reported a notable return on investment. The accelerated delivery of features opened new revenue streams, as clients could adopt advanced recognition programs sooner. Lower maintenance costs, driven by automated testing and continuous integration, freed budget that could be redirected toward research and development. The combination of faster time to market, reduced operational costs, and increased customer satisfaction positioned O.C. Tanner as a market leader in the employee recognition space.
Beyond the immediate gains, O.C. Tanner’s agile transformation has had a lasting cultural impact. Employees across the organization now feel empowered to suggest improvements, experiment with new ideas, and see the direct results of their work. This sense of ownership aligns closely with the company’s mission to strengthen businesses through recognition, creating a virtuous feedback loop between technology innovation and customer success.
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