Product Ownership in Business to Government: Impacting millions of lives
It’s been almost a year of my journey as a Product Manager for products that automate international trade and customs procedures all around the world.
Delivering products that not just affect the revenue stream of a country but also the lives of millions is quite a thriller. Imagine a product that is integrated within all global customs systems and millions of import and export declaration procedures are passing through is an enormous responsibility that I have tried to handle.
With a background in B2B and B2C product ownership, I have experienced major differences when dealing with governments. Although the principles are almost the same but still significant differences can not be neglected. Here are a few paragraphs about the differences in B2G product ownership.
Learning the processes and procedures
Unless the failed states in history, all functional countries have their internal and external processes and procedures to accomplish a task.
Imagine the goods clearance process at a central African country’s border offices. The first thing to know is whether the country has adopted the World Customs Organization (WCO) trade standardizing initiatives. If yes, then you should follow the unified processes that can be implied almost everywhere. If not, then dig deep and learn the processes.
The second is to understand the roles and interactions. In the above-mentioned scenario, the declarant (end-user) on one side represents the owner of the goods, and on the other hand, customs officers representing the government should receive the declaration and process the document to stages like risk assessment, tax and duties calculations and collection, and eventually goods clearance.
Problems to be solved
In the scope of dealing with governments, identifying problems worth addressing is easier than in the B2B sector. With holistic research, within a few days of analysis, the problems become apparent and repetitive in many countries, but the severity of the issues caused by the identified problem and clarifying who is going to pay for the proposed solution is quite a challenge.
In the good clearance example, the declarant can be a licensed agent issued by the Ministry of Economy or a professional working in private companies like DHL or FedX dealing with parcel clearance, and the customs officer might be a part of the Ministry of Finance. Solving a problem that can be valuable for all interacting parties is stretching.
Business model
Governments are used to outsourcing digital product development through tenders to software companies. Rigid deadlines, multiple contracts accompanied by amendments, and eventually source code handover is the old-school way of doing business with governments. However, in the world of SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS adapting governments to the new approaches is tough. Over and above that, identifying who should pay for what in the complex matrix of different roles and users is also a challenge.
Transition costs
Governments are the last to adapt to new technologies. Technology transition cost is something everywhere, but for governments, especially if it relates to the major revenue stream flow of a nation like customs products, is really unwanted.
In the instance of international trade automation, addressing the problems of existing legacy products which are widely being used by countries can be low-hanging fruit, however, the transition cost/adaptation is not something countries would go through unless it is the last straw.
Pace
The pace of dealing with the government sector is quite slow, it doesn’t matter whether it is the requirements gathering stage or product acceptance stage. Many meetings with different governmental bodies and stakeholders in which the problem is being shaped but further discussions and requirement consolidations can take months.
Onboarding and the expectations
A product dealing with the vital organs of a government like customs is not something countries change frequently. In this case, many expectations are already set for using the product. People want things to work better but the same way as they were. In such a scenario, knowing the pain points of the legacy product can help the product manager to leverage the positive sides of the new solution and manage the expectations.
Being data-driven
Data is the most valuable asset in the product manager’s toolbox however, in the case of B2G, data belongs to the government, and getting access to it is a hard task. Being hard doesn’t mean impossible, but it is not as easy as having a signed NDA.
Here the sources of data would be varied and you need to be creative. Be ready that the most possible data you receive would be transactional, but the behavioral data can be extracted during real interviews with different user types.
No fancy features
Having a trained AI that detects possible fraud in the system is great, but as you deep-dive into governmental issues, you would see primitive digital solutions like uploading a file or a proper digital document processing path can also be a game changer. In the B2G sector, the priority is to solve the daily issues and maximize their efficiency, once all is fixed then it’s time for state-to-the-art solutions.
No fancy UX
Most of the time, the government expects to just see the digitized version of the real-world activities that they tend to do. A product that properly addresses the issue without fancy UX can work for them. Remember, the government as your customer is not a business that seeks to maximize efficiency therefore the perceptions toward a great UX can differ.
Recap
Understanding how government works and who does what, alongside the big picture of all parties and interactions can help to identify the problems which worth solving and is possible to sell.
Despite all the similarities between product ownership in both B2B and B2G, the remarkable impact of the products in B2G which directly affects the welfare of citizens is a huge difference.
The motivations of governments choosing products still can be justified by conventional criteria like increasing profit or improved experience, however, they are most willing to choose products that solve core problems that are worth the enormous transitional costs.
Expectations of a well-designed and functioning product are different in B2G. In the majority of cases, what they need is a stable product with bear minimum functions which serve the core problem.
The slowness and redundancies of dealing with the government is a burden that worth considering the scale of the possible positive impact of your job.
