Recent Release | 30 Jun 2023

EY Platform Economy Transformation Study 2023: What tech companies need to do to turbocharge their platform strategy

Thought Leadership Team

Oxford Economics

The platform economy: an economic system of online platforms facilitating the exchange of goods and services as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. The extent to which technology businesses are embracing the platform economy, and implementing platform business models, varies. To understand where technology firms are in their adoption of platform business models, EY commissioned Oxford Economics to survey 1,000 C-suite executives from technology companies around the world.

The survey asked respondents about their strategy development, their platform implementation, and the measurement of its impact. Areas of specific focus included the benefits of a platform business model, their current and expected ROI, challenges faced in implementation, the building of ecosystems and partnerships, and the use of emerging technologies. The report highlights a selection of key findings from the dataset; over half of tech firms surveyed have adopted a platform model on some level, and nearly two-thirds expect cross-business deployment in three years time. Despite this, there are challenges some face in terms of regulation and limited usage of partnerships.

Four recommendations for accelerated transformation to the platform model arise from the report:

Considering more ambitious platform goals
Taking a whole-of-business approach to a platform business model
Preparing for new regulatory burdens
Considering the potential ROI from forming platform partnerships

The expert behind the research

Our Thought Leadership team produces original, evidence-based research made accessible to decision-makers and opinion leaders. The principal for this project was: