06.03.19 | Digital Platforms

“People are always more important than features.”

Again our Digital Innovators came to our halls to learn more about the topic “Digital Platforms”. This can be looked at from different levels – Christian Els presented it from the business point of view.

In the case of digital platforms, human beings are regarded as the highest being – not even the features of a product can take this rank away. But how is that meant?

Digital platforms are nothing more than a medium that can be a service, a product or a technology. They serve as the basis for presenting these services. In principle, the so-called “two-sided market” is quite simple:

The platform operator provides a “space” in which developers can offer their products. The other figures in this play are thus the buyers, who purchase the services. The developers pay fees to the platform operator to use the platform. Like everywhere else, rules apply on digital platforms, which are defined by the operator and must be adhered to by the participants. Even with this definition, it becomes clear that it belongs to the participants – i.e. the people – who make and keep the platform alive.

Christian explained this with an everyday and amusing example: That’s how he took us to the disco that evening.

“Imagine it’s disco and nobody goes”

A disco is a platform.

A disco is a platform for getting to know each other.

The operator of the disco (platform) offers his premises, so that organizers (salesmen) can offer their motto parties (product). If, for example, a single party is the main event, an audience (buyer) is required to visit the party (product) on the premises (platform). The organizer (seller) of the party (product) pays fees to the disco operator (platform operator). At the disco it is also necessary to follow rules defined by the disco owner: do not bring sharp objects, steal glasses, throw chairs against the wall, etc.

At the single party there should be someone for everyone. Thus it must be considered in the organization that women and men are equally represented; because without humans the function of a disco, especially of a single party, is somehow invalid.

But first of all, people have to be persuaded to take an interest in the disco and the party and, above all, to leave money there – and that’s not an easy task. In the disco world there are some tips and tricks: In order to create a solid starting situation, you can pay women in advance to go to the party to create a basis. If more and more people visit and stay at the party because of this created basis, the money has been worth it. Once the people are there, all guests have to be treated equally so that it will continue to run in the future.

Outside the disco world, there are, of course, various other strategies and possibilities besides the “payment strategy” to win people over to your platform. Target groups must be defined and their needs addressed. But what sounds simple is associated with a lot of planning and, above all, multiple testing. Testing and trying out is the be-all and end-all of winning people over, bringing them together and, above all, keeping them together.

Christian’s example clearly shows that it simply cannot be done without people and that it takes a network to fully exploit the benefits of digital platforms or to activate them in the first place.

This analogy comes very close to digital platforms; the platform is after all a marketplace that forms a central medium in which buyers and sellers should come together. These can also be groups that do not actually come together under “normal” circumstances – but they have one thing in common: they are the members within a platform who control the features and ultimately determine the product – the “critical mass”, so to say. Features: Yes, people: double-yes!

Christian managed to reach everybody that evening: It was “superficial” enough to attract amateurs, but not so much that professionals could get bored. Not least through the way how Christian presented, a broad audience was reached, which was followed by a very lively discussion.