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5 Trends Shaping the Future of Platforms
This brilliant summary of the 2023 Platform Strategy Summit by NTWKer and Summit Co-Chair Peter C. Evans is a must-see:
"📢 The 2023 MIT Platform Strategy Summit Report is now available. The report synthesizes the insights and observations of globally recognized platform experts, industry leaders and government policy makers directly engaged in shaping the platform landscape.
The report highlights 5 key trends that dominated the conversation at MIT with over 300 participants from US, Europe, Asia, South America and the Middle East.
📌Trend #1: AI and platforms: The Impact of AI Opportunities abound with artificial intelligence, including improvements to human-machine collaboration. But serious challenges loom as well, including hidden bias, labor challenges, even the possible evolution of a new species.
📌Trend #2: Growth of Circular Platforms: The circular economy aims to mitigate pollution and climate change with supply chains designed for reuse, repair, redesign, and recycling. Platforms are the infrastructure girding product and materials exchanges, reuse marketplaces, sharing sites, circular suppliers’ networks, and sustainable logistics collectives.
📌Trend #3: The Role of Platform Regulation As platforms gain clout, they also attract new regulatory oversight. Summit panelists explained the sharply divergent approaches in the United States and Europe.
📌Trend #4: Connected Manufacturing A new wave of platform-based companies are using manufacturing data to help them run smarter factories and better forecast supply and demand. 20
📌Trend #5: Influencers & the Creator Economy The Creator Economy has an estimated total value of $100 billion, accounting for up to 40% of the overall digital marketing spend. Some social media influencers are even getting hired by big brands."
Why B2B Platforms Struggle to Succeed
B2B platforms face unique challenges that stand in contrast to B2C. Understand and overcome these complexities with help from NTWKer Geoff Parker:
Business-to-consumer platforms such as Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon have become business success stories and the staples of everyday life. Yet platform models have been less successful in the business-to-business space, with most B2B platforms still in the launch stage (24%) or scale stage (60%).
New research from Capgemini Invent and the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy found that B2C platform models do not directly translate to the B2B world, and B2B platforms have unique integration requirements. Their goals are also different:
B2C platforms typically solve for market failure whereas B2B platforms take aim at coordination failure.
Disruption or Distortion? The Impact of AI on Future Operating Models
Marina Planas shared an interesting article from Scott A. Snyder, a senior fellow at Wharton, adjunct professor at Penn Engineering, and chief digital officer at EVERSANA; and Hamilton Mann, group vice president, digital marketing and digital transformation at Thales.
Here are the five most relevant ideas from the article:
1. AI's Profound Impact on Organizations: AI is rapidly reshaping how companies operate. It highlights that organizations need to address the significant changes AI brings to their operating models, including the workforce.
2. Blueprint Over Structure: Organizations should focus on creating a flexible blueprint for adaptation rather than rigid organizational structures. A fluid organizational approach is recommended, allowing companies to efficiently handle routine tasks while remaining agile in response to unforeseen challenges, with AI playing a pivotal role in augmenting productivity.
Platforms Could Power the Circular Economy
NTWKer Peter C. Evans shared his take on this new MIT Sloan article:
"This article details the role that platforms can play in powering the circular economy. Today’s circular economy has a global value of nearly $410 billion, with platforms accounting for roughly a quarter of that. By 2030, the circular economy should be worth $1.5 trillion — and circular platforms will account for nearly 60% of that, or $863 billion.
Today, most platforms power the linear economy of "take-make-waste." In the future, we will see the power of platform business models, with their ability to improve discovery, matching and facilitate network effects, support the growing need for business models that support repair, reuse, and recycling across apparel, electronics, plastics, construction, batteries and many other sectors."
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