Description
Book SynopsisWinning through Platforms achieved #1 bestseller status, and is a Best Business Book Awards winner for 2024. It is your new go-to guide for modern competitive advantage.
Digital platforms are no longer for just the tech elite. They’re spreading to every company and industry, powered by the growth of customer sensors, streaming data, and artificial intelligence—lighting the valuable customer Use journey that was formerly dark.
How will you succeed when your markets get platform-crowded? Three senior advisers to the world’s leading technology companies reveal how to win through platforms when every competitor has one.
Winning Through Platforms decodes growth moves from a decade of platform competition, communicates them through a platform playbook. It’s a treasure trove of 24 proven platform strategies—such as customer coalition design, in-use enrichment, AI branding, and much more. These playbook strategies are delivered through engaging stories of over 50 companies, plus proprietary frameworks and workshop-style questions that lead you to act.
This game-changing playbook will teach you how to:
- Revitalize your business through strategic use of platforms
- Design platforms that are compelling to customers and hard for competitors to match
- Accelerate in-market growth through brand-and-demand excellence that spans your customer’s entire platform journey
- Innovate in high-impact benefit areas to differentiate your platform
- Elevate your customer’s personal platform experience
- Transform your enterprise and operations to drive superior performance
Every CEO, innovator, go-to-market leader, and aspiring professional will gain valuable insight through this book. Whether your company is just starting on its first platform journey or is a born platform disruptor, this book will transform your ability to win.
Learn the platform playbook. Find and apply your plays.
This book forms part of the American Marketing Association (AMA) leadership series.
Trade ReviewIf you value fresh thinking, you’ll love this playbook. I’ve led platform initiatives across multiple industries – architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and trust intelligence – and the book’s platform plays apply insightfully to each one. It’s a thought-provoking guide, supported by compelling business examples, that can help you unleash broad growth opportunities through the power of digital platforms. It seamlessly leads you from strategic business decisions that unlock growth to best-in class-execution that produces tangible results.
-- Lisa Campbell, One Trust CMO, former CMO & EVP - Business Strategy and Marketing, Autodesk
I wish I’d had Winning Through Platforms while I was at Microsoft evaluating our opportunities to apply AI for business and build ecosystems for platforms like Power BI. Creating shared value through cloud platforms is never accidental; fortunately, the authors systematically explain to readers how to creatively make platforms their catalyst for future growth, across industries. This playbook is an important new tool for leaders as they make strategic choices for the future of their business
-- Greg Nelson, former Microsoft VP-Partner Ecosystem and General Manager-Business AI
Winning through Platforms isn’t just any playbook – it’s a conceptual and practical blueprint for creating value in a world that increasingly runs on digital innovation. As a healthcare executive who leads systems transformation, I’ve found the book to be an indispensable strategic ally. It will speak to everyone charged with developing platform approaches to business. The clear and actionable ideas it provides for navigating the human dimensions of platform change are essential for every executive
-- David Grandy, VP-Strategic Innovation, Kaiser Permanente
This book is a tour de force, providing a comprehensive roadmap for platform-based digital strategies. It is astonishingly broad in scope, organized with a rich conceptual model, and full of deep insights that lead to actionable strategic options. The book is also incredibly timely in the way it addresses topics like Artificial Intelligence and Extended Reality. Every executive, manager, and rising professional who needs to cut through confusion around intelligent platform will benefit greatly by reading and applying Winning through Platforms.
-- David Aaker, Professor Emeritus of Marketing, UC Berkeley, and AMA Hall of Fame
Table of ContentsForeword; David Aaker
INTRODUCTION
Winning through Platforms
Light the Dark
Learn the Playbook, Find Your Plays
New Rules, New Mindsets
Your Journey Begins
THE PLATFORM PLAYBOOK
Strategic Advantage and the Kaleidoscope
Part One: Portfolio Plays
Chapter 1.1. Optimal Platform Role(s)
Part Two: Design Plays
Chapter 2.1. Customer Coalition Edge
Chapter 2.2. Pivotal Persona Value
Chapter 2.3. Platform-Wide Differentiators
Chapter 2.4. Magnetic Offer Architecture
In-Market Advantage and the Bee
Part Three: Demand Plays
Chapter 3.1. Brand-Demand Lead Engine
Chapter 3.2. Lead-to-Sale Smoothing
Chapter 3.3. Success to Momentum
Chapter 3.4. In-Use Enrichment
Chapter 3.5. Catalytic Community
Chapter 3.6. Customer Renewal and Expansion
Part Four: Innovation Plays
Chapter 4.1. Reimagined Flows
Chapter 4.2. Richer Ecosystems
Chapter 4.3. Better Data Deal
Chapter 4.4. Brands Get Brains
Chapter 4.5. Reality Shifts
Chapter 4.6. Visibility for Good
Alignment Advantage and the Synchronized Swimmer
Part Five: Interaction Plays
Chapter 5.1. Full Journey Engagement
Chapter 5.2. Dynamic Segmentation
Chapter 5.3. Agile Content
Chapter 5.4. Adaptive Innovation
Part Six: Transformation Plays
Chapter 6.1. Enterprise Body, Mind & Soul
Chapter 6.2. Collaborative Go to Market
Chapter 6.3. Growth Operations
ACTION
Transformative Leadership
Company Leadership
Key Function Leadership
