What Effective Innovative Businesses Do Differently, Emmelyn Wang, API Strategist, Axway

1. Hello, Singapore.
API Economy
What Innovative Businesses Do Differently
"From Platform to Ecosystems: how to re-think business in the programmable economy"

2. Travel for microservices and APIs
Emmelyn ‘emma-leen’ Wang
王兆馨
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4. Project
Program
Platform
Ecosystem
Economy
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Landscape

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The control and flow patterns of data, functionality, and resources
determine how quickly the API shapes the landscape and vice versa.
- Emmelyn Wang

6. Ecosystem =
Human + Digital
Delicate Balance
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7. Designing for Resilience
Contract Consistency
Access Predictability
Performance Reliability
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8. Evolution of a Platform

9. Evolution of a Platform

10. Evolution of a Platform

11. What incentives keep platform members
engaged and value in the ecosystem?
Value creation and balance are keys to
market position
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12. Platform Strategy
HBR These types of network effects and how
businesses respond to them determine platform and
ecosystem success.
Clustering
Risk of Disintermediation
Vulnerability to Multi-Homing
Bridging to Multiple Networks
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13. Clustering
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14. $30 billion
health and
fitness industry
in the U.S.
-IHRSA

15. Ecosystem Strategy
User Acquisition via Platform
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“ClassPass membership allows customers to hop around different
studios and build a workout routine that is anything but, and allowing
them to be untethered to one entity … except to ClassPass, of course.”

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Mixed Results
Brand Value Dilution or Network Effects via On Demand and Variety
Overcomes clustering network effects by
strengthening global clusters on top of local ones

17. Ecosystem Strategy Resultslifewingmate

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Afterthought
The more mission critical
core business use cases
are centered around an
API, the more thought
will be put into the API
design.
Justified
The more a core
business stems from the
API (internal and/or
external), the more
thought should be laser
focused on API design.
Confident
The more value the API
exposes in a diverse
way, the more the
business relies on API
design and execution as
a core advantage.
Maturity Digital Businesses that Rely on Platforms to Automate their
Economy must focus on API Design as their Core Advantage.

19. World's Biggest Data Breaches & Hacks
Select losses greater than 30,000 records (updated 1st Feb 2019)

20. Friction: My fitness data is locked in
various applications and platforms

21. Ecosystem Strategy
Lock Value in the Platform
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22. Ecosystem Strategy
Lock Value in the Platform
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24. The more complete the Platform and
Ecosystem experience, the higher the
Market Position
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Coworking and Office Space

25. Platform Maturity
Leads to Healthy
Ecosystem
Engagement
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The WeWork ecosystem blends hospitality,
community, and service into the coworking and
office space business model disrupting the model
entirely. Fosters business development from
within.
Platform Traits
Consistency experienced globally,
serving locally. Balanced digital onboarding
with human interaction.
One card. One app. One way.
WeWork Labs Nurtures start ups through
incubation and acceleration. With founders and
organizations from the start as a retention
mechanism for the journey as they grow.
Supports the Gig Economy and Digital Nomads.
Focuses on Creators.
In-between and expansion options for
enterprises.

26. Coworking and Office Space
Partnerships
Social Home
Experience
Business
Networking
Social Wellness
Experience
Business
Development
Events
Creator
Community
Coding
School
Labs
Incubator
Meet Up
platform
Ecosystem
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Programs

27. Partner Engagement
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Relationship Driven | Value Understood
Healthy
Digital processes and touch points are reflections of the
relationship
Both you and your partners understand the vision and
long-term value you both bring to each other

28. Member Network app; the digital
infrastructure that aims to connect
the network. -Benjamin Alderoty
...members tap into the entire
community of creators &
entrepreneurs. Discuss ideas, find or
list opportunities, book conference
rooms, workspace, and more
[events]. Stay connected and stay
productive anytime, anywhere.
—WeWork Description in the App
Store

30. We believe there's a macro shift toward a new
way of work today - one focused on a
movement towards meaning.

31. Prediction/Hypothesis
To protect against
networks effects,
WeWork does not offer a
developer program or
any APIs to be consumed
to protect its market
position.
However, WeWork tech
does contribute to the
open source community
to show credibility in DX.
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33. Risk of
Disintermediation
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“…network members bypass a hub and connect directly,
can be a big problem for any platform that captures value
directly from matching or by facilitating transactions.” -HBR

