How tech leaders won the platform transition

THE largest value-creating transformations in technology involve two things: winning a platform battle, and accelerating growth by either repositioning the core business or extending its capabilities into new domains.

The highest-valued technology companies are all platform winners that established their successful platforms as a market transition unfolded. There's Microsoft with Azure and Office 365, Amazon with e-commerce and Amazon Web Services, Google with search and Android, Facebook with social media, Adobe with Creative Cloud, and so on.

The term "platform" is often used broadly. Here, we use it very specifically to indicate a product or service upon which others build their livelihood - one that attracts an ecosystem of partners and customers who collectively deliver value. The concept is as old as road widths, but is more prevalent in the technology sector than other industries. Now, it's becoming more critical as abundant foundational infrastructure such as cloud computing and mobile communications has enabled global, interconnected platforms to rapidly scale up.