Digital Platforms are a key component of a corporation's digital transformation, creating an online space for transactions and interaction between a business and consumers. There are several different types of platforms, including social media platforms, service platforms, and media sharing platforms. The type of platform used depends on the desired outcome of the digital business.
The social media platform operating model is based on user interaction and advertising sales. Service platforms accelerate digital transformation by offering single-click access to products or services. Media sharing platform strategy involves a business model of offering data-driven advertising and web browser real estate.
The key requirements of a successful platform include high levels of security for both customers and the business, promoting interaction between the business and consumers, the ability to scale with the ongoing digital progression, and providing value for those accessing the platform. Usability and visual appeal are also driving forces behind digital platforms. Utilizing application programming interfaces (APIs) can further expand a corporation's ecosystem with strategic choices for platform usage.
The power of platforms comes from the competitive advantage of integrated analytics and personalized solutions. Each digital platform enhances user interactions by creating its own set of rules, including rules for how much advertising revenue is allowed, rules for managing content and suppliers, and rules regarding user relationships. Digital platforms can address issues with extensive vendor management workflows, labor-intensive processes for publishing metadata, a lack of distribution platforms, extended product launch times, legacy platforms without self-service capabilities, poor customer experiences due to complex front-end systems, and increasing operational costs due to manual back-end operation.
Digital platforms can address these issues by realizing non-linear content distribution, establishing custom services-based applications, streamlining workflow management, increasing agility when defining digital assets and media formats, presenting a unified platform that rationalizes front-end systems for the customer, providing integrated analytics, and designing responsive, personalized support solutions.