NEWS
How can you foster innovation in software ecosystems - six examples
Innovation is at the heart of every successful software ecosystem. Fostering a culture of innovation not only drives growth and success but also creates a competitive edge. Here are six examples of how you can foster innovation in software ecosystems:
1. Encourage a Collaborative Environment:
Create spaces for open communication and idea-sharing among software development teams. Collaboration fosters creativity and leads to innovative solutions.
2. Invest in Research and Development:
Allocate resources to R&D efforts to explore new technologies, methodologies, and trends. This investment can yield groundbreaking innovations.
3. Embrace Agile Methodologies:
Adopt agile practices to enable quick iterations, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Agile methodologies promote innovation by allowing teams to respond to change and deliver high-quality software.
4. Promote a Culture of Learning:
Encourage continuous learning and skill development among team members. By staying updated on the latest industry trends, individuals can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the table.
5. Support Hackathons and Innovation Challenges:
Organize events that challenge developers to ideate and create innovative solutions within a limited timeframe. Hackathons drive creativity and often result in pioneering software concepts.
6. Foster Entrepreneurial Mindset:
Encourage developers to think like entrepreneurs and take ownership of their projects. This mindset cultivates a sense of ownership and drive to innovate.
By implementing these strategies, software ecosystems can create an environment that nurtures creativity, experimentation, and advancement, ultimately leading to groundbreaking innovations.
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Disruptive business models: join the European workshop on software ecosystems
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Software industry and disruption
The software industry is all about disruptive business models. The key question remains: How do you plan and build disruptive business models? What are examples of disruptive business models? What did companies with distruptive business models do different than other companies? How can a company offer for the prize of zero? All of these questions can be answered by looking at disruptive business models.
Business model canvas and disruption
Let us adress these questions based on the business model canvas. The business model canvas is a well known approach by Osterwalder to model business models. Osterwalder published his approach in the book Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers.
A business model is described there on a "canvas" that shows e.g. the value proposition, cost, channels, revenue, suppliers, key resources and key partners.
Here is an example of Google´s search business on the business model canvas:
Where in the business model can disruption happen?
Now that we know the business model canvas, we can take disruption mechanisms and put them into the canvas. I use the information from Mark W. Johnson´s ideas on seizing the white space and put them on the canvas. And i use information from Profit from Software Ecosystems book.
Let me explain some of the boxes below.
Offer standardized low price version of high price product
There is a high price product, like secure data rooms. You build disruptive business models by offering that product in a standardized low price version. Examples i like are
UberX, a service from Uber that offers cheap transportation services
Motel One which is a motel chain that offers very affordable overnight stays
Securedocs, who disrupt the secure data room industry by offering a cheap yet safe data room for companies.
Shop at home with device
Nothing is more convenient than shopping at home. Technology can put that convenience to a new level.
Here are my most-liked examples:
Amazon has invented Amazon Fresh, a device that can scan barcodes of products at home or can listen to your wishes. Just say: chocolate sprinkles and the sprinkles will be at your door the next morning.
Amazon Fire scans for products that can be ordered, from Amazon, of course. no more searching for names or products in catalogs. scan, shop, done.
hybris Commerce Suite: lets you shop on any device (smart tv, Ipad, Phone)
Integrate and combine channels
In some industries there are opportunities in integrating and combining channels to build disruptive business models. No matter how you reach customers to sell goods, no matter where customers turn their attention, you might leverage all these channels as one.
Here are my favorites:
Stylight social shopping. Stylight has integrated normal people showing off purchased apparel in social networks with a shopping experience. Pictures of these people can appear in the shop and items can be ordered right away.
Prize of zero fed by other revenue streams
There is no better way to disrupt than offering a product or service for a price of zero. But you have to make sure you get some compensation or you finance that business model with revenues from your other business models. Advertising revenue has been stressed a lot in the software business for this purpose, but it only works in rare cases. So, which other sources of revenue to fund a low price are there? Here are my examples:
Google search. The service offered by Google is free. If you look at it more carefully, there is a compensation. it is data about the interest and the searches a user starts. This data is sold to advertisers. Revenue from advertising feeds free search.
