There has been an avalanche of posts predicting this year’s breakthroughs, themes and challenges. One that stood out for me was JP Rangaswami’s concluding post. Which brings up the value of platforms. And more specifically the value of being a platform. As a foundation it’s interesting to look at his definition of what a platform is:

So just what is a platform? A place. A device. A company. An everyday item. Bits of software. All of the above.

When I say “platform” I mean:

• Something that is a foundation, an enabling environment, upon which others can build things, make things
• Something that exists for a specific purpose (or set of purposes), and which invests in capabilities related to those purposes
• Something that then makes it easy for people to use those capabilities
• Something that does all this in a commercial model that facilitates the creation and development of new products, new services, new markets, new marketplaces
• Something that can coexist with other platforms and ecosystems

Stewardship in a purposeful environment based on a set of guiding principles. A role that is available and creates value in a network economy. A role that few companies have, even fewer understand they can have it. So the question for 2010; how would the value creation of your company change if described and functioned as a platform instead of as a company?