Google business models and revenue sources #ewseco
Google functions under diverse business models and revenue streams. Presented here are five illustrations:
1. The primary source of revenue for Google is the advertising displayed on its search engine and various platforms such as YouTube. In 2020, Google's advertising revenue reached approximately $147 billion, making a substantial contribution to its profits.
2. Cloud Services: Google Cloud provides cloud computing services to enterprises, generating revenue through subscription-based frameworks. The revenue from Google Cloud in 2020 was about $13 billion, displaying an increasing impact on profits.
3. Sales of Hardware: Google markets hardware items like Pixel smartphones, Nest smart home gadgets, and Chromecast. The revenue from hardware sales in 2020 was about $10 billion, with profit margins varying among product categories.
4. Play Store: Google gains revenue from the Play Store by receiving a share of app sales and in-app transactions. The revenue from the Play Store in 2020 was estimated at $10 billion, with substantial profit margins attributed to the digital essence of the platform.
5. Licensing and Other Services: Google also derives revenue through licensing contracts, collaborations, and other services such as Google Workspace (previously known as G Suite). These services collectively contribute to Google's overall revenue and profits.
Like the topic? Participate in our workshop tickets here
The top 5 global companies with aggregator business models
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
The top 5 global companies with aggregator business models, revenue, and growth rate in the last 5 years are:
1. Amazon - Revenue: $386 billion (2020), Growth Rate: 21% (2020-2024).
2. Uber - Revenue: $14.1 billion (2020), Growth Rate: 25% (2020-2024).
3. Airbnb - Revenue: $3.4 billion (2020), Growth Rate: 30% (2020-2024).
4. Booking.com - Revenue: $15.1 billion (2020), Growth Rate: 18% (2020-2024).
5. Expedia - Revenue: $11.7 billion (2020), Growth Rate: 15% (2020-2024).
Like the topic? Participate in our workshop tickets here
More details and background information can be found in these books:
How can you foster innovation in software ecosystems - six examples
Innovation is at the heart of every successful software ecosystem. Fostering a culture of innovation not only drives growth and success but also creates a competitive edge. Here are six examples of how you can foster innovation in software ecosystems:
1. Encourage a Collaborative Environment:
Create spaces for open communication and idea-sharing among software development teams. Collaboration fosters creativity and leads to innovative solutions.
2. Invest in Research and Development:
Allocate resources to R&D efforts to explore new technologies, methodologies, and trends. This investment can yield groundbreaking innovations.
3. Embrace Agile Methodologies:
Adopt agile practices to enable quick iterations, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Agile methodologies promote innovation by allowing teams to respond to change and deliver high-quality software.
4. Promote a Culture of Learning:
Encourage continuous learning and skill development among team members. By staying updated on the latest industry trends, individuals can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the table.
5. Support Hackathons and Innovation Challenges:
Organize events that challenge developers to ideate and create innovative solutions within a limited timeframe. Hackathons drive creativity and often result in pioneering software concepts.
6. Foster Entrepreneurial Mindset:
Encourage developers to think like entrepreneurs and take ownership of their projects. This mindset cultivates a sense of ownership and drive to innovate.
By implementing these strategies, software ecosystems can create an environment that nurtures creativity, experimentation, and advancement, ultimately leading to groundbreaking innovations.