Communities instead of sales force
Outsourcing for the prize of (almost) zero and scaling your salesforce dramatically. These are the benefits of leveraging product communities for supporting, maintaining and even selling your products. Network effects can accelerate this effect even more. Examples are:
Nespresso community
Skype was and is mostly promoted by its community. the network effects of having additional people join.
Open Source communities
Do more to adress the job
Just do a little more than your competition. Sounds easy, but it might take some hard thinking to deliver. Here are examples:
German epost does not only store your mail while you are away from home, they will scan all incoming letters and provide them online for you to look at it.
Life is good. Social retail. Shopping is great. Might be even greater if you are doing good while you are shopping.
Join the European workshop on software ecosystems to learn more.
Literature
Content on this site comes from the following book and the ones in the gallery:
Mergers and Acquisitions in the Software Industry
other background literature is:
Osterwalder, Business model generation
Mark W Johnson, Seizing the white space
R. Meyer, K.M. Popp, Profit from software ecosystems
How can you foster innovation in software ecosystems - six examples
Innovation is at the heart of every successful software ecosystem. Fostering a culture of innovation not only drives growth and success but also creates a competitive edge. Here are six examples of how you can foster innovation in software ecosystems:
1. Encourage a Collaborative Environment:
Create spaces for open communication and idea-sharing among software development teams. Collaboration fosters creativity and leads to innovative solutions.
2. Invest in Research and Development:
Allocate resources to R&D efforts to explore new technologies, methodologies, and trends. This investment can yield groundbreaking innovations.
3. Embrace Agile Methodologies:
Adopt agile practices to enable quick iterations, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Agile methodologies promote innovation by allowing teams to respond to change and deliver high-quality software.
4. Promote a Culture of Learning:
Encourage continuous learning and skill development among team members. By staying updated on the latest industry trends, individuals can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the table.
5. Support Hackathons and Innovation Challenges:
Organize events that challenge developers to ideate and create innovative solutions within a limited timeframe. Hackathons drive creativity and often result in pioneering software concepts.
6. Foster Entrepreneurial Mindset:
Encourage developers to think like entrepreneurs and take ownership of their projects. This mindset cultivates a sense of ownership and drive to innovate.
By implementing these strategies, software ecosystems can create an environment that nurtures creativity, experimentation, and advancement, ultimately leading to groundbreaking innovations.
Like the topic? Participate in our workshop tickets here
Why don´t you choose one of the following topics to continue:
Software strategy selection: is build, buy, partner sufficient or do we have to add open source to the game?
Strategy selection
The best innovation and growth strategy is to combine organic and inorganic growth. SAP has successfully applied organic innovation and growth resulting e.g. in SAP HANA, SAP S/4 HANA as well as inorganic innovation and growth via acquisitions like Qualtrics and Calliduscloud.
Build, buy, partner
For me, the most important distinction between build or buy is the window of opportunity that you have. In technology markets, there are frequent changes of market direction. If you’re lucky, you had started your solution in time to build something that is en vogue right now. But if you’re not lucky, you need to acquire capabilities that the market needs today. But is this the only option you have?
Opportunity and risk in building and acquiring solutions
To be frank, with the current state of technology due diligence on to be acquired companies there is no difference in risk to build or to buy. When building products, you trust your developers to build something great. The a priori likelihood of success is 50%. Same likelihood applies for acquiring technology. In addition, acquired technology exists, has customers, success and failure history. So, what is the impact of this statement on build decisions?
Build decisions
Build decisions are made based on anticipated market trends. So don´t be suprised when you find out that you made the wrong decision. It is perfectly natural to take wrong decisions. But how can you fix such a wrong decision? I have two proposals: The first one is to start massive marketing to convince customers and markets that what you built is the right thing. Tough. The second option is to buy your way into front and center of the market. What are these the only options you have?
