{"id":5025,"date":"2020-09-29T12:47:54","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T10:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/?p=2327"},"modified":"2020-09-29T12:47:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T10:47:54","slug":"digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital platforms are the new disruptor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>A brief guide to leveraging networks for business<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We all use digital platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and more, but how much do we understand about what they are, how they\u2019re constructed, and why these platforms are the largest <em>businesses<\/em> in the USA? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naspers owns 31% of the Chinese platform Tencent. The\ncompany paid $33 million for its share in 2001, and in a recent valuation,\nthese shares were worth $209 <em>billion<\/em>. In anyone\u2019s language, that is rapid\ngrowth, and that\u2019s the point: platforms enable exponential growth more than any\nother business model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at why. The first question we need to ask is: \u201cWhat is a platform?\u201d When you do the research, a \u201cplatform\u201d can be anything from a collection of technologies to a business model, and much else in-between. Interestingly, before the 1500s, a platform was \u201ca plan of action or design\u201d and only came to mean a flat surface or a foundation later. A political platform or a platform business model are both older than the modern software or digital platform definition. There are really two main types of platforms \u2013 one is a thing, and the other is an idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Platforms have existed in both forms since the agricultural\nrevolution: a town marketplace is a physical platform as well as being a\nbusiness platform. A digital platform is a thing \u2013 a connected set of\ncomponents, assembled and arranged to create and deliver value. A digital\nmarketplace, however, is first a business platform, then a physical platform.\nOne can\u2019t have a business platform without it running on a physical platform.\nBut a business model or design often doesn\u2019t own the physical infrastructure on\nwhich it runs. What a business platform does own are the rules of\nparticipation, conduct, value transfer, and control. In fact, they decide all\nthese things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>An overview of platforms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are underlying digital platforms like AWS, MS Azure,\nGoogle Platforms, and so on. Another form of underlying platform is, of course,\nthe operating system (OS). OS platforms differ from other underlying platforms\nbecause the end-user chooses a device, which chooses the OS platform, which\ndefines what apps will be used by whom. This is important because OS platforms grow\nthrough network effects \u2013 the more users, the more valuable the platform. I\ncall these \u201cunderlying\u201d platforms because the end-user never actually deals\ndirectly with them \u2013 the platforms allow developers and service providers to\nbuild apps and services that end-users employ. Underlying platforms deliver to\nservice providers, not users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there are marketplace platforms like Amazon or\nTakealot. They don\u2019t necessarily own, stock, or deliver any of the products\nthey sell \u2013 they connect buyers to sellers. There are other connecting\nplatforms like Airbnb, which owns no hotels but is the largest hotel chain in\nthe world. There is Uber, which owns no vehicles, but is the largest taxi service\navailable. Then there is Google Search, Bing, and DuckDuckGo, which connect\nusers with the content they are looking for. There are social networking\nplatforms that connect users with users and create the \u201cinfluencer\u201d phenomenon.\nThe list goes on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of these platforms are business model platforms, and\nthe important thing here is that network and learning effects drive their\ngrowth. A learning effect is where growth and improvement happen on the\nplatform because of what it learns about its users. Therefore, who owns the\ndata is critical because that\u2019s where the value (and privacy issues) lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quintessential physical platform, which is seldom\na business model platform, is the enterprise platform. This is the\ninfrastructure, systems, networks, applications, security, cloud services that\nare architected, assembled, deployed, and run and often owned by enterprises.\nIt must be clear, though, that these are not business model platforms \u2013 they\nare essential physical and digital platforms that allow businesses to operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Physical platforms are linear, while business model\nplatforms are complex. A world of difference lies in that distinction. Linear\nplatforms allow a business to source components, manufacture products, and sell\nthem to their customers. They are the traditional way business has been done\nsince the industrial revolution. All well and good. But business model\nplatforms are complex \u2013 they tap into an ecosystem, may not own any physical\ncomponents, and often grow exponentially \u2013 like Tencent. The rules of\nengagement and marketing are different, there are multiple routes to customers,\nand the supply chain becomes almost automated.\n\nHere\u2019s the question: \u201cShould CIOs help their\ncompanies go exponential?\u201d More than any other executive, CIOs understand the\nplatform concept, and more than anything, CIOs can see where their company can\nbenefit from platform thinking.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all use digital platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and more, but how much do we understand about what they are, how they\u2019re constructed, and why these platforms are the largest businesses in the USA? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whitepapers"],"acf":[],"_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","yoast_noindex":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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Netsurit ZA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Digital platforms are the new disruptor - Netsurit ZA","og_description":"We all use digital platforms like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and more, but how much do we understand about what they are, how they\u2019re constructed, and why these platforms are the largest businesses in the USA?","og_url":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/","og_site_name":"Netsurit ZA","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Netsurit-Pty-Ltd-352181031086\/","article_published_time":"2020-09-29T10:47:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Netsurit-Digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"webdevine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@netsurit","twitter_site":"@netsurit","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"webdevine","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/"},"author":{"name":"webdevine","@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/#\/schema\/person\/4450f4df559939d5fc31aac906c4ebf9"},"headline":"Digital platforms are the new disruptor","datePublished":"2020-09-29T10:47:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/"},"wordCount":774,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Netsurit-Digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor.png","articleSection":["Whitepapers"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/","url":"https:\/\/netsurit.com\/en-za\/digital-platforms-are-the-new-disruptor\/","name":"Digital platforms are the new disruptor - 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