Like the topic? Participate in our workshop tickets here
Why don´t you choose one of the following topics to continue:
Plattform-Geschäftsmodelle - die Grundlagen
Plattform-Geschäftsmodelle - die Grundlagen
In einem Buch mit dem Titel Business Model Generation (2010) von Osterwalder und Pigneur geht es um Plattformen, zu deren Beispielen Apple, Visa, Google, eBay und Microsoft Windows gehören. Eines der erfolgreichsten Geschäftsmodelle dieser Ära ist das Plattform-Geschäftsmodell, das ein Ökosystem verwaltet und unterhält, um wirtschaftlichen Wert in Form von Transaktionsgebühren oder auf andere Weise zu erzielen. (Quellen: 11, 16, 17)
In der Regel schafft ein Plattform-Geschäftsmodell Werte, indem es den Austausch zwischen zwei oder mehreren voneinander abhängigen Gruppen erleichtert. Es macht sich ein Ökosystem von Nutzern wie Konsumenten, Produzenten, Verkäufern, Käufern, Fahrern, Gastgebern oder Gästen zunutze, um Transaktionen zwischen ihnen innerhalb eines großen Netzwerks zu erleichtern. (Quellen: 1, 4, 16)
Plattformtypen und Design
Obwohl es eine Reihe verschiedener Plattformtypen und viele verschiedene Klassifizierungen gibt, sind die beiden gängigsten Plattform-Geschäftsmodelle die so genannten Transaktionsplattformen und Innovations-Ökosystem-Plattformen. [Quellen: 8, 14] Transaktionsplattformen ermöglichen Transaktionen zwischen Teilnehmern, die sich in der Regel auf verschiedenen Seiten der Plattform befinden. Innovations-Ökosystem-Plattformen bieten ein Umfeld, in dem die Teilnehmer über das Angebot der Plattform hinaus innovieren können. Ein typisches Beispiel aus der Technologiebranche ist die Schaffung einer Reihe von APIs, die von einer Plattform bereitgestellt werden, um darauf aufbauend Lösungen zu entwickeln. Innovations-Ökosystem-Plattformen mit großen Ökosystemen sind Infrastructure-as-a-Service-Anbieter wie Amazon, Google oder Alibaba.
Bei Transaktionsplattformen liegt der Schwerpunkt nicht auf der Generierung von Einnahmen auf Transaktionsbasis aus der Produktion und dem Verkauf von Waren und Dienstleistungen, sondern das Geschäftsmodell der Plattform ermöglicht wertvolle Verbindungen zwischen den Nutzern. Die Suche nach den richtigen Kerntransaktionen, die zwischen den Nutzern der Plattform ermöglicht werden sollen, ist ein wichtiger Teil des Plattformdesigns, da das Plattformgeschäft darauf angewiesen ist, dass seine Nutzer diese Transaktionen wiederholen, um einen Wertaustausch zu generieren. (Quellen: 1, 5, 14)
Bei der Gestaltung von Plattformen für Innovationsökosysteme geht es vor allem darum, den Teilnehmern eine niedrigschwellige, leicht zu bedienende Umgebung zu bieten, damit sich schnell ein großes Ökosystem von Innovatoren bilden kann. Es müssen aber auch faire Regeln für die Innovatoren aufgestellt werden, um den von ihnen geschaffenen Wert zu erfassen.
Ein Plattform-Ökosystem wird demnach durch die Beschreibung des stattfindenden Wertaustauschs, der Regeln für die Geschäftspraktiken der Plattform und der den Nutzern zur Verfügung stehenden Werkzeuge gestaltet. Das Aufkommen vernetzter Technologien und Ökosysteme ermöglicht es Plattformen, auf eine Weise zu skalieren, wie es traditionelle Unternehmen nicht können. [Quellen: 1, 15]
Plattformen und traditionelle Unternehmen
Wir bezeichnen traditionelle Unternehmen, die keine Plattformen sind, als lineare Unternehmen, weil ihre Tätigkeit als eine typische lineare Lieferkette entlang einer Pipeline von Unternehmen beschrieben werden kann. Plattformunternehmen wandeln das Pipeline-Geschäftsmodell, bei dem die Wertschöpfung einseitig ist und Engpässen in der Lieferkette unterliegt, in ein Plattform-Geschäftsmodell um, bei dem die Wertschöpfung in der Regel mindestens zweiseitig und kontinuierlich ist. [Quellen: 1, 8,11]
Plattformen, die zu einem Teil unseres täglichen Lebens geworden sind, haben ihr Geschäft auf leistungsstarken Plattformtechnologien aufgebaut, die sich mit unseren Werten befassen und eine Verbindung zu ihnen herstellen. Die Unternehmen werden sich irgendwann an dieses neue Modell anpassen müssen, da sie sonst Gefahr laufen, von Plattformen unterbrochen zu werden. (Quellen: 0, 2, 14)
Lineare Unternehmen holen nicht nur auf, sondern schlagen auch zurück und überspringen bekannte Plattformen wie Amazon, Facebook und Google und investieren in die Entwicklung von KI, künstlicher Intelligenz und Blockchain-Technologien, um ihnen bei der Schaffung von Plattform-2.0-Modellen zu helfen. [Quellen: 9, 12, 13]
Diskutieren Sie mit uns auf dem European Workshop on Software Ecosystems 2024
Quellen:
[0]: https://blog.hypeinnovation.com/platform-models-are-the-new-order-of-business-need
[1]: https://www.applicoinc.com/blog/what-is-a-platform-business-model/
[2]: https://www.wired.com/insights/2013/10/why-business-models-fail-pipes-vs-platforms/
[3]: https://bernardmarr.com/the-9-most-successful-business-models-of-today/
[4]: https://www.publicissapient.com/insights/platforms-are-powerful-business-models
