A glimpse into Kodiak’s product development approach

Since the beginning of my career, I’ve been drawn to healthcare. 

Healthcare is a system with real, human stakes. Every efficiency, every delay, every gap in information has the potential to impact how organizations deliver care to people. One year into my role as Chief Technology Officer at Kodiak, getting that impact right motivates me every day. How do we solve the problems that matter most? 

At Kodiak, we’re focused on a challenge that every healthcare CFO understands deeply: the administrative burdens are overwhelming. Teams are expected to move faster, manage more complexity, and operate with greater accountability than ever before, often with fragmented systems and incomplete visibility. 

We’ve built something purposeful to address that reality. 

Today, we support more than 2,300 hospitals and 375,000 physicians. That scale gives us a powerful vantage point. We see patterns, pressures, and opportunities that aren’t always visible from within a single system. But if I had to pinpoint what truly sets Kodiak apart, it comes down to one principle: 

We build for quality, even when the pursuit of quality is the harder path. 

If there is ever a tradeoff between speed, cost, and quality, quality is not negotiable. That belief shows up in how we build, how we partner, and how we think about the long-term role of technology in healthcare. 

The 4 pillars that guide product development 

Quality is embedded in how our product team operates. The cost of getting it wrong is too high. 

There are four pillars that guide our product development at Kodiak.

The first is a commitment to compliance, risk, and ethical standards. There are no shortcuts. Every feature we build, every workflow we automate, meets the highest standards of integrity and auditability. 

The second is customer centricity as a discipline. We build with our customers, not for them. Our customers actively shape our product. Everything we build gets done in close collaboration with the people who use our technology every day. We not only listen closely but bring structure to this process. Every customer feature request is evaluated through a clear framework to understand its impact. What problem does it solve? How does it change outcomes? Where does it fit within the broader system?  

That rigor allows us to move quickly without losing focus. 

The third pillar is integration. 

Healthcare finance has operated in silos for decades. Revenue cycle and finance teams often function as if they are part of two different businesses, with different numbers, different reporting, and different perspectives on performance. 

Our ability to bring those groups together within a healthcare system is transformational. When you combine that with a strong focus on risk and compliance, you start to see what a unified platform can enable. 

Instead of piecing together insights from disconnected systems, leaders can make decisions based on a single, integrated view of the business. 

The fourth pillar is responsible AI that elevates financial judgment 

AI will play a material role in healthcare finance, but only if it earns trust.  

Our principle is simple: AI should elevate financial judgment, not bypass it. For CFOs, the value of AI is not speed or novelty. The purpose of the technology is to surface risk earlier, reduce manual burden, and focus teams on the decisions that matter most, without compromising control, explainability, or accountability.  

When applied with discipline, AI becomes a force multiplier rather than a black box. It reduces friction while preserving the confidence finance leaders need to act decisively. 

These four pillars reinforce each other. You can’t apply AI responsibly without trusted data or integrate systems without quality. None of it works without deep partnership with the people accountable for outcomes. 

An integrated foundation for better decisions 

At its core, what we’re building is a foundation for better decision-making. 

Healthcare finance leaders are under increasing pressure to balance performance, compliance, and long-term sustainability. That’s difficult to do when the underlying data is fragmented or inconsistent. 

By bringing together revenue cycle, finance, and compliance into a single, integrated perspective, we enable a level of clarity that hasn’t historically been possible. 

That clarity matters because it allows leaders to move from reactive decision-making to proactive strategy. It creates alignment across teams that have traditionally operated in silos. It provides confidence that decisions are grounded in a complete, accurate, and real-time view of the organization. 

Embracing true partnership 

We don’t see ourselves as simply a vendor. 

When vendors sell solutions, the relationship between buyer and seller often ends at implementation. But we approach it differently. We’re trying to be a strategic partner—one who’s invested in long-term outcomes, not just short-term deployment. 

That mindset shapes how we show up for our customers during moments of change or uncertainty. It also influences how we build. 

One of the unique aspects of Kodiak is that we use our own product! We have our own internal user base. We operate services that support hospitals across the country, including remote assistance and financial close processes. That means our teams are using the same tools our clients use. 

That feedback loop is incredibly powerful. 

Before something reaches our customers, it’s been tested, refined, and challenged internally. We experience the friction firsthand. We understand where workflows break down, where clarity is needed, and where efficiency can be improved. 

As a result, we’re not launching minimum viable products. 

We’re building enterprise-grade solutions that are designed to work in real-world conditions from day one. That reduces friction during implementation and accelerates time to value for our clients. 

Looking ahead 

Our product team looks forward to the work to be done. The U.S. healthcare system is one of the most complex industries in the world, and the challenges facing finance leaders are only becoming more nuanced.  

That’s what makes this work meaningful to me. It’s about building systems that finance leaders can rely on when the stakes are high. It’s about reducing friction, so teams can focus on what actually drives outcomes. It’s about helping healthcare organizations operate with greater clarity, confidence, and alignment. 

If we do that well, the impact ripples far beyond finance. 

It reaches the patients and communities those organizations serve. 

That’s the standard we hold ourselves to every day. 



This article is part of Kodiak’s Healthcare Excellence Series, co-authored by CEO Derek Bang, Chief Product & Technology Officer Ankit Sharma, and Eric Boggs, Vice President, Platform Growth. 

Read more from the series:

• The unique power of Kodiak data 
• What building with our customers means, in practice