In a previous article I spoke briefly about how we have transformed as businesses and how platform strategy has disrupted traditional business models. A lot of industries are coming into action with an all inclusive model of platform strategy rather than a product and that is changing the pipeline of transactions. These are changing directions of organizations and holding out world leaders who are transforming lives of a lot of people.
Platforms have been here for hundreds of years. Traditional markets for one are those, but what technology has done is reducing the need of the entity to be a physical one. It reduces physical assets and added value by scaling up the platform, making it cheaper and enabling easier communications.
Uber and Airbnb will never cease to be examples of how platforms are disrupting traditional models. Uber has one platform and a number of products each geared towards a specific audience. What this has created is to provide value to an entire ecosystem and not a segregated community. What I’m trying to emphasis here with these mentions is that companies like the ones above are doing a business as a whole, it is complete in itself.
How does a platform shape a traditional business?
Not a lot of employees and customers are bothered by what your vision or mission statement is. What an end user sees is how much value are they getting out of such an interaction. To create and put into force a business platform for an organization and traditional business is disruptive and is a paradigm shift.
- It creates a visibility and focuses on to the organization as a whole.
- It puts you “out there”. Showcasing the values in truest of terms, it is like a vision or a mission what you are actually working on.
- It creates endless connections and networking opportunities.
Out of these 3 aspects, one of the most important thing is the creation of networks.
To understand the bridge between gaps we must first understand the stakeholders involved. There will be a producer and a consumer. The producer can also be termed as a buyer and the consumer as a seller.
A seller or a producer in a business platform is the one who responds to the needs of a consumer, or in other words a producer can be the one to help create a demand in a market he is trying to establish himself.
A consumer or a buyer will be the one who is the one with the need and consumes a supply.
An important thing to understand here is that these are just roles and not two separate entity. They often exchange places and roles. LinkedIn is one such platform which best holds up interchanging roles of producers and consumers. The roles change rapidly but in the process makes sure that the interaction was of some value.
The network effect in enables scaling up of stakeholders in a large number. A lot of times, producers are consumers too. Exchanging the roles of buyers and sellers maintains the health of the ecosystem and ensures the flow of information and revenue in both directions.
“In an organization, enabling a platform enabled system sets the rules of how the business is supposed to be ruled by the leaders, provides a direction and brings together people who provide value to each other.”
This happens without any direct involvement of any third party and here is where platforms come into play. They are governed by themselves. This is a system which leads businesses and leaders to greatness.
What differentiates your platform is how you create that value. Are you creating value?