34. Delicate Balance
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Due to the low cost nature of using multiple platforms or
hubs, companies such as Uber and Lyft must work to
overcome this network effect by incentivizing user and
service providers. –Summarizing/Paraphrasing HBR Authors
Vulnerability to
Multi-Homing

35. Overcome Clustering,
Disintermediation, and Multi-Homing
Network Effects
Unique Incentive
Offer value that no other platform does or will
Retain value by consistently delivering a high quality
experience whether or not you are cross-platform or
linked to other ecosystems or economies
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36. Network Bridging
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Combine the ability to reduce risk and get the most benefit
from several network effects for your platform…
“As the most successful platforms connect across more
and more markets, they’re becoming increasingly effective
at tying together industries.” -HBR

37. How “Think Global, Act Local” typifies the challenge
of doing business across the diversity of Asia
How do APIs Help?

38. The Amazon Economy

39. The Amazon Economy
The 7-Eleven Economy
Managed distribution for fresh food, order fulfillment, supply chain strategy
Franchise model with HQ and 7 Eleven & Holdings tightly coupled with Japanese origins and Tech Partnerships
Compete directly with Amazon so use other cloud computing technologies

41. Key Takeaways
What Innovative Businesses Do Differently
Unique Incentive
Offer value that no other platform does or will
Retain value by consistently delivering a high quality
experience whether or not you are cross-platform or
linked to other ecosystems or economies
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42. Key Takeaways
What Innovative Businesses Do Differently
Readiness and Incentive
Innovative businesses navigate
ambidexterity / bimodal IT by finding reuse
opportunities and creatively navigating
network effects of their platform to enrich
their economy
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43. Key Takeaways
What Innovative Businesses Do Differently
Diverse API and microservices matched with business
capability and hybrid enterprise architectures
Right types and degrees of engagement during real
scenarios digital, secure, productive JTBD
Responding to platform challenges and climate
changes to level up your business’ ecosystem(s)
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44. Project
Program
Platform
Ecosystem
Economy
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The control and flow patterns
of data, functionality, and
resources determine how
quickly the API shapes the
landscape and vice versa.
-- Emmelyn Wang

45. Project
Program
Platform
Ecosystem
Economy
lifewingmate
The control and flow patterns
of data, functionality, and
resources determine how
quickly the API shapes the
landscape and vice versa.
-- Emmelyn Wang

46. lifewingmate
Event Driven
Architecture
Value and Advantages of API Diversity and Decentralization
REST-based
Architecture
HTTP Protocol
Request / Response
Mature and widely adopted
Messaging Protocol Agnostic
Publish Subscribe, streaming, as real-time as your
business requirements need
Adopted and expertise from OAS / API global community
developing best practices, tooling, and support

48. Talk to me about...
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49. For these scenarios...
PartnersIP LicensingLogisticseCommerceERP
Global
Distribution
Digital
MarketplaceBig Data
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Thank you

51. WORKS CITED
Ecosystem-Based Business Models | Accenture Strategy
https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/strategy/ecosystem-playbook-agility-growth
Welcome to the API Economy
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/welcome-to-the-api-economy/
The emerging API economy is transforming the way businesses are built and operated | IPG Media Lab
https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/what-is-the-api-economy-and-how-brands-can-benefit-from-it-b46210d0434d
Why Some Platforms Thrive and Others Don’t | HBR
https://hbr.org/2019/01/why-some-platforms-thrive-and-others-dont
Transformation (is not just about) Technology
https://hbr.org/2019/03/digital-transformation-is-not-about-technology

53. Ambidexterity as Bimodal IT
Decentralized, Diverse
Navigating Network Effects
How Ecosystems Achieve Economy Status
API Culture
Confidence through Delivery and Relationships
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55. Ecosystem Strategy
Lock Value in the Platform
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56. Ecosystem Strategy Result
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58. Ecosystem includes a media component
Programs for the community
Rise by We is the “complete wellness experience”