Tech Trends in Practice

TREND 18Digital Platforms

The One-Sentence Definition

A digital platform is a mechanism or network that facilitates valuable connections and exchanges between people – and these exchanges may include communicating and sharing information, selling products, or offering services.

What Are Digital Platforms?

Facebook, Uber, Amazon, and Airbnb are all well-known examples of digital platform businesses. What do they all have in common? They aid valuable interactions between people, meaning participants may use the platform to sell goods or services to each other, collaborate on projects, give advice, share information, or cultivate friendships.

Platform businesses have existed for years. If you think about it, a shopping center is a platform to link consumers to those who make and sell clothing, shoes, and other goods. Likewise, a newspaper is a platform that connects advertisers to readers. Platforms aren’t new. What is new about today’s most powerful platform businesses is that the connections they facilitate take place in the online, rather than the physical, world, and are enabled by data. In other words, related trends like mobile devices, artificial intelligence (Trend 1), big data (Trend 4), cloud computing (Trend 7), and automation (Trend 13) have combined to create a perfect storm, giving rise to a new wave of highly successful digital platform businesses. These platforms are also fueling big changes in how we live and work, giving rise to the gig economy and sharing ...