Steve Abel: Why is EPAM the best kept secret?

from Scouting for Growth · host Sabine VdL

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Steve Abel, a dedicated, results-oriented executive with a proven, hands-on track record and a superior ability to build highly effective teams that deliver success at all levels of an organization. When recording this podcast, Steve was at EPAM, which is one of the best-kept secrets, voted one of the world's leading and fastest-growing information technology companies. EPAM today leads the charge in global digital and physical transformation and digital platform engineering services. The company has over 61,000 employees across 6 continents and 50 countries. In this episode, Sabine and Steve cover three main topics: Changes in the way innovation is delivered today, repairing broken processes with the right engineering mindset, and the requirements for building the business of tomorrow. KEY TAKEAWAYS The way technology solves problems today is through point solutions to point solutions. This is a flawed approach to solving the technology problem and building highly effective business models. Imagine if there were tools that had 95% of what a business needs to operate. You would only buy items available as part of the packages. As an insurer, you would be able to gain benefits as you would need fewer specialists to determine whether to buy, build, or partner. Pull widgets that could be your integration engine. Could be cheaper than what is available, and you could rebuild in a bespoke, unique way. I was in a stable job at KPMG. When the pandemic hit, I worked on a project with no real choice but to deliver tech assets quickly. Then I decided to investigate and discovered EPAM. They loved my idea and then thought about new technology in new ways to solve the client’s problem with purpose. EPAM is multi-sectors, and I sit within the insurance business unit. How do startups grow? One option is to use cloud-based tools that make it easier to create reusable assets. This is a profound change in how people think about technology and business; cloud-based tooling, data mash-up, etc. We can unlock the power of these tools and bring them together as a unified landscape. Insurance carriers are struggling with geospatial data (for instance) because of their legacy systems and the way each carrier integrates data into its systems. Each carrier wants to know if they are getting unique information from you, but they don’t need the dashboard or data very often. They want to process an algorithm that gives them an answer. BEST MOMENTS ‘A lot of commercialized software is not fit for purpose. Still, businesses operate thousands of spreadsheets. This is not right for the employees and gives poor customer service.’ ‘I love to wake up and ensure that customers do every day what they do best with others.’ ‘If you have not thought of how to do so. Hire an expert to think through the problem in a new way for you. You will get to the optimum outcome faster and likely cheaper too.’ ‘Get the right tools and get the approach right. I can assure you, you will be impressed by them.’ ABOUT THE GUEST Steve Abel is a transformation executive with a dedicated, results-oriented executive, a proven hands-on track record, and superior ability to build highly effective teams to deliver success within all levels of an organisation. Specialties: Program Management, Insurance, Operations, Shared Services, Enabling Technologies (Oracle, SAP, Workday, PeopleSoft, HFM, etc.), Business Process Reengineering, Finance Leading Practices (e.g., Procure to Pay, Record to Report), Insurance products and data, actuarial platforms (AXIS, Prophet, MG-Alfa, PolySystems, etc.), digital enablement, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud solutions, business, and technical architecture. Steve worked with large companies such as Capco, EY, and KPMG, EPAM and today Oliver Wyman. EPAM: Since 1993, EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) has leveraged its advanced software engineering heritage to become the foremost global digital transformation services provider – leading the industry in digital and physical product development and digital platform engineering services. Through its innovative strategy, integrated advisory, consulting, and design capabilities, and unique 'Engineering DNA,' EPAM's globally deployed hybrid teams help make the future real for clients and communities around the world by powering better enterprise, education, and health platforms that connect people, optimise experiences, and improve people's lives. In 2021, EPAM was added to the S&P 500 and included in the Forbes Global 2000 list.   Selected by Newsweek as a 2021 and 2022 Most Loved Workplace, EPAM's global multi-disciplinary teams serve customers in more than 50 countries across six continents. As a recognized leader, EPAM is listed among the top 15 companies in Information Technology Services on the Fortune 1000 and has been ranked four times as the top IT services company on Fortune's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list. EPAM is also listed among Ad Age's top 25 World's Largest Agency Companies for three consecutive years, and Consulting Magazine named EPAM Continuum a top 20 Fastest Growing Firm. ABOUT THE HOST Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet. If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights. And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]

What this episode covers

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.