Remote Work and Marketing Solutions: A Talk With Our CPO, Simon

Simon Dumville is our Chief Product and Marketing Officer, overseeing our solutions and making sure everyone knows about the powers of OSG! He shared his tips and tricks for remote work as well as insights on changes to OSG’s culture and development processes during the pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what changes have you seen happen within OSG and how our teams and projects operate?

When you look at the pandemic, there has been both a lot of changes with how we work collectively, and how we operate at a personal level outside of work. OSG has become leaner and larger, as well, which has allowed us to think more about ourselves in the way that we think about our clients.

This has given us an opportunity to ‘walk the talk’ and move us closer to being an organization that practices what we preach to our clients.

During this very difficult period, for all OSG employees we have introduced improved technology, communication tools and methodologies to enable better collaboration for working together – all teams have played their part, continuously demonstrating great energy, commitment and passion to change. We are more self-sufficient now as an organization and operate with a true 24/7 focus.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what changes do you see happening in the industries OSG operates in?

Across all the industries we work in, we’ve seen an increased number of opportunities materialize in a relatively short period, which as an organization that solves jigsaw puzzles of problems for others, is very positive for both our growth and future. We are used to solving deep, challenging issues, and it seems there are many more to solve now.

When you see organizations stuck on their back foot due to the pandemic, like in the CPG or Retail industries, with our advanced technology, we can help them with their decision-making by using our ASEMAP methodology for clever risk-profiling and retention-modelling, the things that many are currently struggling with today, and even more so tomorrow.

With volatility and uncertainty, organizations are facing the decision of which way to streamline their business, whether it be decisions on employee retention, or downsizing their physical offices and shifting employees to working from home. The pandemic has impacted our ability to go to work, and where organizations have tough decisions to make, our solutions can help them understand their options and priorities and provide the rationale around choices and drivers to be made that will impact their bottom line in a positive manner in the future.

We have opportunities to help our clients more than ever before. In the industries, especially Healthcare, we have the ability to help solve their problems and guide them as they’re emerging from the pandemic. For many organizations at the moment, it’s all about the struggle and OSG connect on struggle.

Due to the pandemic, how have you adapted your own work and communication style to remote work?

Naturally, people work in different ways, and I have been used to working remotely long before the pandemic (almost 15 years), but even I have shifted how I work. I’ve started to jump into work commitments earlier in the morning so that I can focus on planning before taking calls with our global teams, followed by more planning and then I take the dog for a walk at 10am.

After that, it’s a free-flowing day of meetings and taking care of any personal tasks. Once the US comes online in the evening my time, I do a bit more planning then, making sure I’m covering all of the OSG time zones. Out goes the dog again, then I try and get a little downtime with maybe Netflix (of course with my laptop) then retire for the next day’s exciting instalment.

How do you think remote work and handling the pandemic will impact OSG’s work culture and environment, looking to the future?

The remote work aspect of COVID is not 100% entirely new for many of us at OSG, as many colleagues have had previous experience with remote work across all our respective time zones and offices.  I do believe, during the pandemic, we are becoming more creative and more resilient to challenges, and we are finding better ways to overcome the complex goals and deliverables we all have.  Whether it’s collaborating in micro-offices, shared spaces, or working from home, we have all been able to bring each other together more collaboratively to get work done very effectively. Once the pandemic subsides, and we all start to connect face-to-face more, I believe we will all have a renewed drive to add more personal touches to our work, and bond even more with our current “virtual colleagues” – all of this which will provide us with an even better working environment with more energy!

Any tips for remote work, staying mindful of your work-life balance, and taking care of yourself during the pandemic?

I’ve been working from home too long and have been through many bumpy journeys. To keep motivated I believe that you need to work towards something every day and be proud of if. It’ll help you feel positive about waking up and going to work within the same four walls each day. It doesn’t have to be for work, it’s just about achieving something daily, maybe something you haven’t done before. No achievement is bad, it’s all about learning, and believing in your own personal potential.

Stay spirited,  share stories with your colleagues, and ensure you take downtime away from OSG during you day.

Any interesting or fun stories of working from home during the pandemic?

During the pandemic I have been very active on Amazon – I must be one of their best customers by now, at least on the headset purchase side. I now have a collection of over 20 headsets, with my personal justification for purchasing being that I am testing new technology for OSG’s future benefits. The ironic thing is that for many of the wireless ones that are charged up, they often stop each other working. Then you have to work out which one is connected via Bluetooth. My tip, stick to 1 headset, save your money.

Any hobbies or interests you’ve picked up during this time?

In my free time, which like many people, is not much, I’ve built a stone wall, laid a garden path, created a gate to stop my dog messing up my new lawn, dug up 15 trees, and I’ve learned to code a little more. All new things for me.

I have realised I needed more fresh air, because it’s not healthy if you’re sitting or just inside 24/7 at your work, so I find at least half an hour to get outside and stay mobile and engaged with non-work tasks.

I might say, on the stone wall front, building it was not the easiest thing, but it was excellent exercise and I’m very proud of how it looks (others may differ to agree on how it looks).

As our technology-based solutions grow, do you see the purpose and values of OSG changing?

I believe we will still stand for what we are. We’re an evergreen organization, moving along with advancements in innovation technology, becoming more international, bigger, and more polished. But what we fundamentally stand for is what we will continue to stand for. We’ll be more tech-focused and AI-focused, instead of working with manual operations, and we will continue to grow and evolve. With our partnerships, and increased product and feature releases, we’re just adding more tools to our toolbox, which we can use when and where we need to achieve that differentiating set of outcomes for our clients.

What is a big success you’ve seen in your time at OSG?

I like to see the impact of our organization, how colleagues have contributed to that impact, and how they have grown with that impact. We held our first internal Hackathon last December, where 4 distributed teams delivered some very innovative solutions based upon real world problems. We had colleagues working together over 2.5 days who didn’t know each other’s expertise, and some had never met each other before.

Although there was a strict timeframe, and extremely tight deliverables, all teams were able to accomplish outstanding results, deliver ambitious ideas, and solve problems all the way to coded solutions.

Most importantly, it demonstrated to me how well we can work together, and showed that inspiration, creativity, and willingness to drive solutions is not limited to certain functions – it’s everywhere in OSG.

What does the future look like for OSG?

OSG is an organization that has broad shoulders, who can compete on any level. I believe, as an organization, we will have a world beating value proposition and brand.

We can be positioned in any industry we want, and we can be lean as an organization to deliver at speed with great quality. We can fit ourselves into any space while staying true to our objectives and goals and solve real world problems with innovative and differentiating technology solutions. We can use our extremely smart and experienced colleagues across the globe to take the weight of anything that comes our way, comfortably and effectively.

And on the Product & Technology side?

From a product, solutions & technology perspective, what lies ahead is very exciting. We want to take our colleagues on a growth ride as OSG takes further steps to its goals. We want to help our clients to drive and deliver their technological aspirations with us, as industries expand and change.  Our product, solutions & technology delivery motto is ‘Winning Solutions’.

Meet the rest of our leadership team and get to know their strengths and experiences on the Our People page.