The Power of Business Platforms: Unlocking New Growth Opportunities

Agility has never been more critical than in today’s interconnected business landscape. With disruptive technologies reshaping industries at an unprecedented pace, platform-based organizations are rapidly pulling ahead of the competition. The question is, why?

They can move with the market and have the ability to stay adaptable and reconfigure themselves with every setback or opportunity. New and established companies are shifting away from traditional linear business models and embracing a business platform.

Business platforms have power. They’re agile and support innovation at every level. Understand and embrace their potential to ensure you aren’t left behind.

Decode the Mechanics of Platform Business Models

What is a Platform Business?

A platform business model is an ecosystem that facilitates direct interactions between interdependent groups, like consumers and service providers. The aim is to create value by streamlining interactions, removing friction in a way that’s challenging for groups to replicate. Interactions can be short-term transactions — connecting buyers or sellers — or they can support long-term collaboration to achieve a transformative outcome. Follow in the footsteps of leading technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook, where platform dynamics have facilitated the achievement of remarkable scale, market power, and profitability.

At its core, platform transformation begins with building ecosystems within or across industries. Create marketplaces that connect customers and providers. Focus on the customer journey. Build an ecosystem of partners, elevate your brand beyond one-dimensional products and services, and make it something three-dimensional — part of consumers’ lifestyles.

Platform businesses are a legacy. From civilization’s beginnings, people have grouped together to connect and innovate. Connected technology removes physical boundaries from existing ecosystems, and platform businesses facilitate changes at an unimaginable scale. Choose the right platform for your business goals from the four principal types of business platforms:

• Aggregation platforms: Use task- or transaction-focused platforms to connect users with appropriate resources. Users express a need, receive a response, conclude the deal, and exit. eBay is an excellent example of this business model.
• Social platforms: Support engagement with shared interests and foster networks of relationships using social media platforms.
• Mobilization platforms: Go beyond the capabilities of a single entity and encourage people to work together to achieve transformative goals. Focus on long-term relationships over short-term transactions and connect participants in extended business processes like distribution operations.
• Learning platforms: Connect participants and promote learning as they share their insights. Show people the value of fostering trusting relationships and working together to share knowledge, improve performance, and sharpen their capabilities.

Maximize Opportunities Through an Innovative Business Platform

Agility is the key to maintaining a competitive edge in the current business landscape, so you cannot underestimate the importance of a business platform. In the hustle and bustle of your industry, it identifies convergence points so you can be at the center of your market instead of balancing precariously on the periphery of a robust network. It makes you a gatekeeper, adding and receiving value through every interaction.

Businesses are no longer isolated in a world of connected technology. They are part of an intricate pattern of relationships. Embrace an ecosystem mindset and drive growth through connected collaboration by embracing business platforms.

An innovative business platform, combined with a masterful strategy and a defined digital ecosystem, creates a growth catalyst, redefining your business trajectory.

Explore the Strategic Benefits of Business Platforms

Connectivity has never had more potential. Platforms spearhead digital transformation and elevate the customer experience. Creating and capturing value is at the core of every business, and platform business models facilitate value creation without manufacturing products, creating content, or providing a service. A business platform gives you access to the following benefits:

1. Unlock Large and Diverse User Bases

Create a business platform and tap into existing communities. Accelerate growth with shared networks. Reduce costs and increase brand awareness. Access data from your audience based on preference and behaviors, and use this data to inform your strategic objectives, identify improvement opportunities, and create personalized experiences.

2. Create Three-Dimensional Markets

Create a new market instead of carving out space in an existing one by matching supply, demand, and connection. Within your digital ecosystem, you can facilitate engagement and coordination, offering unique experiences to your target audience.

3. Innovate and Experiment

Adapt to market trends and keep innovating. As a platform owner, you can transform your business model, integrate new technology, and extend your products and services in line with an ever-changing market. The ability to innovate and experiment sets you apart as you stay agile in the face of customer demands and new business opportunities.

4. Broaden Your Impact

Navigate digital transformation and make your business platform the backbone of your operations. Redefine competition within your digital ecosystem, transcending real-time customer value and creating a broader impact.

5. Amplify Your Existing Skills and Assets

Business platforms take what you already have and add economic value by removing friction from the supply and demand side. Combine data and artificial intelligence (AI) to boost efficiency by creating rapid connections.

6. Enter New Markets on a Strong Footing

Platforms can facilitate market entry for new businesses. Create a platform that allows multiple parties to interact and leverage other entities’ resources to boost growth in your operation. A platform gives you greater access to technology, distribution, marketing, and knowledge channels. Enter the market with fewer resources and still compete effectively.

7. Diversify Revenue Streams

Generate revenue from a plethora of sources, including advertising, transaction fees, and data monetization, from your platform. Agility means reducing reliance on a single revenue stream to boost financial stability in a fluid marketplace.

8. Stand Out in a Crowded Space

Harness data insights and network effects to create something unique. A platform can differentiate your organization, transform your brand, and establish a strong market position.

Experience Platform Business Models in Action

Many groundbreaking businesses leverage platform business models to stay dynamic throughout rapid market shifts. Some examples of successful business platforms include:

• Royal Philips Electronics: Faced with challenges like unbalanced growth and fierce competition, Royal Philips Electronics partnered with Vivaldi Group to transform their recently launched Accelerate! program into a compelling story they could share. The organization was empowered to effectively communicate its vision, “Improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation” and connecting people through a differentiating strategic brand platform.
• Valet Living: Excited to expand in a growing market and rebrand waste and recycling collection to a full-service amenities provider, Valet Living — then known as Valet Waste — approached Vivaldi to move away from linear business growth and transform into a disruptive, platform model. Valet Living and Vivaldi redefined the user experience through a profound brand transformation and accelerated organizational change.

Embrace the Future of Business Platforms With Vivaldi Group

As more businesses transform their operations and embrace platform business models, the magnitude of the shift broadens. Technology and the need for interconnectedness drive many decisions to leverage business platforms. Revolutionize your business model and claim your place in a competitive market with a detailed strategic approach. Harness the potential of connectivity and digital ecosystems, creating exponential growth for your stakeholders.

Vivaldi can open the doors to boundless opportunities, defining your global digital ecosystem and positioning your platform as a catalyst for innovation and connection. Navigate digital transformation and shape a future where your business spearheads positive change in an agile digital landscape. Reach out to a consultant to learn more about creating an ecosystem of value with Vivaldi today.