[5]: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/platform
[6]: https://bstrategyhub.com/50-types-of-business-models-the-best-examples-of-companies-using-it/
[7]: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/benefits-of-platform-business-model/
[8]: https://www.cio.com/article/3134028/platform-business-models-a-primer.html
[9]: https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/innovation/articles/platform-business-model-explained.html
[10]: https://hbr.org/2019/05/a-study-of-more-than-250-platforms-reveals-why-most-fail
[11]: https://medium.com/euro-freelancers/platform-economy-the-4-key-business-models-1fc0eda7241e
[12]: https://innovator.news/the-platform-economy-3c09439b56
[13]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630118306368
[14]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/platform-business-models-explained-robert-farrell
[15]: https://platformbusinessmodel.com/platform-business-model-meaning/
[16]: https://fourweekmba.com/platform-business-models/
[17]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2016/06/22/how-to-succeed-with-a-platform-business-model/
Current hot research topics in software ecosystems and platforms #ewseco
In the current landscape of research concerning software ecosystems and platforms, there is a notable surge in interest towards various trending subjects.
A significant focal point revolves around the evolution and dynamics of software ecosystems, investigating the progression of these intricate systems comprising interdependent software elements and entities over time. Scholars are immersing themselves in the underlying mechanisms steering ecosystem development, including platform governance, ecosystem configuration, and the involvement of key stakeholders. Another pivotal subject entails platform ecosystems and their influence on innovation and competitive dynamics. Academics are scrutinizing how the dynamics of platforms impact strategies for innovation, competitive interactions, and the generation of value within ecosystems.
Grasping the interconnectedness among platform governance, ecosystem structure, and innovation is paramount for organizations aiming to excel in digital markets. Moreover, the advent of novel technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things is reshaping software ecosystems and platforms. Researchers are probing into how these technologies disrupt conventional ecosystems, forge fresh avenues for collaboration, and affect ecosystem governance and sustainability.
Furthermore, the ascent of open-source software and collaborative development models is reshaping the terrain of software ecosystems. Investigations are analyzing the ramifications of open-source communities, decentralized development processes, and the contribution of participants in shaping ecosystem dynamics and platform advancement.
On the whole, the realm of research on software ecosystems and platforms is dynamic and interdisciplinary, encompassing realms such as network theory, innovation management, digital platforms, and software engineering. By tackling these trending subjects, researchers aspire to offer insights that can aid organizations in navigating the intricacies of contemporary software ecosystems and harnessing platforms for sustainable expansion and innovation.
Like the topic? Participate in our workshop tickets here
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Platform Business Models – the basics
Platform Business Models – the basics
In a book called Business Model Generation (2010) by Osterwalder and Pigneur about versatile platforms, whose examples include Apple, Visa, Google, eBay, and Microsoft Windows. One of the most successful business models of this era is the Platform Business Model, that manages and maintains an ecosystem in order to earn economic value in the form of transaction fees or by other means. [Sources: 11, 16, 17]
Usually, a platform business model creates value by facilitating the exchange of two or more interdependent groups. It harnesses an ecosystem of users such as consumers, producers, sellers, buyers, drivers, hosts, and guests to facilitate transactions between them within a large network. [Sources: 1, 4, 16]
Platform types and design
Although there are a number of different platform types and many different classifications, the two most common platform business models are what we call transaction platforms and innovation ecosystem platforms. [Sources: 8, 14] Transaction platforms enable transactions between participants which are usually on different sides of the platform. Innovation ecosystem platforms provide an environment for participants to innovate on top of the offering of the platform. A typical example from tech industries is the creation of a set of APIs provided by a platform to build solutions on top. Platforms with large ecosystems are infrastructure-as-a-service providers like Amazon, Google, or Alibaba.
