Products to Platforms
Utilising the power of the people
It's always easy to define the term product, which simply means goods or services produced or refined for purchase. The same can't be said for the term platform, however. A quick Google search of the word will show you the definitions of the word which include "a raised level surface on which people or things can stand", "the declared policy of a political party or group", and "a shoe with very thick soles".
In the world of computing, the word platform is utlised to denote a complete software programming development environment and underlying subsystem. Today, a platform is somewhat different; many industries consider it to be anything that you can build upon. Platforms are a huge part of many of our lives now and a significant amount of enterprises now have a focus on transitioning their products into platforms.
Some of the amazing platforms I interact with on a frequent basis include the Android operating system (OS), Facebook, Youtube, and Quora (a personal favourite of mine). As long as platforms continue to have a large impact on their millions of users everyday, they are definitely here to stay. In fact, platform-based companies have higher chances of impacting many more users than traditional businesses which produce one or more closely related product or services.
A win-win-win situation for everyone
Let's take Google's Android OS as an example. Android now has more than 1 billion 30-day active users and the Google Play Store boasts more than 1.5 million mobile apps. The success of Google's mobile OS is largely due to the fact that is a great platform for mobile app developers and enthusiasts to build great products for the platform, essentially creating a thriving ecosystem. Offering tools such as application programming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) allows developers to build and sell better apps to help solve their users' problems on top of driving inovation for Android - a win-win-win situation for everyone.
Platforms are great for users as they are empowered to create content to upload, view, and share with other users around the world. The generation of fantastic content is even more evident on websites like YouTube and Quora. How many of the videos uploaded to YouTube are done individually? The popular video-sharing site has content like reviews, tutorials, and vlogs from a wide range of topics that contain a wealth of information which even sparked permanent careers for some YouTubers.
On the Q&A website, Quora, users are allowed to follow multiple topics of their interest while also asking questions and providing answers to other questions. It really is refreshing to find how Quora combines various experiences and curiousity to provide cumulative intelligence.
Consumers buy products, not platforms
Products are still relevant today as they tend to be at the front-end of what users see. Consumers buy products, not plaforms. In today's world, however, it is increasingly important to think about platforms as a framework for businesses before products. It is this framework that should pave the way for product strategy; what a platform does is to allow multiple products to be built in the same framework.
Google started off as a search engine all those years ago. Dominating Internet search allowed Google to pave the way for other products such as Gmail, Maps, Chrome, and Android, among others, allowing an expansion of the platform. Amazon started as an online bookstore and then started allowing other third-party vendors to sell their products on their site. At the same time, their retail platform gathered a huge amount of data about how people carry out shopping online on top of making their "one-click" shopping experience available for those third-parties to use as well.
Facebook is another platform worth mentioning. The website is first and foremost, a social networking site. You can log in to it online to use as a web service or you can download the mobile Facebook app to your device and log in through the app. The Facebook platform is now more than just a social networking site. It sets itself apart not just because of their 1 billion active users, but because of their extensive knowledge of their users' interest. Having the "Like" and "Share" buttons across the web allows them to understand their users beyond the boundaries of Facebook.com. Allowing external parties to plug into this information generates a multiplier effect of sorts by gaining more data about users when they access those external parties.
Consumers, not governments or enterprises, are driving today's economy more than ever. Building platforms are tough, but the return of investment of strong, consumer-driven platforms is clearly evident with the generation of great content, solving real-world problems, and boosting innovtion at the core of these returns.
No comments
Post a Comment