Cloud Computing - The Future of Digital Platforms

The study "Digital Platforms - Maturity and Design Criteria for Successful Digital Business Models" shows that companies that invest in building digital platforms can create strategic competitive advantages in the long term - provided they focus on networking within a digital ecosystem.

Companies in all industries rely on a solid IT infrastructure that forms the foundation of effective digital platforms. The key characteristics are: "decentralized, cloud-ready, highly networked and automated".

All digital platforms have one central feature in common - they connect infrastructures, data, things and people. According to the report, the top 100 companies in Germany will generate around 20 percent of their revenue directly from digital business in 2020.

Thus, the use of digital platforms offers companies new marketing and revenue opportunities. Of interest to companies are those that go hand in hand with the development of digital platforms - especially in times when analog sales are stagnating and the share of digital sales is growing ever stronger.

The prerequisite for this is the establishment of a platform economy in which several players in an industry come together digitally and are networked with each other. The report recommends a bottom-up approach for companies building digital platforms.

This provides for the establishment of a solid and globally networked IT infrastructure as the foundation of the digital platform. The use of innovative technologies such as AI or quantum computing can help to further strengthen competitiveness in the future.