So why all these postulations and clarifications? Well, this week CeBit`s technical exhibition and conference is taking place in Hanover. Software AG used the fair this year as a platform for product disclosure (pun intended). The company launched its digital business platform, which operates “at the intersection” between real-time business operations and changing customer and market demands. The alarm bells start ringing immediately, i.e. is it really a platform, or is the company rebranding some of its existing software with a bit of glorifying bragging and spin? Software platforms are also not suites, such as Microsoft Office, a popular office productivity suite. It comes from a vendor, it has a specific set of modules, and each of those modules serves a purpose. They can be integrated with other software, but they do not allow you to build applications on top of them. Other sample suites include Adobe Creative Cloud, Google Workspace (G Suite), and HubSpotEnterprise Growth Suite. To the untrained eye, one platform may seem like a sequel at first, as both offer a wide collection of features. But unlike a closed suite, a platform is inherently open and available for partnerships with companies that may not even exist yet. Analysis and practice in preparation are the steps by which we must ascend the platform of power. When purchasing software, it is important to know for which platform the software was written.
Or, a LAMP stack can be described as a platform for Linux software development, which includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as the operating system and PHP scripts as the development language. Love it or hate it, Facebook is a good example of a platform AND a software product; And it is this duality that helps explain differentiation. The Facebook app is a software product, it`s an app. You can sign up online and use it as a web service, or you can download it to your device and sign in to a connected app. Basically, Facebook is also a platform for other apps. “The platform beats a product every time,” Jost says – and by that he means that companies should approach software applications they can only use in their original form for a few years. “Software application development needs to evolve to a new level of adaptive applications that can be modified and adapted (very often quickly). Indeed, no software provider can predict the business logic of a client company for more than a few years,” he said.
The vision of a marketing technology suite is to provide brands with a scalable, feature-rich technology platform that helps bring important aspects to life faster and easier. Platforms are not just products: they are comprehensive technology frameworks that need to be expanded and adapted to meet market demand. A good software platform is designed for flexibility. For example, SQL is a database application, but is often used as a component in other functions such as logging, analytics, CRM, and ERP systems. SQL can therefore be called a platform. Similarly, a web server application can be considered a platform because it is used to leverage the company`s storefront or user/partner portal. Kickstarter is a startup platform that seems to have recognized the danger. In the next era of man, one platform became something else. Where we used to think of a platform as the underlying computer system, we probably have to accept the fact that the industry sees a platform as something to build on.
To be clearer, a platform could be your smartphone, meaning it has its own device form factor and its own ability to connect to other software streams, so it`s a platform that allows you to do other things that weren`t planned at the time of the original design – and that`s the important point. So what Jost is saying is that software products (i.e. applications) come with predefined business logic that limits their ultimate scope. Conversely, PLATFORMS separate logical functions from applications so that a change IT structure can be built. If Software AG`s argument is valid, a company`s application platform can do something very different five years after being fixed. A bit like the Amazon and iTunes examples. By making it easier to exchange or improve features that you stagnate or simplify in a suite`s package, a platform expands your marketing ecosystem by integrating evolving third-party and custom components. Computers use specific central processing units (CPUs) designed to execute specific machine language code. For the computer to run software applications, they must be in the binary coded machine language of that processor. Choosing between using a suite or platform may seem like a daunting task, but it will feel obvious once you identify your company`s core strategy and clarify the strengths and challenges you face. Software stacks – combinations of software components – that enable other complex services to be delivered to the business can also be called platforms.
For example, an organization that wants to deploy internal cloud capabilities can deploy the OpenStack infrastructure as a private cloud platform. Successful marketing platforms offer four things: digital asset management, ecommerce, web content management, and advertising data management. The software can also be cross-platform, meaning the developers wanted the object code to run on more than one platform, for example, Win/Mac. The software can also be platform independent, meaning that the software is designed to run on any combination of operating system and processor architecture, including, for example, a web browser as part of the underlying platform. When new innovations appear on the market, it is easier to integrate them into your system if you use a platform. It also raises the stakes a bit – if you`re using a platform as a cornerstone for further product purchases and custom development, you want to make sure it`s a good foundation for the long run. With a platform as the foundation of your enterprise ecosystem, you don`t have to limit yourself to a single suite of products – you can add and remove new applications and tools as your business grows and evolves, without having to start from scratch or deal with chaotic migrations. Enter the platform.
A platform is a set of software and a surrounding ecosystem of resources that help you grow your business. A platform enables connection-based growth: its value lies not only in its own capabilities, but also in its ability to connect external tools, teams, data, and processes.