OutSystems has named the winners of its 2026 Innovation Awards, which recognise customers using artificial intelligence in operational systems.
Organisations recognised included DHL Supply Chain, Honda, Grihum Housing Finance, Normal, the Netherlands Red Cross, Iris Group, United Rentals and the Ministry of Energy in Saudi Arabia, along with Axos Bank Executive Kevin Hearn.
The awards cover categories including Agentic Pioneer, Enterprise Evolution, Social Impact and Public Service. Winners were selected for using AI tools and software applications in day-to-day operations, rather than keeping projects at the pilot stage.
DHL Supply Chain won the Agentic Pioneer award after building an automated log analysis tool with OutSystems Agent Workbench. Developed in five days, the system identifies critical issues in platform logs before alerting engineers and is estimated to save up to 1,640 hours a year.
The logistics group also used the platform for project approvals, contract lifecycle management and pricing processes. The work was designed to standardise global processes while allowing for customer-specific requirements.
Legacy overhaul
Honda received the Enterprise Evolution award for a broader programme to modernise legacy systems across the business. Working with Dentsu Soken, the manufacturer deployed 37 applications over three and a half years across research and development, design, quality, after-sales service and corporate affairs.
OutSystems said Honda improved operational efficiency by 30% and saved more than USD $8 million in development and operating costs. The company also established a centre of excellence to support 300 developers as part of the programme.
Grihum Housing Finance was recognised in the Green Growth category for building what OutSystems described as India's first fully digital mortgage ecosystem. Working with TheDigifac, the lender introduced a unified system for lending, customer relationship management and partner operations within 15 months.
The project delivered fully paperless processes and cut customer onboarding times by 70% without increasing IT costs, according to OutSystems. Grihum also added AI agents to automate credit policy deviation checks and support underwriting decisions.
Retail and banking
Normal won the Agentic Human Touch award after consolidating store operations into a mobile app used across more than 1,000 stores in 12 countries. According to the company, the app supports 95% of daily processes and is used by more than 12,000 employees.
The retailer later added AI-based translation and invoice-processing functions. OutSystems said this reduced receipt processing times from several days to one.
Axos Bank Executive Kevin Hearn received the Agent of Change award for his work on the lender's development strategy. OutSystems said the bank increased productivity by 66% and cut development costs, reducing defect rates by up to 80% while modernising legacy systems and adopting AI-driven tools.
Iris Group, a Belgian facilities management company, received the Agentic Value Award. Working with CoolProfs, it built an AI Replacement Agent in two weeks to manage last-minute staff absences across a workforce of more than 3,200 employees.
The mobile system replaced a manual phone-based process and identifies suitable replacements in seconds, according to OutSystems. Planners can save up to 30 minutes a week, the company said.
Public sector
The Netherlands Red Cross won the Social Impact award for a mobile app called Tools2Go, which it uses to match volunteers to tasks during crises. OutSystems said the app was launched in six weeks, supports more than 35,000 users and removes more than 1,000 hours of administrative work each month.
The charity later added an AI agent that checks volunteer availability using historical patterns and stated interests. The system was first created in response to the pandemic before expanding into a broader digital volunteering programme.
The Ministry of Energy in Saudi Arabia won the Public Service award for its Taqati platform and mobile app. OutSystems said the system provides more than 100 digital services, more than 50 features and more than 70 integration points as part of a broader effort to unify digital services.
United Rentals received the Future Proof Award for a managed tool operations system that combines web and mobile software with real-time tracking through cameras, RFID and Bluetooth sensors. OutSystems said the Tool Manager system launched in four months, halving expected delivery time and cutting projected cost to one-third.
The company said the tool checkout process became 10 times faster after the changes. The software also includes an AI assistant designed to give natural-language responses to user requests.
Commenting on the winners, Luis Blando, CPTO, OutSystems, said: "The 2026 Innovation Award winners have moved beyond experimentation into high-consequence agentic systems. Together with our partners, these teams aren't just shipping code faster; they are deploying autonomous workflows that handle complex logic at scale-proving to the broader developer community that the 'agentic future' is a current-day production reality. By solving for governance and architectural integrity while maintaining speed, these pioneers have fundamentally redefined software development from the ground up, and their results provide a blueprint for the entire industry."