Shifting narrative from cost centre to enabler

In this episode of The Product Experience, host Randy Silver speaks with Teresa Huang — Head of Product for Enablement at global health‑insurer Bupa — about the often‑overlooked world of platform product management. They explore why building internal platforms is fundamentally different and often more challenging than building user‑facing products, how to measure the value of platform work, and practical strategies for gaining stakeholder alignment, driving platform adoption and demonstrating business impact.

Chapters
0:00 – Why “efficiency” alone no longer cuts it — measuring platform impact in business terms
1:02 – Teresa’s background: from business analyst to head of product in health insurance
6:20 – What we mean by “platform product management” — internal tools vs marketplace vs public‑API platforms
7:44 – Why you need to “hop two steps”: address developer needs and end-customer value
10:24 – Types of platforms: internal APIs, marketplace ecosystems, public‑facing platforms (e.g. like Shopify)
10:55 – Reframing platform work: building business cases instead of chasing “efficiency” metrics
13:16 – Linking platform initiatives to core business goals and joint OKRs
15:47 – The importance of visualisation — using prototypes and role‑plays to communicate platform value
20:57 – Internal showcases: keeping stakeholders engaged with real‑world scenarios
23:28 – Success metrics for platforms: adoption, usage, reliability, ecosystem growth
26:00 – Retiring legacy services: deciding when low-use tools should be decommissioned
28:55 – From cost centre to enabler: shifting the narrative to show value creation

Our Hosts
Lily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space. She’s worked on a diverse range of products – leading the product teams through discovery, prototyping, testing and delivery. Lily also founded ProductTank Bristol and runs ProductCamp in Bristol and Bath.

Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He’s the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon’s music stores in the US & UK.