Product Placement


The roadmap for new products at OSG is developed with art, science, and collaboration Twenty years from now, the idea of


getting a printed invoice in the mail to pay may be as outdated as the horse and buggy was to drivers of the Model T, says Steve Karp, OSG chief product officer.


Karp joined OSG in February 2021 because he saw a challenge. He was drawn to the idea of figuring out how to keep a company thriving with its original business model while simultaneously pivoting to the new model. He saw OSG as “a successful, profitable company.” But its past successes were in a different space than where the growth of the industry is headed. Change is coming, and Karp was intrigued by the challenge of helping the company transition while honoring the previous and current successes. Karp’s Product team is responsible for deciding what products OSG is going to build and in what order they will be developed. The team works with various departments at OSG, getting a blend of feedback about strategy and company goals as well as insight on pain points from clients. “We are the face of the transformation of the company,” Karp believes.


OSG has dozens of standard solution products. While those may work for about 80% of clients, not everything works for everyone. So, OSG offers hundreds of configurations, which may be a slight tweak or a more substantial change to clients as


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needed. OSG’s philosophy is that it produces better outcomes. Karp and his team are aware that one solution doesn’t work all the time for everyone. He cites himself as an easy example. He’s obviously an adopter of online bill pay and is comfortable with digital products. But even he receives a few paper bills in the mail. For an occasional or annual bill, it doesn’t feel worth the effort to him to get set up in a new portal.


“Technology itself doesn’t win the day. I can build a lot of stuff but, if it isn’t something that people want to buy, it doesn’t matter,” Karp says. So getting feedback from the commercial team on what clients want is essential. “They are the most valuable source of input. Sales and Client Success teams don’t have a monopoly on what people want to buy, but I’d argue holistically they have a better idea than anyone else.”


For many salespeople, meeting quotas is the priority in their schedule. Karp used to run a sales team, and is cognizant of that, and


EVERVIEW


works to drive collaboration that doesn’t involve meetings that will frustrate folks.


For example, the company’s real-time, color-coordinated, chronological product roadmap is available (in read-only format) digitally to anyone on the sales team at any time. The roadmap has information about what is being worked on and when it will be completed. “We don’t operate in a vacuum,” Karp says. Anyone can ask questions and make requests on the products in the roadmap. That transparency helps efficiently open lines of communication. “Just like I teach my team to appreciate the role of a salesperson, I think Ken [Powell, chief commercial officer] does a good job of helping his team appreciate Product’s role,” Karp says. It is like any sort of relationship; it takes good communication.”


Adds Karp: “90% of the roadmap is wildly overinvesting on the digital side so we don’t wake up in 20 years still manufacturing buggy whips.” 


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