Ecosystems
Question # 1
What is an ecosystem?
From a user perspective, an ecosystem is all products and services that help to satisfy needs the user has.
A digital ecosystem connects diverse data resources, applications, devices and technologies, enabling them to work seamlessly together.
https://diagnostics.roche.com/global/en/article-listing/a-digital-healthcare-ecosystem.html
The open RocheDiabetes Care Platform brings together relevant patient data in a secure and compliant manner from blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitoring systems, smart insulin pens, insulin pumps, health & fitness apps and other systems.
https://careplatform.rochediabetes.com/care/en-gb/ecosystem.html
A community of people and/or organizations that share an affiliation, for example an affiliation to a place and/or a purpose.
2 examples:
1. People and organizations based in Zürich with an affiliation to insurance.
2. People and organization based in Basel with an affiliation to healthcare.
A community of people and/or organizations that share a structure organized to achieve a specific purpose.
1. Android and app development partners.
2. Airbnb.
Example
Question # 2
What is the purpose of an ecosystem?
The goal of an ecosystem is to improve some form of performance.
Ecosystems can accommodate participant interaction.
As a result, they can accelerate participant learning and/or performance improvement.
The traditional goal of strategy is to capture value by claiming profit pools, increasing market share, and outperforming competitors. By contrast, the most effective way to benefit from a business ecosystem is to grow the pie together rather than fighting for a larger piece.
Instead of asking “How can we make money?”, successful ecosystem builders start with the question “How can we create value
together?” https://bcghendersoninstitute.com/are-you-ready-to-become-an-ecosystem-player-ca466b360e34
Question # 3
Why are ecosystems becoming popular?
3 reasons that the ecosystem-model becoming popular:
1. An ecosystem provides quick and cheap access to capabilities that may be too expensive or time-consuming to build for a single firm.
2. An ecosystem can scale fast thanks to its modular structure. That makes it easy to add partners.
3. Ecosystems are flexible - able to adapt according to user needs.
Question # 4
How big should an ecosystem be?
3 reasons:
1. More users generate more partners and thereby attract more users.
2. The more users in an ecosystem has, the more insights there are. That attracts more users.
3. More users help spread the fixed costs and reduce unit costs - allowing participants to lower prices. That attracts more users.
https://innov8rs.co/news/how-healthy-is-your-business-ecosystem/
In ecosystems the value per user typically increases as more users participate.
Finding the right balance between being open and closed is important.
If an ecosystem is too open, it loses quality.
If an ecosystem is too closed, it kills growth.
Question # 5
What does the ecosystem orchestrator do?
Understand needs users have
What specific needs do users have?
What are users willing to pay for having their needs satisfied?
Understand
competencies and needs of service providers Develop understanding of unique strengths service providers have. Find out how well service providers help satisfy needs users have. Define what incentives motivate service providers to deliver outputs. Give and get feedback to strengthen improvement and trust, so the service provider can deliver better output cheaper.
Create contract with each service provider
1. Define output that the service providers must deliver.
2. Define the milestone at which the service providers must deliver an output.
3. Define inputs that the service provider must receive from other service providers to create and deliver the output.
4. Define the payment that the service provider receives to deliver an output.
The orchestrator does not make detailed instructions about what activities / tasks a service provider should do to deliver better outputs at lower costs.
1.
2.
tasks / activities and processes
/
each task.
Understand
Understand and describe tasks
activities
Understand and describe processes. 3. Continuously increase specialization of
Question # 6
What can help build trust in an ecosystem?
Transparency can help build trust in an ecosystem.
Sharing earnings can help build trust in an ecosystem.
Question # 7
How do you measure an ecosystem?
Examples of ways to measure an ecosystem in the start up phase.
On a scale from 1 to 100,
how many active users are there?
how active are users?
how many successful transactions are there?
Sources of inspiration
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/performance ecosystems which model is right for you/DUP116 Performance_Ecosystems.pdf
https://innov8rs.co/news/how healthy is your business ecosystem/ Courses about ecosystems initiated via menlo.edu
John Hagel III, Scott Durchslag, and John Seely Brown: Orchestrating loosely coupled business processes. The secret to successful collaboration.