When we talk about “platforms” in technology circles it tends to centre around a technology stack that typically sits in the cloud. However, the rise of platform-based businesses such as Uber, AirBnB, and Xero along with others such as C3 IoT and GE Predix, have redefined what a platform represents for both consumers and suppliers of that platform business.
Each party on a platform forms part of an ecosystem that leverages that platform to achieve some form of digital business outcome. Platforms enable value creation via digital means. Platform thinking, therefore, is a mindset, built around a business model that leverages digital capabilities that the platform delivers.
As with any business transformation, it is about applying a different model to creating more inclusive and better business outcomes. Central to achieving digital business outcomes is the concept of a digital platform– something that is far more than a stack of technology reflected in a reference architecture.
Platform Thinking encompasses a business model for solving a business problem by leveraging the creative talents of an ecosystem of partners, to collaborate with your people and organisation.
Platforms enable simple tasks to be performed and process efficiencies to be gained at one end of the spectrum, and at the other end to create entirely new ways of delivering value, by leveraging digital assets such as information, sensors and Artificial Intelligence.
Applying a platform approach to building your business means that you can take comparatively short-term enablement projects and add longer-term value as they will contribute to the building of intelligent system or digital business platform, that will enable innovation.
Digital Business is a means to evolve your enterprise and make it more resilient, relevant and resonant with all your stakeholders. However, it is a paradigm shift – where experience and a willingness to experiment matter in equal measure – and where mindset, coupled with new technologies meet new business models.
For instance, if you are wanting to implement some piece of technology then in all likelihood commissioning a digital enablement services provider will yield the right result, in the right way for your needs. Whereas, if you are wanting to improve your enterprise's deployment and use of business intelligence, then a solutioning and intelligent systems provider is likely to yield the best result.
Similarly, effecting innovation requires an interdisciplinary approach which leverages a combination of management consulting methods, design thinking and digital methods to inform the architecting and delivery of a digital initiative.
For enterprises, taking a platform approach enables you to view the supply of digital services and demand sides of your business as one delivery platform.
This creates opportunities for new forms of value. For example, smart metering intersects both the consumption (or retail) side, as well as the supply (or generation) side of an electric company.
Being able to view the entire business as a platform – versus a set of disparate systems – means you can unlock innovative ways to provide value to all stakeholders and build a more transparent, resilient and accountable enterprise over time.
The journey to maturing enterprise operations and developing operational excellence is just one part of what the Industry Transformer Ecosystem can enable you to do.
Our team is committed to working with you collaboratively and to introduce the right partners to collaborate on your digital transformation journey.
For more on the Industry Transformer Ecosystem and the specialist solutions and capabilities it has to offer please get in touch.
We are here to support your particular digital transformation journey.