As enterprise software rollouts grow more complex and more visible to the business, communication has emerged as a defining leadership skill for product and implementation teams. From aligning executives and engineers to ensuring end users can successfully adopt new systems, the stakes are exceptionally high in regulated industries such as healthcare and finance.
In this interview, SiteProNews spoke with MD Akram Hossain, a business analysis and product management leader with over 9 years of experience delivering enterprise-wide EPM, ERP, and EHR implementations. An MBA and Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner, Hossain has led large-scale programs across platforms such as Anaplan, Workday, SAP, and Epic. He shares how strategic communication, design thinking, and transparent leadership practices help organizations navigate digital transformation while keeping teams aligned and delivery on track.
Akram, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. To begin, how do you use strategic communication to align executives, technical teams, and end users during large-scale enterprise software rollouts?
Communication is the most important skill for a product professional. Throughout discovery, delivery, and distribution – I ensure both business and technical stakeholders can understand strategy, align on priorities as well as see through execution. There are 1:1 calls, as well as daily and weekly squad touchpoints scheduled on my calendar with the product team, business SMEs, and end users to clarify any doubts, discuss any risk, track progress, and ensure transparency in the implementation cycle. This helps us stay on track and be agile throughout the process.
When leading implementations across healthcare, finance, and technology, how do you adapt your leadership style to different environments and stakeholder expectations?
I believe in transparency among cross-functional teams to build trust, and I always try to make sure I am available whenever anyone on the team needs me. While it’s crucial to set the right expectations on deliverables and accountability, I also think it’s important to be empathetic as a leader in product teams, especially in regulated environments where requirements or policies can change at short notice and teams may feel overwhelmed. Balancing speed while being human is key in product leadership.
How do you maintain clarity and shared understanding when guiding cross-disciplinary teams through complex EPM, ERP, or EHR programs?
In terms of documentation, I try to ensure product roadmaps, PRDs/FRDs, meeting notes, etc., are all readily available for stakeholders to refer to in fast-paced settings. This ensures there’s a single source of truth for both business and technical stakeholders, which minimizes risk. When we have squad calls or even 1-1 touchpoints, I prefer over communicating on certain critical deliverables of the project and have ample time set for Q&As. I also make sure I note down feedback from the customers during demos or in various forums so I can communicate those effectively with both the business and developers. This helps build trust in teams and ensures the voice of the customer is heard.
What role does design thinking play in the way you communicate product vision and translate it into roadmaps that diverse teams can follow?
Design Thinking in the product world comes down to solving real user problems and keeping the user journeys in mind as we work through solutions. Wireframes are now becoming a thing of the past, and teams are now constantly coming up with working prototypes and quick MVPs to test and get real-time feedback from users that helps in the next iteration. Product teams with developers, designers, and PMs all bring unique perspectives to the table to solve user problems so if they are in sync with the shared vision, meeting release timelines becomes more achievable and second-nature.
How do you balance the need for technical accuracy with the need for accessible communication when presenting a strategy to non-technical stakeholders?
Whenever communicating with non-technical stakeholders, it’s very important maintain a certain level of abstraction so that they are not lost in the technicalities. I try to frame the technical details by tying it to business use cases, impact, and risk while aligning it with the roadmap. You shouldn’t oversimplify technical details in a way it appears delusional, so having at least one technical team member involved in crucial squad conversations to validate the delivery builds trust and reduces long-term risk.
What practices have you found most effective for preventing misalignment between product goals, workflow optimization efforts, and operational priorities?
What works well is having all stakeholders involved from the very beginning in Discovery rather than in isolated phases. When both operations and technical priorities are in sync, it prevents further misalignment down the road. Metrics and KPIs should also be established early on so that we can track progress as well as pivot, if necessary, when things don’t go as planned. Documentation such as roadmaps and PRDs should be live and not static, especially in regulated settings, as we can then incorporate feedback easily.
Can you share a moment in your career when strong leadership communication directly changed the outcome of an enterprise implementation?
I led the testing cycle in a project once where the teams involved encountered bad data quite frequently and hence faced blockers every now and then. There were dependencies amongst teams, and frequent data issues created roadblocks, and some sub-teams couldn’t make the expected progress initially. Timeline and budget-wise, we couldn’t afford to push the dates even further, as those would impact the business goals adversely. I decided to bring every stakeholder involved in the discussion and talk through, and eventually came up with a phased approach to tackling the issues by transparently communicating in daily standups, eliminating friction, and coordinating between them precisely so everyone could make progress on their deliverables. This helped the teams reach the finish line on time.
As platforms like Anaplan, Workday, SAP, and Epic continue to evolve, what communication skills do you believe future leaders will need to guide large organizations through digital transformation?
Transparent communication across the organizational chain needs to be in place from the beginning of these enterprise software rollouts. Today, with AI especially, new technology is being deployed almost every day so it’s important that leaders create transparent communication channels and cadence, so teams are not working in silos. This will help build trust long-term, improve morale, and reduce turnover in high-stakes environments.
