If innovation still feels slow, fragmented, and frustrating, the problem isn’t technology — it’s how we’re engineering the business around it. In this episode of the Scouting for Growth Podcast, Sabine VanderLinden is joined by Steve Abel, transformation executive and former EPAM leader, to unpack why so many large organisations — especially insurers — are struggling to turn digital ambition into operational reality. EPAM may be one of the best-kept secrets in technology, but with 61,000+ engineers across 50 countries, it has quietly become a global force in digital and physical transformation. Together, Sabine and Steve explore three critical themes shaping the business of tomorrow: how innovation is delivered today, why so many processes are fundamentally broken, and what it truly takes to rebuild at scale. Steve challenges a core assumption most enterprises still cling to: solving complex problems with point solutions stacked on point solutions. This approach, he argues, creates fragile architectures, bloated costs, and teams buried under spreadsheets and manual work — all while customers receive inconsistent service. Instead, Steve advocates for a platform-first, engineering-led mindset: reusable components, cloud-native tools, and modular capabilities that already deliver 90–95% of what a business needs — before customisation even begins. The conversation gets practical fast. From his own transition out of a stable role at KPMG during the pandemic, Steve shares how urgency forced a new way of thinking. When delivery speed became non-negotiable, EPAM’s engineering DNA offered something different: purpose-driven problem solving, not software for software’s sake. As part of EPAM’s insurance business unit, Steve saw firsthand how cross-sector engineering expertise can unlock entirely new operating models for insurers. One standout example? Data. Insurers struggle not because data doesn’t exist — but because legacy systems can’t consume it efficiently. Whether it’s geospatial data or advanced analytics, carriers don’t need endless dashboards. They need answers, delivered through algorithms that integrate seamlessly into decision-making. Engineering the system correctly removes friction — and with it, unnecessary cost and complexity. Steve also draws a powerful parallel with startups. Their ability to scale rapidly comes from cloud-based tooling, reusable assets, and unified data landscapes — not endless vendor procurement cycles. Enterprises can adopt the same principles, but only if they stop treating technology as a collection of tools and start treating it as an operating system for growth. This episode is essential listening for: Insurance executives modernising legacy platforms Transformation leaders tired of fragmented tech stacks CIOs and COOs seeking faster, cheaper, smarter outcomes Innovation teams ready to rethink how value is engineered As Steve makes clear, the future won’t be built by buying more software. It will be built by getting the tools right, the mindset right — and the engineering right from the start.