Whitepaper: why all companies should engage in the platform economy and how they can start doing so
Platform companies are taking over the economy and are rapidly transforming the world we’re doing business in. While everybody is familiar with the big five technology giants and well-known disruptive companies like Airbnb and Uber, the underlying mechanisms that have been the breeding ground for these businesses is not yet common knowledge. Yet the trend is irreversible and game-changing platforms are expected to emerge across the entire spectrum of the economy at a fast pace.
In our whitepaper we advocate that all companies should engage in the platform economy, even traditional B2B businesses that may so far haven’t thought of developing plans in this direction. The reason is that global megatrends are fueling the platform economy. The key word here is the ecosystem, a complex cluster of businesses, organizations, authorities and individuals that serve each other’s needs.
But how can you do this? In the whitepaper, we outline ways to identify your platform opportunities using tools such as the Platform Innovation Kit. We will touch on a few real-world examples to fuel your inspiration. We also discuss the next steps, which not only involve developing the platform’s software backbone (that’s the easy part), but also to validate the solution from a legal and an economic point of view.
A crucial aspect is to build a comprehensive strategy and plan to bring the platform’s value to the market. This includes aspects such as defining the value proposition, developing the right messaging framework and setting up the most appropriate communication tools.
