Event report: I had the opportunity to attend O.C. Tanner’s first analyst summit held in Salt Lake City on August 26th 2016. For a first event, there was good attendance from the analyst and influencer community.
So take a look at my musings on the event here: (if the video doesn’t show up, check here)
No time to watch – here is the 1-2 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here): Want to read on? Here you go: Always tough to pick the takeaways – but here are my Top 3:
Leader in traditional R&R - There can be little question that O.C. Tanner is one of the leaders in the traditional R&R (Rewards & Recognition) space – all the way to the origins of the enterprise, when founder Tanner created commemorative pins in the basement of his mother’s house. The vendor has optimized its delivery process, pushing the lean concept with great success – all the way from 20+ days to 20 minutes to produce an individualized commemorative reward item. Equally the vendor employs graphic and user experience designers and other creative capacities to advise enterprise on the implementation of a successful R&R strategy, from planning overall all the way to design of e.g. the Yearbook (see below more) and appreciation items.
Branching out into technology R&R - O.C. Tanner is a pioneer in the R&R space starting with its SaaS based daily (Performance) recognition product launched over ten year ago followed by the Yearbook product launch approximately three years ago. The Yearbook is a tailored, individualized appreciation item for an employee with an anniversary. It is open for input from both inside of the enterprise sources, as well as friends and family. From customer and vendor presentations the Yearbook is very successful in enterprises to boost morale and show employee recognition. Along the same lines O.C. Tanner has made a foray into the corporate wellness market with its Welbe application. It is well built, with a good and modern user interface and some crowd based capabilities (e.g. start your own communities), a good start.
Performance Management in O.C. Tanner Labs - The other new application we saw coming out of O.C. Tanner labs (more below) was focused in the area of Performance Management. This solution is still under non-disclosure so more to come in the near future. Given the sore state of Performance Management, the question is on the hand if O.C. Tanner is not getting into the Performance Management market. The O.C. Tanner labs initiative is certainly a starting point, we will see where the vendor (and customers and prospects) take it.
On the concern side, the vendor has to bridge a traditional moat from traditional to technology based R&R products. It takes different skills and different market dynamics – remaining good at one and getting better at the other is not easy to achieve. One only has to look at the many IS consultants who have failed and still try to become software product providers. But you can’t fault O.C. Tanner for trying and the first steps are promising.
For existing customers and prospects these investments are good news. More capabilities and a more complete offering. Decision makers need to have a look on the cost side, but getting more from one vendor is usually music in the ears of HR decision makers who fear nothing more than integration costs and risks. To be fair they face galore of those, so having less potential headaches in the R&R space is good news. But with all R&R projects, they need to ‘work’ in regards of employee engagement and motivation. At this point we do not see the risk of O.C. Tanner resources getting distracted with two different strategic areas, but that’s always a risk to keep an eye on when a vendor is branching out.
Overall good to see a company entering the last decade before turning 100 to do well, invest and even not shy away from disrupting itself. We will be watching – stay tuned.
Want to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
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No time to watch – here is the 1-2 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
Leader in traditional R&R - There can be little question that O.C. Tanner is one of the leaders in the traditional R&R (Rewards & Recognition) space – all the way to the origins of the enterprise, when founder Tanner created commemorative pins in the basement of his mother’s house. The vendor has optimized its delivery process, pushing the lean concept with great success – all the way from 20+ days to 20 minutes to produce an individualized commemorative reward item. Equally the vendor employs graphic and user experience designers and other creative capacities to advise enterprise on the implementation of a successful R&R strategy, from planning overall all the way to design of e.g. the Yearbook (see below more) and appreciation items.
Branching out into technology R&R - O.C. Tanner is a pioneer in the R&R space starting with its SaaS based daily (Performance) recognition product launched over ten year ago followed by the Yearbook product launch approximately three years ago. The Yearbook is a tailored, individualized appreciation item for an employee with an anniversary. It is open for input from both inside of the enterprise sources, as well as friends and family. From customer and vendor presentations the Yearbook is very successful in enterprises to boost morale and show employee recognition. Along the same lines O.C. Tanner has made a foray into the corporate wellness market with its Welbe application. It is well built, with a good and modern user interface and some crowd based capabilities (e.g. start your own communities), a good start.
Performance Management in O.C. Tanner Labs - The other new application we saw coming out of O.C. Tanner labs (more below) was focused in the area of Performance Management. This solution is still under non-disclosure so more to come in the near future. Given the sore state of Performance Management, the question is on the hand if O.C. Tanner is not getting into the Performance Management market. The O.C. Tanner labs initiative is certainly a starting point, we will see where the vendor (and customers and prospects) take it.
MyPOV
Always good for vendors reaching out to the analyst / influence community. When they make over 400M US$ revenue, they take a sizeable HR spend and HR leaders want to know what the vendors are up to from the analyst community, so kudos to O.C. Tanner to start these meetings. Equally impressive is that executives at O.C. Tanner have realized that the technology R&R products are likely not to come from the traditional organization, and have setup O.C. Tanner labs, both as an innovation incubator as well as a potential source for future growth in the technology enabled segments of the R&R market. Lastly it is good to see a vendor investing when times are good, O.C. Tanner has just extended / remodeled its HQ in a very impressive way, the result is an appealing place to work and to host customers as well as prospects.On the concern side, the vendor has to bridge a traditional moat from traditional to technology based R&R products. It takes different skills and different market dynamics – remaining good at one and getting better at the other is not easy to achieve. One only has to look at the many IS consultants who have failed and still try to become software product providers. But you can’t fault O.C. Tanner for trying and the first steps are promising.
For existing customers and prospects these investments are good news. More capabilities and a more complete offering. Decision makers need to have a look on the cost side, but getting more from one vendor is usually music in the ears of HR decision makers who fear nothing more than integration costs and risks. To be fair they face galore of those, so having less potential headaches in the R&R space is good news. But with all R&R projects, they need to ‘work’ in regards of employee engagement and motivation. At this point we do not see the risk of O.C. Tanner resources getting distracted with two different strategic areas, but that’s always a risk to keep an eye on when a vendor is branching out.
Overall good to see a company entering the last decade before turning 100 to do well, invest and even not shy away from disrupting itself. We will be watching – stay tuned.
Want to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.