Platform in general means “something that helps something else to happen”. And Digital Platform is no different. It is something that enables businesses to connect through technology and deliver value, for example, an e-commerce platform where producers and consumers interact with each other to create and deliver value. Sangeet Paul, author of the book Platform Revolution has defined a platform as “.... a plug and play business model that allows multiple participants (producers and consumers) to connect to it, interact with each other and create and exchange value”.
If we go a little deeper into this definition we will understand that Platform allows a web of multiple channels to connect and perform core activities as opposed to just two entities connecting linearly in a traditional business model.
In the linear business model, there is usually one producer selling to consumers whereas a Platform allows multiple producers to utilize the platform capabilities and reach out to their consumers. For example, any seller can sell on Amazon, Spotify users have access to music from multiple artists and bands. These platforms are not restricted to one seller or one artist. This network of producers and consumers is what makes the Platform business model so different and disruptive.
Let’s look at how this multi-dimensional Platform Business Model can help in the current environment where social distancing, remote learning, and telecommuting are the new normal. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, most of the countries are in major lockdowns, services like groceries and food delivery has seen a tremendous increase in demand. Early data in the UK has shown around 11% increase in the revenue of online food delivery compared to the same period last year. There was a record increase in the number of downloads of grocery delivery apps like Instacart, Walmart, and Target in the month of March. Almost every school and university is moving to distance or remote learning to keep their students and staff safe and avoid the spread of the virus. Given this surge in the usage of online services, customers would want more and more options available online. Customers would like to search, explore compare, and choose between different options within a single and uninterrupted user experience. Providing such an experience would be difficult and almost impossible by Linear Models and hence, the Platform Model will and should become the new normal.
In my opinion, retail and education are the two industries in the B2C market that will be impacted the most and need to pivot to the Platform first approach in the coming days. Let’s look at them in detail:
1. Retail:
We have already witnessed huge disruption in the retail industry in the last decade or so where larger brick and mortar retailers are struggling to survive. And now with the global pandemic impacting the day to day life and social distancing becoming the new norm, it will be even harder to get customers to malls or physical stores. Even after the lockdowns are over it will take some time to build customer confidence in revisiting the malls. When customers cannot visit malls, businesses should offer them a similar experience digitally, multiple sellers selling under one umbrella, exactly what Amazon has done. Amazon digitized the concept of the traditional marketplace which put them in a huge competitive advantage. The same concept now should be extended to other types of retail, like fashion, real estate, etc. Imagine a platform where designers can create their own boutiques and provide personalized services to their customers and customers can chat with stylists, try outfits from various designers in virtual trial rooms and accessorize their looks. Now, instead of each designer building, these capabilities which can be expensive and inefficient a platform can expose these capabilities, and designers can create their own digital experiences using those capabilities which will be faster and risk-free.
2. Education:
Education is one industry where digital innovation is long overdue. There are very few schools that are equipped with digitized content let alone running an entire virtual classroom. After the outbreak of the pandemic and lockdowns, many schools moved to virtual classrooms using Zoom or Webex but those are just stopgaps. Teachers are spending days before the sessions to create the digitized content and prep to fit the lessons in a virtual setting. We are in desperate need of a Platform that can allow institutes to set up their virtual classrooms for each grade, upload curriculum, create digitized lessons for each class, and conduct online exams. Such a Platform will not just be useful for schools but also for students and parents where students can form study groups, parents can chat with other parents, etc.
Virtual classrooms are not a replacement for the actual classrooms but if we have such a platform available then any school can create a digital experience using the platform capabilities as and when required. And capabilities like school administration will always be useful for process efficiency without any impact on the quality of education.
The above two industries are on top of my list which will need to adapt to the new normal quickly and Platform thinking can help them achieve it. But there are definitely other industries and sectors in B2C and B2B markets that will be impacted and need to pivot to a similar Platform first approach to embrace the new normal and stay ahead in the curve.