Outsource your worries
What we need to look at is in another alternative. You could leverage an existing open source solution with a license that permits commercial use to jumpstart your building efforts. And you build differentiating, proprietary technology on top.
If the open source community behind that solution is being active enough, you will save massive effort for support and maintenance of the solution.
It also makes financial and strategic sense to spend your money wisely on functionality where you can differentiate your offering from the competitors’ offerings.
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Why don´t you choose one of the following topics to continue:
Corum Group sponsors an industry keynote at EWSECO 2021!
The program of this year´s European workshop on software ecosystems on April 29 is exceptional. From key software ecosystem researchers like Slinger Jansen to key companies like Corum, Schwarz, Tricentis, ORY or CloudBlue.
Corum M&A, a long time sponsor of the European workshop on software ecosystems will hold a keynote presentation at the workshop about the ecosystems in mergers and acquisitions of software companies.
Jon Scott, who is Chairman and Managing Director of Corum Group, will present key insights on hot technology topics in the software mergers and acquisitions ecosystem and how players in the software ecosystem interact in mergers and acquisitions.
TICKET SALES
Click HERE to buy tickets
Corum Group is the world leader in software mergers and acquisitions.
Corum Group sponsors an industry keynote at EWSECO 2021
The program of this year´s European workshop on software ecosystems on April 29 is exceptional. From key software ecosystem researchers like Slinger Jansen to key companies like Corum, Schwarz, Tricentis, ORY or CloudBlue.
Corum M&A, a long time sponsor of the European workshop on software ecosystems will hold a keynote presentation at the workshop about the ecosystems in mergers and acquisitions of software companies.
Jon Scott, who is Chairman and Managing Director of Corum Group, will present key insights on hot technology topics in the software mergers and acquisitions ecosystem and how players in the software ecosystem interact in mergers and acquisitions.
TICKET SALES
Click HERE to buy tickets
Corum Group is the world leader in software mergers and acquisitions.
Next sponsor for European workshop on software ecosystems announced: Tricentis
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks.
For the eighth workshop we are looking forward to short presentations and long breaks which fuel discussions and networking between participants from all across the software industry and academia.
We proudly announce that Tricentis sponsors EWSECO 2021, April 29 2021 in Heilbronn.
With the industry’s #1 Continuous Testing platform, Tricentis is recognized for reinventing software testing for DevOps. Through agile test management and advanced test automation optimized to support SAP and other enterprise technologies, we provide automated insight into the business risks of your software releases—transforming testing from a roadblock to a catalyst for innovation. The result is accelerated software delivery speed, improved cost efficiency, and reduced business risk. For more information, visit www.tricentis.com
Find more information about EWSECO click here.
New sponsor for European workshop on software ecosystems announced: Cloudblue
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks.
For the eighth workshop we are looking forward to short presentations and long breaks which fuel discussions and networking between participants from all across the software industry and academia.
We proudly announce that CloudBlue sponsors EWSECO 2021, April 29 2021 in Heilbronn and will present a keynote presentation.
Max Kuzkin, Executive Director, Engineering, CloudBlue will give a presentation about APIs and how to leverage APIs to grow your business.
Find more information about EWSECO click here.
Max Kuzkin
Executive Director, Engineering, CloudBlue
About CloudBlue
CloudBlue provides a hyperscale platform with hypergrowth products and services that allows providers to launch and manage an omni-product, multi-tier and multi-channel marketplace. With CloudBlue, providers can access and capitalize on a hyperconnected ecosystem of 200+ top-selling vendors, 200+ leading brands and more than 80,000 partners globally. Many of the world’s best-known software and SaaS vendors, digital service providers, technology distributors, tech manufacturers, managed services providers and value-added resellers rely on CloudBlue’s leading CloudBlue Commerce and CloudBlue Connect platforms to automate, aggregate and sell both their own cloud services as well as those from third-party vendors. CloudBlue powers more than 200 of the world’s largest provider cloud marketplaces, which collectively represent more than 30 million enterprise cloud subscriptions. More at www.cloudblue.com.
