During 2022, it was great to see the ecosystem platform segment develop further and further. Tools have been expanding and communities of practitioners are popping up to discuss the ecosystem paradigm in its multi-dimensional scope as opposed to traditional tools that were fairly flat and portal orientated.
As the ecosystem platform market matures, there have been some notable trends emerging worthy of being highlighted. Indeed, I would argue that several of them have become irreversible. Here is my list of top five trends in the ecosystem platform segment:
Trend #1:
More complex ecosystem workloads and apps
Ecosystem platforms started off being single purpose applications with relatively uncomplicated algorithms, some of which primarily matched leads, others focused on building marketplaces. While this provided value, customers are now asking for more to justify their hefty investment value. In other words, organizations are looking for what else they can do once they go through the effort of connecting their partners within a virtual ecosystem. The answer is coming through a multitude of ecosystem applications, which could be launched to complement the base workload. As an example, an ecosystem lead matching application could be complemented with a lead management app, which in turn could be expanded with a marketing automation or enablement app that shares knowledge and content. A marketplace ecosystem application could use enablement features that provide richness of content and processes to the marketplace. All these apps would of course have to be complementary and architected for the ecosystem with orchestration functions. Meaning, not only could a customer share with their partner some leads to co-sell to, but they would now also be able to share more complex workloads like marketing, learning, polling, discussions boards, or general workflows that automate their ecosystem work.
Trend #2:
The ecosystem stack as PAAS
As a result of trend #1, and because single-use ecosystem platforms were rather limiting in scope, ecosystem applications that are architected as purely SAAS have been hitting a ceiling in terms of features and functionalities. Instead, organizational customers are now looking for more robust ecosystem platforms that offer a full stack of features on which multiple workload apps could be launched. The emerging ecosystem stack includes layers such as ecosystem orchestration, ecosystem automation, ecosystem workload/apps, ecosystem data protection, ecosystem reporting, and of course interface. Seen from this perspective, the more mature ecosystem platforms are moving away from simple SAAS (Software as a Service) to a PAAS (Platform as a Service) architecture capable of delivering such a rich stack, making implementation, integration, and management easier, more scalable, while keeping the platform cost in check. At TIDWIT, we have invested substantial time, effort, and resources to rearchitect our entire platform to that of a PAAS to be able to provide our customers with the needed flexibility and scale. The stack is designed to be extensible and integrates with other ecosystem tools such as Crossbeam and Channext to name a couple.
Trend #3:
Larger ecosystem data sets, more machine learning, and more AI
As ecosystems mature and data sets expand, artificial intelligence and machine learning will allow for more accurate predictive analytics, which in turn will help companies automate and optimize many of the processes involved in managing a partner ecosystem. As more data becomes available through ecosystem platforms in 2023, companies will be able to make more informed decisions about their partner strategy, involving using data analytics tools to understand partner performance better through comparative analysis, identifying areas for improvement, and optimizing the utilization of resources such as MDF. For example, AI-powered tools can help companies identify new partners, provide more automated enablement, optimize channel marketing campaigns, allocate vouchers and MDF spend based on performance, and even predict revenue potential. At TIDWIT, we are nearing the 200 million data points recompiled from multiple globally deployed ecosystems—all PII sanitized—which provide greater focus on data-driven decision-making cross provider and cross partner. The associated reporting has in turn moved from the most basic elements to hundreds of reports, many of which are driven by predictive analytics built on machine learning and artificial intelligence. This trend is naturally irreversible because more ecosystems will inevitably mean more data; and more data means more predictive analytics, smarter ecosystem decision making, and more optimized use of resources.
Trend #4:
Deeper ecosystem platform integration
Ecosystem platforms that are silo’d no longer make much sense, especially if one considers the investment required to launch and manage them. Earlier pre-cursors of such platforms could get away with being single-purpose and proprietary simply because of their novelty. As the market has matured, however, integration with pre-existing tools and platforms has become an imperative and an integral part of any ecosystem deployment. The basic elements that dominate most conversations include deeper integration through APIs and more seamless interaction through SSO, with SAML leading the standards. Most API integrations with essentially deliver hooks into CRM tools like Salesforce, Learning Management Systems like Degreed, Cornerstone, and My Learning, ECM tools like FileNet and SharePoint, Marketing automation tools like HubSpot and Eloqua, as well as BI reporting tools like Power BI, and SSO tools like Active Directory and Okta to name a few … Ecosystem platforms that do not provide this type of integration and extensibility are likely to be disregarded. Furthermore, in 2023 more advanced features of ecosystem platforms will include development tools. At TIDWIT, for instance, ecosystem workflows are increasingly becoming the ecosystem platform centerpiece, where organizations are able to create secure cross-organizational workflows and automations that deliver data, process, and knowledge safely and in an automated manner based on an advanced rules engine that is seamlessly integrated with the other ecosystem stack workloads. More on this in the next trend.
Trend #5:
Managed services will become key for ecosystem platform deployment
With hiring freezes dominating the labor markets, many organizations are looking to be able to continue supporting their ever-expanding ecosystems with the same, if not less resources. What is ensuing for more and more managed services to accompany the deployment of the ecosystem. Ecosystem platforms already offer quite a bit of automation. However, the recruitment effort for the ecosystem, the integration, the deployment, and the growth requires a certain effort, which either the partner team or the tech team will have to support. When internal resources are being cut or when expertise is missing, increasingly in 2023, we will see what we began seeing in 2022 and that is a demand of ecosystem managed services. This will help CTOs or Chief Ecosystem Officers to compensate for resource loss while embarking on ever expanding go-to-markets. To them ecosystem platforms can automate enablement functions like learning, content distribution, and marketing not only to save on manual processes and resources; but they will need end-to-end to support, especially in the initial stages of the digital (virtual) ecosystem’s deployment. This support is being provisioned by organizations who not only support the platform providers but have partnering expertise. If we add managed services to the power that ecosystem rules engines provide, value creation becomes inevitable. In one example at TIDWIT and its partner saved one GSI hundreds of hours on reporting through the automation of voucher distribution and a set of rules created in the rules engine that were provided as a managed service. The GSI customer did not need to lift a finger or program one line of code. The platform was delivered turn-key and the managed service made the whole process seamless. What used to take months became fully automated and managed in a seamless way.
In conclusion, we began seeing these five trends emerge in 2022 and expect them to only accelerate in 2023 and beyond.
