Suranjana Sengupta, Senior Product Operations Specialist, Open Government Products (OGP), Singapore

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation. 

I am a Product Operations Specialist at Open Government Products (OGP) and I work with the ScamShield team.

At OGP, we experiment with diverse solutions to address pressing issues in healthcare, anti-scam measures, fintech, and other critical areas relevant to both citizens and public officers.

We leverage evolving technologies to drive change in the public sector.

As a Product Operations Specialist, my role is to bridge the gap between our users and the product team.

This involves deriving and prioritising insights from user feedback, propagating our solutions to new and existing users, and scaling our operations in line with user growth and adoption.

For example, ScamShield, our anti-scam mobile app, has been downloaded approximately 1.1 million times and receives over 100 feedback reports weekly since its last major update in August 2024. 

A typical day for a Product Operations Specialist working on ScamShield involves:
1.    Reviewing and responding to every user feedback received.
2.    Tracking, cleaning, and prioritising insights from user feedback data.
3.    Escalating key insights to the product team and ensuring that user voices remain a top priority in driving our product development.
4.    Automating these operations to reduce the workload on our lean teams.

Consequently, Product Operations on ScamShield is at the forefront of escalating:

• Reports of new scam variants not yet captured by the app's algorithm.
• Bugs, incidents, and edge cases that may have slipped through the cracks.
• New feature requests and suggestions for app improvements.

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year? 

The most impactful project I have worked on is the enhanced ScamShield app. 

Based on the 2023 Annual Scams and Cybercrime Brief by SPF, there was a rise in scams on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The previous version of the app only supported reporting of scams received via phone calls or SMSes.

However, the app has been upgraded to address the evolving nature of scams as well as the needs of our users.

The app now allows users to:

• Check scam messages, calls or website links
• Check and report scams by uploading screenshots
• Check and report scams received on WhatsApp and Telegram
• Set up call blocking and SMS filtering using an in-app setup feature

I was involved in the beta testing process, user onboarding and adoption strategies, as well as collecting feedback and automating the operations behind the scenes.

Although this update has only begun to address what needs to be done, the ScamShield team is continuously reviewing user feedback and prioritising updates to the app.

We are also simultaneously collaborating with anti-scam authorities to optimize the review process for scam reports.

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024? 

My favourite quote of all time is "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us" by author J.R.R. Tolkien.

This year, I have been reminded on multiple occasions of how profoundly true this is.

I have learned that there will always be numerous challenges between us and our dreams.

Many of these are sometimes beyond our control. All we can do is push forward and act on what is within our power at the moment.

Often, this requires an incredible amount of patience and courage. However, the success at the end of this road will be truly fulfilling.

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025? 

I want to explore the development of an automated product support pipeline by querying, analysing, and visualising CRM data using Python.

While relying on third-party tools is time-efficient, it often proves costly and inflexible in the long run. Building custom scripts reduces dependency on external resources and provides the flexibility to tweak functionality with just a few lines of code.

As the sole Product Operations Specialist on the ScamShield team, sifting through hundreds of feedback reports weekly to gather insights can be quite tedious.

Automation is a crucial step towards streamlining this process, enabling me to deliver data-driven insights to my team more swiftly and efficiently.

This approach not only addresses our immediate needs but also aligns with our lean team structure, allowing us to be more agile in responding to user feedback and emerging scam trends.
 

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5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector.

In the scam space, it comes as no surprise that scammers are exploiting AI to craft new types of scam variants.

Scams involving fake websites, voice cloning and deep fakes are just a few types of AI-enabled scams already in circulation. What once used to take considerable time can now be accomplished in a few minutes!

I believe that with AI technology becoming increasingly accessible, there also needs to be regulation around ethical practices using AI to prevent misuse.

However, at present, there is no guarantee that scammers will not use AI to create more sophisticated scams.

Does this make my job significantly more challenging? Absolutely! However, it also provides a pathway to explore how we can use AI to scale our operations and internal tooling more efficiently.

The way I see it, if we can reduce the time spent on tedious work, we can focus on identifying and addressing new scam variants much faster.

6. What are your priorities for 2025? 

In 2025, I want to focus on my health and nurture my sense of self.

This broadly includes keeping fit, eating healthy and practising mindfulness through journaling and yoga.

It also means spending more time pursuing my hobbies such as painting, crafting and reading.

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators? 

My advice to public sector innovators is to never build in isolation. Innovation thrives on shared learning and the power of the user community.

The users of our products are acutely aware of the issues they face on a daily basis.

There are two ways in which we can let them support us as we support them:

• Firstly, user feedback is of utmost importance in improving the user experience of our product or service. There is no use in building something that is beautiful but ultimately useless.
• Secondly, user research and interviews are critical in the design and development of the product or service. Therefore, spend as much time as you can crafting a research plan. Prototype as many times as you need to in order to come up with a design that can make the first cut.

8. Who inspires you today? 

I am inspired by my manager, Reshma, who demonstrates an incredible amount of willpower, strength and resilience in our fight against scams.

I also feel motivated by the ScamShield team, who are some of the most proactive people I have had the pleasure of working with. Whether it is releasing a fix quickly or designing a new feature, I am always in awe of their commitment to public good.

My fellow product operations specialists are also a source of inspiration to me; despite the nature of our work being quite different across various products, we always manage to find a common goal in our discussions. I am grateful to them for showing me how product operations work across other departments as well!

As someone who joined OGP less than a year ago, the teamwork and passion of my OGP colleagues have made me feel included and inspired to do so much more.

This feature was made possible in partnership with Open Government Products (OGP).