LAST Call for Papers European workshop on software ecosystems: business networks, platforms, ecosystems Submission deadline is March 30th
Submission deadline is March 16th
Deadline extended to March 30th for Call for papers FOR EWSECO 2021
We would like to invite European researchers and practitioners in the field of software ecosystems, platform ecosystems and business networks to come together in Heilbronn, Germany, on April 29th 2021, to discuss recent (academic) research and recent business experiences and lessons learned, insights or issues related to management of ecosystems, business models or technical issues including but not limited to topics like
Software ecosystems
Research progress and new knowledge for software ecosystems
External forces - the new normal and the impact on software ecosystems
Business networks
Business networks vs. platform businesses
Business networks as platforms for transaction, innovation
Growing business networks by extending beyond participants
Merging different business networks to scale
Platform Business Models
Types of platform business models for transaction, innovation
“Platformizing” existing businesses - how to be successful?
Business model innovation resulting in a platform business model - how to make it work?
Architectures and APIs for platforms
Growth strategies based on platform ecosystems and business networks
Growing by acquiring a platform business
Digital platforms and businesses
data-driven and analytics ecosystems
TICKET SALES
Click HERE to buy tickets
We will invite practitioners to the workshop to ensure discussion about the practical impact of research and to give the presenters the opportunity to discuss with practitioners and researchers alike.
The workshop location at City Campus in Heilbronn, Germany, with many software and software service companies having an office nearby which eases the participation for practitioners. More information at https://ewseco.squarespace.com/?p
Workshop style
Socialize and discuss with (academic) researchers and fellow professionals.
We value discussion as well as presentations. So a short, 15 minute presentation is followed by 15 min discussion with fellow researchers and practitioners.
The workshop will be held in English language only.
Submissions
Propose your presentation titles via email (title and 100 word abstract) to ewseco21@software-ecosystem.com
Submission deadline is March 30th 2021 6pm CET.
Call for Papers European workshop on software ecosystems: business networks, platforms, ecosystems Submission deadline March 30th
Submission deadline is March 16th
Deadline extended to March 30th for Call for papers FOR EWSECO 2021
We would like to invite European researchers and practitioners in the field of software ecosystems, platform ecosystems and business networks to come together in Heilbronn, Germany, on April 29th 2021, to discuss recent (academic) research and recent business experiences and lessons learned, insights or issues related to management of ecosystems, business models or technical issues including but not limited to topics like
Software ecosystems
Research progress and new knowledge for software ecosystems
External forces - the new normal and the impact on software ecosystems
Business networks
Business networks vs. platform businesses
Business networks as platforms for transaction, innovation
Growing business networks by extending beyond participants
Merging different business networks to scale
Platform Business Models
Types of platform business models for transaction, innovation
“Platformizing” existing businesses - how to be successful?
Business model innovation resulting in a platform business model - how to make it work?
Architectures and APIs for platforms
Growth strategies based on platform ecosystems and business networks
Growing by acquiring a platform business
Digital platforms and businesses
data-driven and analytics ecosystems
TICKET SALES
Click HERE to buy tickets
We will invite practitioners to the workshop to ensure discussion about the practical impact of research and to give the presenters the opportunity to discuss with practitioners and researchers alike.
The workshop location at City Campus in Heilbronn, Germany, with many software and software service companies having an office nearby which eases the participation for practitioners. More information at https://ewseco.squarespace.com/?p
Workshop style
Socialize and discuss with (academic) researchers and fellow professionals.
We value discussion as well as presentations. So a short, 15 minute presentation is followed by 15 min discussion with fellow researchers and practitioners.
The workshop will be held in English language only.
Submissions
Propose your presentation titles via email (title and 100 word abstract) to ewseco21@software-ecosystem.com