The European regulations on open banking and payments have been a major stimulus for new business ideas and cooperation within the financial services sector and far beyond. Cooperation can evolve into cohesive business ecosystems. Given the opportunities, a significant number of communities (xTech) have emerged and have been a driving force for change ever since. These communities, Banks, FAANG and other companies are competing to take their share of the cake, and for good reasons.
Business ecosystem, the ultimate level of platform cooperation
A platform is established as soon as value-creating interactions between two or more different types of economic agents are enabled and facilitated, by connecting users and facilitating matchmaking.
Basic platforms can evolve into marketplaces or even cohesive business ecosystems, granting online access to a variety of services, including financial.
Business ecosystem participation may involve a variety of components
Participants may limit their scope to one or more parts: customers, channels, products, services, applications, processes, systems, data or infra.
There are numerous options for building value-generating business ecosystems.
The image underneath illustrates a potential casting of players, which can insert their parts into the business ecosystem.
Participation is key
For companies collaborating in business ecosystems, the individual customers become more hot prospects for the other participants.
Moreover, the extended customer base tends to be more sticky. Via business ecosystems, customers are linked to a collection of suppliers and providers, rather than a single company, which makes it harder to “leave”.
Survival of the most agile
In a previous article, we stressed the importance of Business Agility.
Digital platforms, marketplaces and ecosystems are being launched and enhanced. The platform(s) providing the most customer value and the best customer experience will ultimately survive.
Customer behaviour and customer interactions are monitored and evaluated carefully and over and over again, to check options for value creation.
Customer journeys are enhanced and personalized, from client onboarding till off-boarding and every event in between.
The integration of new Digital Transformation propositions also enables to increase customer value.
Prepare, execute and manage your participation carefully
Buiding or entering a platform or ecosystem is the subject of a well defined and carefully executed project, covering both commercial, legal, financial, operational and technical activities.
Next to your internal project with customer focus, attention has to be paid to partner relationships.
Next to the one-off set-up, agreements have to be made to operate and further improve the platform or ecosystem in the future.
How can we help you?
We are happy to discuss what we can do for you.
- Do you want a sounding board to discuss an idea related to a platform or business ecosystem?
- Do you want to assess the opportunities, impact or the business case for your business?
- Are you planning to build, enter or enhance a platform or business ecosystem?
- Do you have a program/project to be initiated, managed or delivered?
Let us know.
