The digital platform, the backbone of your organisation
Customer journeys evolve at lightning speed. People interact with businesses through a variety of channels; websites, mobile apps, social media, voice assistants, and chatbots.
For many organisations, a digital platform is essential infrastructure: a versatile technological foundation on which they can build and execute their digital activities.
Whether it's an e-commerce transaction, sending out an email campaign with a special offer, or supporting a customer seeking product information, a robust digital platform forms the foundation. It streamlines your business processes and ensures that your customers have a positive experience with your brand and your company.
But how do you ensure that your platform truly makes a difference? What factors make a digital platform successful?
Your takeaway for 2025
To be successful in 2025, your digital platform must be flexible, scalable, and secure, with strong integration capabilities, a consistent design system, good data security, and a focus on inclusivity and user experience.
Success factors of a digital platform
Future-proof
Would you like to add a new payment method? Launch a chatbot quickly? Or scale up capacity for Black Friday? Ensure your platform can quickly adapt to changes. Preferably choose a scalable and modular architecture so your systems work together smoothly and seamlessly.
Recognisable
As a digital platform grows, inconsistencies in typography, colour usage, and UI elements can arise. A design system prevents this fragmentation by creating recognisable, uniform components that strengthen your brand identity.
Inclusive
Millions of people in the Netherlands and Belgium struggle with essential digital skills. Pay extra attention to accessibility and e-inclusion to ensure everyone, including the digitally vulnerable, can easily use every part of your platform.
Insightful
Data is crucial to your growth, so collect, analyse, structure, and secure it carefully. Use data to improve your platform, for example by applying cookieless analytics, first-party data strategies, and data modelling. Respect the privacy of users and interact with your customers in a transparent way. Always be proactive when it comes to security measures, comply with privacy regulations and be open about how you use the data you collect.
Secure
User credentials, addresses, payment information: digital platforms often contain a lot of sensitive data. Data breaches, fines, and the resulting reputational damage are real threats to platforms. Don’t wait for problems to arise; actively implement compliance measures. Think of clear processes, workflows, and accountability structures, and integrate security measures throughout the software development process of your platform.
Next steps for 2025
Invest in a robust, but flexible digital platform. Strong integration capabilities, proactive governance and compliance measures, digital accessibility, a consistent design system, and ethical data management practices are essential.
Start with a modular approach: Evaluate your current platform and identify components that would benefit from a composable architecture.
Work API-first: Develop well-defined and documented APIs to facilitate integration.
Deploy an SSDLC: Integrate security measures throughout the development process to manage compliance and risk.
Conduct an accessibility audit: Identify barriers and improve the accessibility of your platform.
Develop a design system: Create a dynamic design system to ensure brand consistency.
Invest in ethical data practices: Use cookieless analytics and first-party data strategies to gain valuable insights.
Dive deeper into digital platforms
The white paper ‘7 strategic considerations for building powerful platforms’ offers strategic insights and practical solutions to address digital challenges like agility, scalability and security. Download now to take your digital platform to the next level and seamlessly align with your business goals
At iO, we build technology teams, architecture, and platforms. From simple to complex operations, to digitise your services and develop customer loyalty. Get in touch.