Sheldon Anthony IO

The goal of platforms is to stay relevant by continuing to evolve and maintaining a laser focus on their operation, technology, and branding strategies. As policymakers design regulatory interventions in these markets, it is critical to thoroughly understand how platforms create value for their users and wider society. When there is limited competition among platform developers, consumers benefit and platforms grow.

Competition among developers on platforms can be intense, which could negatively impact the growth and sustainability of a platform. As such, companies running these platforms have to come up with strategies to limit competition among developers. When competition is rife among developers they take shortcuts to be market leaders which impacts the quality of value they create on a platform. Overall this can harm the platform. Titan platforms have large user bases, but competition among developers hinders collaboration, which leads to the loss of valuable insights on a platform. Platform control and innovation need to be balanced because stagnation and a lack of diversity pose risks to a platform. Failing to innovate and adapt can lead to obsolescence which can be detrimental to the long-term success of a platform.

With a wide range of products and services that cover wireless, data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, video and security, healthcare, and agriculture, Telus is Canada's largest communications and information technology company. Increasing the speed and responsiveness of the enterprise meant blending people, technology, and culture in a way that made it possible for them to accelerate even as they grew and keep on achieving their mission of making it easy for customers and team members to accomplish what they want to. As a strategic partner, Thoughtworks helped them create a new way of working powered by their digital platform strategy and value-driven portfolio capabilities. When technology, systems, and processes are combined, a better customer experience is achieved. With platform thinking, the whole organization was able to create a suite of tools that empowered everyone. The nimble architecture and value-driven prioritization implemented by Thoughtworks helped TELUS meet its goals of speed, ease, and flexibility. The changes have made a positive difference for TELUS customers. The company's app store rating has reached new heights and customer advocacy has risen. From a few changes several times a week, TELUS is now deploying within hours, rather than days in the past. It also ships hundreds of changes every day, as opposed to a few changes a week beforehand. Team members can make data-based decisions and report more easily when using standardized methods for capturing and storing data.^[1]  

As a business owner, your goal is to provide the best possible experience for your consumer on a platform. By limiting competition among developers, they are forced to compete for the quality they provide to the platform rather than undercutting each other only on price. Increasing value on a platform promotes consumer welfare by reducing the risk of fraud and promoting innovation and creativity. The value created on a platform by the developer for the consumer is the ability for the consumer to find a specific thing they are looking for based on a filter. The only concern for consumers is the match on the filter, not the content quantity of a platform. According to Gartner, platform engineering is trending because it promises to optimize the developer experience and accelerate product teams’ delivery of customer value.^[2]  Some platforms have entry criteria costs and base standards but once those are met, the platform only acts as an abetment to a consumer matching their needs. The goal of platforms implementing strategies that limit developer competition is to benefit developers and attract more customers to the platform.

Platform titans generate an average revenue of nearly $USD 22 billion, but are believed to be among the smallest in number according to Accenture which is more than 10 times as much as next-generation companies and 45 times more than emerging companies.^[3] To enable frictionless, self-service developer experiences that provide the right capabilities and remove unnecessary obstacles so consumers can benefit from high rates of innovation, we must understand who the value creators are on our platforms and how they create their value. With the high adoption rate of low-code platforms among organizations, those providing the best developer experience will thrive. In the world of platforms, competition takes a back seat to cooperation and co-creation, and implementing policies that effectuate cooperation and co-creation will allow a platform to proliferate.