We have said it since inception and we mean it more each year. We win when our customers win.
In 2026, seven of them won big.
Bahwan CyberTek, Birlasoft, CitiusTech, Freechargebiz, Tata Technologies, 7-Eleven GSC, and Axis Mutual Funds have all been honored at the 2026 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards for their work in talent acquisition. That brings RippleHire's total to thirty-one awards across seven consecutive years.
Each of these organizations faced a different challenge. Each solved it in a way that was specific to their business, their team, and the hiring reality they were operating in. What ties all seven stories together is a shared shift: away from a model where recruiters manage coordination and paperwork, and toward one where agents handle that work so recruiters can focus on judgment, relationships, and closing.
What connects these seven stories is not the technology they used. It is the ambition behind how they used it. Each team took a hard look at where their hiring process was falling short and built something better from the inside out. The Brandon Hall judges recognized what their own data was already showing.
Bahwan CyberTek — Best Candidate Experience | Silver
Bahwan CyberTek rebuilt its offer stage around one goal: make every candidate feel genuinely considered. By removing manual coordination from the process and giving recruiters the space to focus on candidate conversations, offer acceptance climbed meaningfully and candidate satisfaction reached 4.9/5.
Birlasoft — Best Unique or Innovative Talent Acquisition Programme | Silver
Birlasoft turned more than 5,500 employees into genuine sourcing advocates. The referral program was designed to be simple: employees shared, the system tracked, and the outcomes followed. Over 1.75 million dollars in hiring cost savings through reduced agency dependency. A referral channel that became a primary sourcing engine.
CitiusTech — Best Recruitment Marketing | Gold
CT ReFrenz, CitiusTech's employee referral program, delivered a 100% improvement in referral contributions and a 51% unique referral rate. More than half of all referrals were candidates who would not have been in the pipeline through any other channel. Employee networks became the most trusted sourcing channel in the organization.
Freechargebiz — Best Talent Acquisition Process | Silver
Freechargebiz applied the same speed that defines the payments business to how they hire. Offer turnaround dropped significantly. Offer acceptance climbed meaningfully. Candidate satisfaction scored 4.9/5. Speed and experience improved together.
Tata Technologies — Best Talent Acquisition Process | Gold
Tata Technologies set out to reduce reliance on external agencies by building direct and referral sourcing channels that could carry the load. Agency dependency dropped by 66%. Offer acceptance crossed 90%. Candidates rate their experience at 4.8/5. A hiring process rebuilt to match the precision of the engineering work they deliver for clients.
7-Eleven GSC — Best Candidate Experience | Bronze
7-Eleven GSC redesigned the candidate journey to be fast, transparent, and genuinely respectful of every candidate's time. Offers go out within two days. Candidate satisfaction scored 4.9/5. Candidates are not choosing between options. They are choosing 7-Eleven GSC.
Axis Mutual Funds — Best Candidate Experience | Silver
Axis Mutual Funds managed thousands of applications without losing the personal touch. A 4.9/5 candidate satisfaction score across a high-volume pipeline. The same discipline that defines asset management now extends to how they hire.
As Sudarsan Ravi, Founder and CEO of RippleHire said:
"Seven years. Thirty-one awards. Every single one earned by a customer who decided to do deep work rather than a short-term fix. This is what happens when agents and humans work together in hiring. Onwards and upwards."
These seven wins offer clear lessons for CHROs and TA leaders:
Candidate experience is a measurable business lever. Six of the seven winning organizations saw direct improvements in offer acceptance as a result of investing in the candidate journey.
Agency dependency is a solvable problem. Tata Technologies reduced agency dependency by 66% by activating direct and referral sourcing channels, with better quality and lower cost.
Referral programs are strategic assets. Birlasoft and CitiusTech both demonstrated that a well-designed referral program can become the most productive sourcing channel in the organization.
The Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards are among the most prestigious honors in human capital management, recognizing organizations that have successfully implemented innovative programs and delivered measurable business outcomes. Awards are judged by a panel of industry experts against a rigorous methodology that evaluates strategy, design, implementation, and measurable results.