COVID-19 has sped up digital transformation in enterprises. Side-by-side, competitive pressures make enterprises focus more on pampering the customer. The annual Omdiaglobal survey 2020-21, “ICT Enterprise Insights 2020–21,” makes explicit the change in priorities. Transforming the customer experience rose from the last rank in the list of focus areas to the number one spot. Enterprises considering digital transformation as their top priority rose from just 4% at the start of 2020 to 76% by September 2020.

Conventional business model centres on pipeline thinking. Producers seek to provide value to customers by controlling and manipulating various processes. They create value by coordinating design, procurement, manufacturing, branding, marketing, sales, and service. Different producers position different value offerings, resulting in competitive differentiation.

Platform thinking focuses on the interplay of different customers and brands, to create and consume value. The concept, best epitomised by Uber and Airbnb, strives to create value through an ecosystem rather than through traditional pipeline processes. The platform provides a meeting ground, with a set of rules. The producers and consumers add value through collaboration and engagement.

Enterprises reap rich dividends with platform thinking. With the external environment volatile and uncertain, no business entity can control all upstream and downstream activities in the value chain. Businesses that curate an ecosystem of partners, and collaborate through a platform, strike gold. 

1. Platform Thinking Kindles Innovation

Forward-looking enterprises apply platform thinking to support a culture of continuous innovation. They 

• Channel their creative resources to unlock assets and infrastructure and use it to serve customers better. 
• Leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, immersive technology, and more to make sure the innovation enhances the customer experience.

Innovation unlocks value for customers by untangling complex systems or speeding up the delivery of services. Platform thinking kindles such innovation.  

Consider the disruption of supply chains owing to COVID-19. Conventional pipeline thinking offers limited workarounds. Platform thinking seeks alternatives, enabled by the platform to circumvent the obstacles. The enterprise may source the material from another supplier who could provide it. They could also innovate to replace the material with an alternative, or rejig the process to eliminate it. 

Many enterprises have applied platform thinking to good effect. Facebook, for instance, rather than translate its interface using in-house or outsourced teams, for every foreign language, crowdsourced the task.

2. Leveraging the Power of the Collective 

Platform thinking leverages the power of the collective to serve customers better. The enterprise relies on the community, which includes the partner ecosystem, for opinions, ideas, and feedback. The customer becomes an integral part of the business strategy. When hundreds of customers whet and tweak the business plans, success is assured.

A customer community platform gives the customers, support agents, managers, and other ecosystem partners a reliable way to engage with the brand. Direct and open engagement with the customer and other stakeholders create trust and strengthen the bond between the customer and the brand.

JD, one of China’s leading retailers, developed an emergency resources information platform, to cope with the COVID-19 disruptions. It soon doubled up as a demand forecast tool and a sourcing platform. The platform, powered by Artificial Intelligence and hosted in the cloud, centralised information from external suppliers and logistics providers, and managed stakeholder needs intelligently.

Another platform, adopted by a large water bottle supplier in China, ensured timely delivery, overcoming disruptions. The supplier applied predictive and scenario-based planning tools to get first-hand information about the lockdowns and traffic restrictions in various places. The algorithm shifts production capacity accordingly and preempts transportation issues.

The network approach promoted by platform thinking creates an upward spiral. As more people participate in the platform, the product increases in value. For instance, as more and more people offer their rooms through the Airbnb platform, customers get a better choice and increased availability.

When people find value in an offering, they encourage others to join the bandwagon. A good community platform facilitates such advocacy. Consider the GoPro channel, which makes images and videos taken by customers using the GoPro action camera go viral over many social media channels.

3. Seamless Collaboration

A robust communication backbone facilitates seamless collaboration across the ecosystem. Service providers, partners, customers, and other stakeholders share data and exchange information seamlessly, without third party dependency, or other obstructions. With custom functionality and easy ways to record or create logs, the communication-focused app improves employee productivity and efficiency manifold. Improved performance leads to better customer engagement and support. Analysis of the data generated by the interplay of the entities in the platform helps to refine the platform further and enhance value further.

Seamless communications enhance the customer experience. The robust communication channels offered to the ecosystem partners allow customers to connect with service providers live. Consider Uber. Customers book a cab at any time of the day or night, track arrival in real-time, access reports at will, and chat with a customer support agent anytime, through the same app.

Flatiron Health brings together patients, care providers, regulators such as the Food and Drug Administration, and even competing pharmaceutical companies, to share data on cancer treatment. The continuous interactions offer a rich learning experience and lead to better products and procedures, benefiting the patients.

Simulating thinking customers through outreach engagement strategies triggers valuable feedback. Acting on such feedback rewards the customer and improves his experience.

4. Flexible Support

Platform thinking also makes customer support flexible.

Most enterprises limit social platforms for advertising and product promotions. The real value of social channels, however, lies in delivering customer support through social media. Many companies already offer customer support through Twitter and Facebook. They enable an omnichannel experience for the customer.

A platform thinking approach enables serving customers at whichever channel they prefer, instead of straitjacketing them into specific channels.

Platform thinking is a way to rethink, reimagine, and reset value creation by enterprises, with a focus on serving customers better. Pampered customers spend about 40% more than other buyers and are twice as likely to promote the brand through word-of-mouth. Platform thinking is the way forward to deliver a rewarding customer experience.