Case Studies
Our Sunday Visitor
– Bob Kozal
The Client
Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a mission-driven organization with more than a century of service to the Catholic Church. As one of the largest Catholic publishing and digital service organizations in the world, OSV provides trusted resources, curriculum, digital tools, and communications that serve parishes, schools, and Catholics everywhere. Their work supports both long-standing traditions and modern digital needs across a broad ecosystem of platforms.
Bob Kozal, Senior Development Manager at OSV, has been a long-time partner of EC Group for over 15 years through three mission-driven organizations: ParishSoft, Mission Pathways, and now OSV. Bob is a technology leader who genuinely cares about building the right things with the right people. With deep experience in software development, product leadership, and team collaboration, Bob brings a thoughtful and steady approach to leading technical teams, especially when working with offshore partners.
His leadership style is rooted in mentorship, transparency, and people-first values. Bob is known for taking the time to build strong relationships with his teams, ensuring they feel supported, aligned, and motivated. This people-centric mindset has made him not only a valued client partner but also a trusted advocate for EC Group’s developers.
The Challenge
OSV operates within a complex technical environment that spans multiple digital platforms and legacy systems. These systems required modernization, ongoing support, and careful integration to ensure stability while enabling innovation.
Several key challenges shaped OSV’s needs:
- Complex technical ecosystem: OSV’s digital services relied on a mix of modern and legacy systems that required continuous improvement without disrupting existing users.
- Cost-effective scaling: Building a fully in‑house team with the breadth of skills required was not cost‑effective for OSV, leading them to pursue a staff augmentation model that balanced fiscal responsibility with delivery needs.
- Balancing innovation with stability: OSV needed to move quickly on new initiatives while maintaining reliable support for existing platforms.
- High expectations for quality: Bob and his leadership team expected technology that reflected OSV’s mission, high quality, thoughtfully built, and aligned with long-term goals.
- Limited offshore experience: While Bob was comfortable working with offshore teams, other leaders needed time to adjust to collaborating across time zones.
OSV needed a trusted partner who could seamlessly integrate into their workflows, scale with their needs, and uphold the same standards of quality and care that defined their internal culture.
The Solution
EC Group partnered with OSV to augment their internal development capacity with experienced engineers and QA professionals who aligned with OSV’s mission and technical standards. Rather than operating as an external vendor, EC Group’s team became an embedded extension of OSV’s internal staff.
The engagement focused on:
- Providing reliable developers, QA specialists, and technical leadership.
- Blending modern development practices with OSV’s existing backend and content systems.
- Reducing bottlenecks and skill gaps across priority initiatives.
- Maintaining strong collaboration through consistent communication and aligned goals.
Supporting the partnership with dedicated HR, Customer Success, and leadership involvement.
Technology & Delivery Environment
OSV’s technology ecosystem was built using a modern, cloud‑hosted technology environment designed for reliability, security, and high availability. EC Group’s team integrated seamlessly into OSV’s existing tools, processes, and engineering standards, demonstrating the flexibility to work within an evolving technology ecosystem while maintaining OSV’s focus on results over specific technologies.
Project Summary
With EC Group’s support, OSV significantly expanded its delivery capacity, enabling them to execute more initiatives in parallel without overextending internal teams. The partnership allowed OSV to move forward with strategic projects more quickly while maintaining consistent development practices across both new and existing platforms.
Key outcomes included:
- Increased development throughput across priority initiatives
- Greater ability to run concurrent projects without adding full‑time internal headcount
- More predictable delivery timelines
- Stronger confidence from OSV’s leadership in their ability to scale execution as needed
Beyond expanded delivery capacity success, the relationship itself became a model for collaboration. Bob’s leadership created an environment where EC Group’s team members felt genuinely valued. He took the time to learn about their lives, encouraged personal growth, and even visited EC Group’s India office to work alongside the team in person.
This people-first approach reflects EC Group’s core values mainly with the illumination of EC Group’s People-Centric heartbeat. Bob’s dedication to both his internal and offshore teams has made the partnership not just productive, but filled with meaning, mission, and purpose.
Result
The results of the OSV–EC Group partnership were both operational and cultural.
EC Group’s resources became fully integrated into OSV’s workflows, participating in:
- Sprint planning
- Consistent standups
- Technical training
- Ongoing development cycles
OSV benefited from cross-functional expertise that extended beyond development. EC Group provided QA support, technical leadership, and architectural guidance whenever needed.
Working closely with Bob and OSV’s technology leadership ensured strong visibility, shared ownership, and alignment on goals. As OSV’s needs evolved, EC Group adjusted team size and focus without compromising quality, providing a flexible delivery model that supported both stability and innovation.
Client Testimonial
“We have had outstanding retention over the years. Retention is huge and you don’t just build it with words, you build it with trust. I always appreciate EC Group who stands up even when a thousand miles away to provide developers that we appreciate and celebrate.”
– Bob Kozal
Additional Mission-Driven Partnerships
Bob Kozal’s partnership with EC Group extends far beyond OSV. Over the past 15+ years, EC Group has also supported Bob’s work with:
- ParishSoft
- Mission Pathways
- Our Sunday Visitor
Each organization shared a common mission-driven focus, and EC Group consistently provided teams that aligned with both the technical and cultural needs of these organizations.
These long-term relationships highlight EC Group’s ability to serve faith-based and mission-driven clients with consistency, care, and respect for their values.
Final Summary
Our Sunday Visitor’s partnership with EC Group shows what’s possible when the right people work together with shared values. By augmenting OSV’s team with skilled, mission-aligned developers, EC Group helped advance critical technology initiatives while supporting both legacy systems and new digital growth.
Through strong leadership, clear communication, and a people-first mindset, this partnership has delivered long-term success, technically, operationally, and relationally.
