How Digital Platforms have Transformed the Business Models of Organizations
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How Digital Platforms have Transformed the Business Models of Organizations

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How Digital Platforms have Transformed the Business Models of Organizations

Ankit Gupta, CEO, Weblink

The Internet has turned our existence upside-down. It has revolutionized communications to the extent that it is now our preferred medium for everyday communication. In almost everything we do, we use the Internet. Within recent years, the concept of ‘digital transformation’ reached a solid and high position in the discussion of leading elements that influence the development and survival of contemporary organizations. In the general sense, digital transformation can be defined as the modification of business models, resulting from the dynamic pace of technological progress and innovation that trigger changes in consumer & social behaviors. This is also a clarion call for organizations to build proactive engagement systems using tools like data analytics and AI, which can help businesses, find their next customers.

Social media gives the opportunity to keep an eye on target customer base in their natural habitat, and therefore get regular insights into their needs & expectations. If you manage to understand what they want from your business by listening to what they say about it, what they complain about, and which wishes they express, you can better adapt your company to meet these expectations and get an advantage over the competition that neglects to do so. Digital presence is the need of the hour; there’s a reason why professionals from almost every industry have jumped the bandwagon and engaged in internet marketing. It’s because they have realized the ability of the internet to build brands.

Millennials have already had a significant impact on culture, society, economics, and ways of working. And once they hit the C-Suite and gain positions of true executive influence, the whole marketing, and advertising model will get a shake-up once more. Thanks to the booming tech industry and multiple different app options, it is easier than ever to get things delivered right to your door with just some clicks on your smartphones. A good platform technology is aimed to usher in great business while being easy on pocket for both companies and the customers. Millennials no longer want to wait in crowded lines to get food, clothes or toiletries, and why should they?

A study by Cisco estimates that by next year, there will be 20.6 billion networked devices worldwide. 50 percent of these will be mobile connected, contributing to a massive 800 percent growth in mobile data between now and 2020. Facebook has 1.28 billion daily active users. There are 310 million active Amazon customer accounts worldwide, 90 million of which are Amazon Prime members who spend an average of $1,300 per year on the platform, with the remaining 220 million non-Prime members spending an average of $700. Google constantly introduces new tools and features that businesses can use to improve their visibility. A closer look at the digital transformations brought by these industry giants can better define the new business models of the 21st century.
Facebook: With 1.28 billion active users, more than half of whom visit the site daily, Facebook has already changed the landscape of your industry in far-reaching ways. Facebook’s large network allows you to tap into the power of human relationships to improve your business’ ability to hire, advertise and promote its services. Today, people can feel a closer connection to your business than ever before. Many companies utilize the power of their Facebook Fan Page to its fullest by creating contests, awarding discounts, and giving people reasons to go ahead and become a fan. When people come to a website and see thousands of fans, they start to think, ‘wow, this business is really popular’. This gives an instant credibility. People trust a business when they become its loyal customers.

The new generations of consumers with higher disposable income are leveraging digital platforms for most of their requirements, hence driving the future of modern business

Amazon: It’s an Amazon world; we just live in it. Amazon currently has over 28.7 million likes on its Facebook page. At least that’s the way it feels sometimes when so much of what we do (shopping, watching, reading, or listening) is connected to Amazon. And the innovative brand may soon grab another corner of the market. Not only did Amazon give people fast and free shipping on thousand items with Prime, there’s also the smart move by Amazon to tie its streaming video service to Prime, which provides an added-value for customers, and gives people incentive to adopt Amazon’s streaming service, watch their original content, and set the stage for the future growth of that enterprise.

Google: The business world we live in is changing exponentially. Some companies that didn’t exist 20 years ago are now global superpowers. Take Google for instance; founded in September 1998, it is in its 21st year now, and most of us can’t imagine a day without it. Within the span of our lifetimes, this company has arisen from the dust; from literally a ‘nobody’ company to an integral part of our culture and business at large. In today's digital world, customers can educate themselves about a product during the buying process. Often, customers have already educated themselves about your product offering and can be savvier as a result. Another interesting impact of Google on a business relates to the functionality of the search engine itself. Aside from the indirect impacts mentioned above, Google also influences the attention that businesses receive based on the search engine results themselves.

The digital transformation made it possible to create many new business models. From a business owner’s standpoint, the millennial consumers’ behavior can have a big share in the generation of sales. With the dawn of the age of millennials, the new generations of consumers with higher disposable income are leveraging digital platforms for most of their requirements, hence driving the future of modern business. The millennials are reshaping the modern consumer-centric business world, and therefore, the modern consumer behavior has resulted in the rise of digital platforms.