Mark your calendars April 29 2021 Growth strategies for platform ecosystems

B2C Platforms like Amazon or Alibaba have all the hype and all the envy. But how does a company create, build or run platforms, business networks, a company in the API economy? answers here:

The program committee 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

• 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

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.

Workshop style

Online or covid-safe onsite in Heilbronn, Germany.

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.

TICKET SALES

Click HERE to buy tickets

Mark your calendars April 29 2021 Growth strategies for platform ecosystems

B2C Platforms like Amazon or Alibaba have all the hype and all the envy. But how does a company create, build or run platforms, business networks, a company in the API economy? answers here:

The program committee 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

• 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

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.

Workshop style

Online or covid-safe onsite in Heilbronn, Germany.

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 or poster proposals via email (title and 100 word abstract) to ewseco17@software-ecosystem.com
Submission deadline is March 15th 2021 6pm CET.

Disruptive Business Models in the software industry and beyond: 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.

More information to come soon. Many of these ideas are in the book Profit from software ecosystems

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

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.

Guest message for the European Workshop on Software Ecosystems from Sangeet Paul Choudary, CEO of Platformation Labs and Co-author of international best-seller Platform Revolution.

"The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is a great meeting of minds to discuss the impact of software ecosystems on business today. A platform strategy needs to be high on the agenda for CIOs and this workshop takes the right steps in this direction."

- Sangeet Paul Choudary, CEO of Platformation Labs and Co-author of international best-seller Platform Revolution.

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About the workshop

The European workshop on software ecosystems is a perfect forum to discuss software ecosystems, platform ecosystems and business networks topics in research and practice.

WHAT IT IS

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.

TOPICS OF THE WORKSHOP

Topics covered are:

• Software ecosystems

• Business networks

• Open Source Ecosystems and business models

• Platform Business Models

• Growth strategies based on software ecosystems and business networks

Software partnerships and business models: OEM : 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.

OEM

In an OEM scenario the software vendor provides OEM software to the software partner. The software partner sells the OEM software as part of his solution. Usually, the software partner charges no price for the OEM software, but for his own solution. This is the key difference between OEM and resell.

The software vendor delivers the OEM software to the partner, which pays a license fee and maintenance fee to the software vendor. The license fee for the OEM might be a share of the revenue of the partner product containing the OEM software. Or it might be a constant fee that applies per copy of the OEM software shipped to the customer.

Business Model Canvas for OEM software

In a generic view, the value proposition of outbound OEM for a customer (software vendor) is that the customer saves development cost and time and gets a quality product.

For customer segments, this business model is generally limited to software vendors but might also apply to hardware vendors shipping hardware with embedded software. Based on the specific functionality of the OEM software, it might be further limited to specific software vendors. Customer relationships to software vendors using the software are important. As a consequence, the network of partner companies is the main channel.

More details and background information can be found in these books:

European workshop on software ecosystems: Another keynote sponsor from ORY

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.

Jared Preston Managing Director of Ory Systems GmbH will give a keynote titled “How to build a great Open Source Company and Ecosystem” and talk about the creation of an open-source based company, business model, platform and ecosystem.

Jared Preston Managing Director of Ory Systems GmbH

Ory´s mission is to help make the cloud more manageable, useful and safe and to give developers access to infrastructure and services that makes developing for the cloud easier. We consider it a privilege to be able to help developers push the boundaries of modern cloud technology.

Ory is the open source and cloud native identity infrastructure. Ory is written in Go and open standards and consensus are the foundation. It is language and platform independent, extremely lightweight, starts up in seconds and doesn’t interfere with your code.

Participate in the European workshop on software ecosystems. Tickets here. Online and onsite.

Software business models: Google´s Business Model: 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.

Google

Google is a software company that started in the search and online advertising business and has extended its business to many other areas. Google´s revenue is mainly from broker business.

What Google does successfully is matchmaking between online advertisers and potential customers. But Google has more products and services than just online advertising and search. Let us have a look at the business model. We start with the products/services offered and the business model archetype.

Besides of Google´s main business as a broker, Google is a manufacturer of the Google Search Appliance, which is a hardware appliance that includes Google´s Search Engine. Target customers are companies, that should use the search appliance for searching their intranet. Inventor business at Google is mainly focused on inventing products for the broker business and for other SaaS offerings like Google Apps, Gmail or Google Voice. The SaaS offerings are created by combining the business models Physical Lessor, IP Lessor and Contractor. In addition, Google acts as a IP Lessor for browser, operating systems and content of books.

Google business model canvas

Looking at all major Google businesses the following Google business model canvas can be created:

The key value propositions of Google circulate around free and easy to use offerings as well as apps for end users as well as online advertising and cheap online solution for corporate customers.

Customer relationships in the Google business model canvas are mainly highly automated mass relationships, while some direct relationships are kept for corporate customers.

Revenue streams of Google will be analyzed further down on this page.

If we look only at Google search, we find the following business model canvas:

Google´s revenue models

This overview of revenue models is limited to large sources of Google revenue. As mentioned above, the main source of revenue at Google is from their broker business, which we will analyze in a little more detail below. 

Now let us have a look at Google´s revenue model for the broker business. As you may remember, there usually is a compensation for every product and service, not necessarily as a payment. In Google´s case the non-monetary compensation for their search offering is the key to Google´s fortune.

Here you can see that Google´s search business basically provides a search service to search customers and a PPC (Pay per click) advertising service to its advertising customers. The compensation for the PPC advertising service is payment per click on an advertisement. The non-monetary compensation for the search service is data about the user who is searching. 

Google´s revenue model synergies

The Google business model has two striking advantages: The information about the search customers is provided to Google for free and Google sells advertising space, perfectly matched with the customer in-formation, to advertisers via an automatic online auction.

So Google leverages a revenue synergy between the search and advertising business. The revenue model allows the revenue generated in the broker business to be used to carry the sunk cost and operations cost of offerings like Gmail and others.

Find more information on business models in the following books: