There’s no doubt about it, we are becoming more reliant on online searches. The world’s primary search engine, Google, processes over 3.5 billion searches per day – that’s 40,000 search queries every second on average.

As our reliance on search engines soars ever higher, organisations looking to be seen, heard or otherwise experienced, must figure out new ways to be worthy of attention on search engines.

Network effects

Globally, more than 30% of economic activity – that’s some $60 trillion – is expected to be mediated by digital platforms within six years, McKinsey research indicates, and yet experts find only 3% of established companies have an effective platform strategy in place.

With the rise of high-speed internet, organisations of all varieties are being compelled to understand platforms and figure out their place in the global cloud infrastructure, as well as how partnering will help them build up their value in a more platform-centric future.

Without platform capabilities, millions of companies would go obsolete instantly, while others would see billions of dollars worth of investment disappear.

Today, platform capabilities must also be proactive and intuitive in their partnerships. For example, on its global scale, ride-sharing app, Uber has implemented numerous partnerships that entice both first-time and loyal customers to catch a ride.

They’ve teamed up with car manufacturers Volvo and BMW,  to foster premium riding experiences, and Spotify, enabling users to make a playlist for their account. They’re also responding to environmental causes – Uber’s partnering with the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef with scUber, to obtain and track real-time insights from underwater explorations, data that will enable and feed into conversation efforts.

Uber is one of the more prolific platform partnership builders, but the opportunities are there for all. Credit: Uber.

Here in New Zealand, platform partnerships are happening too. One notable example is Sustainable Coastlines’ TBWA/Group’s Eleven’s launch of a video game to support the first-of-its-kind litter intelligence app, created by Enlighten Designs, and maintain New Zealand’s clean green image. Citizen scientists playing the game collect both virtual and real-life litter, and track and compare the difference.

Data was the major challenge faced by Sustainable Designs, that led to the influential litter application, now in use around the world. Solution provider Enlighten Designs has explained, “They had started to collect a lot of data and were gearing up to collect a whole lot more”.

Credit: Sustainable Coastlines & TBWA\New Zealand.

The difference between collaboration platforms and social media

Online collaboration platforms once meant emails, instant messaging and video conferencing. Manually reach for and access your device, type something out, or dial-up to enter the virtual room.

Now, there are whole suites of collaboration platforms, the interactivity of which suggests social platforms will be even more intertwined with business partnership goals, enabling people to share information and solve problems efficiently.

Platforms are evolving at record speeds, meaning a presence on them could soon be a competitive necessity online for efficient and customer-centric exchange.

In parallel to this, in little more than a decade, social experiences online have gone from being an extra entertainment feature to being essential to business and integrated in our everyday lives.

With social selling no longer an extra or simply entertainment, the organisations who are teaming up with others are the ones winning.