Local Acquisition to Shake up the Recognition Industry

The employee rewards and recognition industry is experiencing a significant shake-up in our region. As U.S. suppliers such as Blackhawk and O. C. Tanner acquire Australian firms (Solterbeck and Accumulate), they also have difficult choices ahead of them: which technology platform to invest in and which to drop, leadership structures, redundancies, onboarding and training – all of which can significantly interrupt client programs.

While the benefits of an acquisition include enlarging their local footprints, the local resources are mostly starting from scratch regarding program design and delivery.

BI WORLDWIDE and O. C. Tanner make up two of the three largest recognition suppliers in the world by market share, and both can say they are global leaders in this space. Blackhawk focuses a bit more on stored value cards and may soon acquire a comparable market share.

When evaluating R&R suppliers, looking at the technology won’t be enough. Organisation stability, solvency, product roadmap, strategic vision and leadership are also significant, as these will make the difference between choosing a strategic partner and going out to bid each year saving you time and money.