For transaction platforms, instead of focusing on generating revenue on a transactional basis from the production and sale of goods and services, the platform's business model facilitates valuable connections between users. Finding the right core transactions to be enabled between users of the platform is an important part of platform design, as the platform business relies on its users repeating these transactions to generate value exchange. [Sources: 1, 5, 14]
The design of innovation ecosystem platforms is centered around providing a low entry threshold, easy to use environment for participants to allow fast creation of a large ecosystem of innovators. But it also has to establish fair rules for innovators to capture the value they create.
The platform ecosystem is designed by describing the exchange of value that takes place, the rules governing the platform's business practices and the tools at the user´s disposal. The emergence of connected technologies and ecosystems enables platforms to scale in ways that traditional companies cannot. [Sources: 1, 15]
Platforms and traditional companies
We call traditional non-platform companies linear companies because their operations can be described as a typical linear supply chain along a pipeline of companies. Platform businesses are transforming the pipeline business model where value creation is one-sided and is subject to supply chain bottlenecks into a platform business model where value creation is typically at least two-sided and continuous. [Sources: 1, 8,11]
Platforms that have become part of our daily lives have built their businesses on powerful platform technologies that drill into what we value and connect to them. Companies will have to adapt to this new model at some point, otherwise they run the risk of being disrupted by platforms. [Sources: 0, 2, 14]
Linear companies are not only catching up, but they are also fighting back and skipping well-known platforms such as Amazon, Facebook and Google and investing in the development of AI, artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies to help them create platform 2.0 models. [Sources: 9, 12, 13]
Now, continue to
Aggregator business models: Ten aggregator company examples
Revenue Models For Aggregator Companies
Ten steps to create an aggregator company
Aggregator business models: full story and future trends
Platform Business Models – the basics
Building on the shoulders of giants. Shortcuts to Platform Business Success
Sources
[0]: https://blog.hypeinnovation.com/platform-models-are-the-new-order-of-business-need
[1]: https://www.applicoinc.com/blog/what-is-a-platform-business-model/
[2]: https://www.wired.com/insights/2013/10/why-business-models-fail-pipes-vs-platforms/
[3]: https://bernardmarr.com/the-9-most-successful-business-models-of-today/
[4]: https://www.publicissapient.com/insights/platforms-are-powerful-business-models
[5]: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/platform
[6]: https://bstrategyhub.com/50-types-of-business-models-the-best-examples-of-companies-using-it/
[7]: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/benefits-of-platform-business-model/
[8]: https://www.cio.com/article/3134028/platform-business-models-a-primer.html
[9]: https://www2.deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/innovation/articles/platform-business-model-explained.html
[10]: https://hbr.org/2019/05/a-study-of-more-than-250-platforms-reveals-why-most-fail
[11]: https://medium.com/euro-freelancers/platform-economy-the-4-key-business-models-1fc0eda7241e
[12]: https://innovator.news/the-platform-economy-3c09439b56
[13]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630118306368
[14]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/platform-business-models-explained-robert-farrell
[15]: https://platformbusinessmodel.com/platform-business-model-meaning/
[16]: https://fourweekmba.com/platform-business-models/
[17]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2016/06/22/how-to-succeed-with-a-platform-business-model/
Software partnerships and business models: OEM
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
OEM
In an OEM scenario the software vendor provides OEM software to the software partner. The software partner sells the OEM software as part of his solution. Usually, the software partner charges no price for the OEM software, but for his own solution. This is the key difference between OEM and resell.
The software vendor delivers the OEM software to the partner, which pays a license fee and maintenance fee to the software vendor. The license fee for the OEM might be a share of the revenue of the partner product containing the OEM software. Or it might be a constant fee that applies per copy of the OEM software shipped to the customer.
Business Model Canvas for OEM software
In a generic view, the value proposition of outbound OEM for a customer (software vendor) is that the customer saves development cost and time and gets a quality product.
For customer segments, this business model is generally limited to software vendors but might also apply to hardware vendors shipping hardware with embedded software. Based on the specific functionality of the OEM software, it might be further limited to specific software vendors. Customer relationships to software vendors using the software are important. As a consequence, the network of partner companies is the main channel.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Software partnerships and business models: Resell
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Resell
Resell works as follows: Products of the software vendor are supplied to a resell partner. The partner resells the software vendor´s products to the customer.
This is a close relationship between a software vendor and a resell partner.
