Business Platforms From Bricks to Clicks

“Platform” Concept Platform provides services and facilities for next level up (Eg. Physical location) Platform provides services and facilities for next level up (Eg. Guarding) Platform provides services and facilities for next level up (Eg. Payment)

Platforms of the Past Gatherers didn’t need a platform; the natural world provided all the services needed. Hunters required planning, some weapons and tools, communication, memory Farmers required hunter facilities, plus logistics and a market place to trade

Business Business is a unique “platformed” activity  It requires more than one individual  There are social and cultural processes and values involved Historically there have been three platforms:  Cart (business comes to customers) irregular or regular  Marketplace (customers, business convene on regular but not constant basis)  “High Street” or business district (customers come to business on regular, constant schedule)

Platform Needs of Business Secure venue (physical, emotional) Commodity services (weighing, storage) Logistics services (incoming, outgoing) Economic services (lending, money changing) Brokerages Additional services as business becomes more sophisticated

Services into Platforms As these services are organized into ways they can be accessed and used, the loose collection becomes a platform A platform is a structured, configurable set of services and facilities. (Flash forward: If this set is also programmable, never gets tired or bored, has memory and deals only with data we have…. E-Commerce )

Intermediation Business beyond the cart stage has never been simply the meeting of one buyer and one seller Business services are needed and these require “intermediation” We’ll use the example of the simple market place or market space (to move it from the geographical metaphor)

The Market Space BUYER SELLER MARKET SPACE Traditionally, buyer and seller come together in market space where they can confidently transact. BUYER SELLER SIMPLE INTERMEDIATION Threats Owners of the market space get a fee for this intermediation service.

Multiplication of Intermediaries In the traditional marketspace, the owners provide safety, security, standards, replicability, recording, transportation, etc. to increase the confidence of buyers and sellers. BUYER SELLER As interaction becomes more complex, more possibilities for intermediation arise Each of these represents a business opportunity COMPLEX INTERMEDIATION These complex interactions result in a hierarchy made possible by layers of intermediation

Growth of Hierarchies HIERARCHY BUYER SELLER A more complex form of intermediation is being a navigator among brokerages One possibility for intermediation is brokerage COMPLEX INTERMEDIATION GIVES RISE TO HIERARCHIES An even more complex form of intermediation is trraining or consulting in how to use navigators

Breaking Down of Hierarchies MARKET SPACE The user can take over many of the intermediation functions, resulting in “dis- intermediation”; hierarchies are broken down and the market space is recreated As Internet replaces the Hierarchies of the Market Space, the user becomes “empowered” INTERMEDIATION BUYER SELLER Assuming the user has the tools and the skills and the opportunities DIS

Reinstalling Hierarchies MARKET SPACE Providers can find niches within the interstices and “reintermediate” the market space, reintroducing hierarchical structures. However, the complexity of the Internet creates more interstices. INTERMEDIATION BUYER SELLER RE

E-Commerce Business Platforms The Internet is the base service The WWW and its derivatives becomes the base business platform Additional business services are made available on the Web to support businesses Speed, memory, etc. make it possible to change business models quickly, perhaps too quickly for some businesses Of course, the technology is a lower level platform! At this level, the platform is capable of supporting businesses Services might include validation, verification, payment, financing Who customers are, what products are made and sold, how business functions

Revolution? Evolution! The WWW is simply the latest in a series of business platforms It’s different in terms of speed, breadth of local (global!), programmability, flexibility, and media Its “difference” is most noticeable when a significant number of business model terms are “electronic” or data entities But it is still “business”