Three main drivers exist for a partner to resell solutions: significant revenue for the Partner Company, solution fit of the resell solution with the partner´s solutions and non-competitive offering; with revenue being the main driver for the resell.
Business Model Canvas for Resell
In a generic model, a Value Added Reseller (VAR) provides resold products as well as additional value related to these products. The added value can come from a special expertise of the VAR related to a customer segment like consulting expertise in the oil and gas industry. So the value proposition for the customer comes from both, solutions and added value.
The customer relationship is direct and thus the channel is a direct channel to the customer. Customer segments cannot be determined in this generic model, they depend on the partner.
Resell revenue streams are from license and support and maintenance fees. Key activities in this model are selling to customers and enabling sales people to sell. Key resources are sales people and the software provider´s Channel sales manager. Key partner is the software provider.
The cost structure in this model contains cost for customer acquisition, cost of sales in general and cost of partnership management.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Software partnerships and business models: Referral
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Referral
Referral means that the software vendor has outsourced lead generation to a partner company. The partner company creates the leads, passes the leads back to the software vendor. The software vendor pays a referral fee to the partner for a qualified lead and/or a closed deal with the lead.
Referral is very popular in the software industry. It can be used as a one-time or repetitive form of cooperation between two software companies. Advantages of referral are easy creation of the program and of the leads, low impact on both organizations, partner and software vendor, and limited risk.
A Referral program has a very low entry barrier and low maintenance effort.
Business Model Canvas for Referral
Mapping referral into the business model canvas results in the following: The value proposition of referral for the partner is the additional revenue he/she can get via the referral fee from SAP or the SAP VAR. Customer relationships: the software vendor has to care for the referral relationship to the partner and the customer. The key channel is the partner network.
Revenue streams for the software vendor are the usual license, support, maintenance fees.
Key activity is enabling partners to properly present, position and show the value of the solutions to customers. They might need marketing material, price lists, demo systems to make referrals happen.
The cost structure is referral fee cost besides normal software vendor cost structure.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Disruptive Business Models in the software industry and beyond
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Software industry and disruption
The software industry is all about disruptive business models. The key question remains: How do you plan and build disruptive business models? What are examples of disruptive business models? What did companies with distruptive business models do different than other companies? How can a company offer for the prize of zero? All of these questions can be answered by looking at disruptive business models.
Business model canvas and disruption
Let us adress these questions based on the business model canvas. The business model canvas is a well known approach by Osterwalder to model business models. Osterwalder published his approach in the book Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers.
A business model is described there on a "canvas" that shows e.g. the value proposition, cost, channels, revenue, suppliers, key resources and key partners.
Here is an example of Google´s search business on the business model canvas:
Where in the business model can disruption happen?
Now that we know the business model canvas, we can take disruption mechanisms and put them into the canvas. I use the information from Mark W. Johnson´s ideas on seizing the white space and put them on the canvas. And i use information from Profit from Software Ecosystems book.
Let me explain some of the boxes below.
Offer standardized low price version of high price product
There is a high price product, like secure data rooms. You build disruptive business models by offering that product in a standardized low price version. Examples i like are
UberX, a service from Uber that offers cheap transportation services
Motel One which is a motel chain that offers very affordable overnight stays
Securedocs, who disrupt the secure data room industry by offering a cheap yet safe data room for companies.
Shop at home with device
Nothing is more convenient than shopping at home. Technology can put that convenience to a new level.
Here are my most-liked examples:
Amazon has invented Amazon Fresh, a device that can scan barcodes of products at home or can listen to your wishes. Just say: chocolate sprinkles and the sprinkles will be at your door the next morning.
Amazon Fire scans for products that can be ordered, from Amazon, of course. no more searching for names or products in catalogs. scan, shop, done.
hybris Commerce Suite: lets you shop on any device (smart tv, Ipad, Phone)
Integrate and combine channels
In some industries there are opportunities in integrating and combining channels to build disruptive business models. No matter how you reach customers to sell goods, no matter where customers turn their attention, you might leverage all these channels as one.
Here are my favorites:
Stylight social shopping. Stylight has integrated normal people showing off purchased apparel in social networks with a shopping experience. Pictures of these people can appear in the shop and items can be ordered right away.
Prize of zero fed by other revenue streams
There is no better way to disrupt than offering a product or service for a price of zero. But you have to make sure you get some compensation or you finance that business model with revenues from your other business models. Advertising revenue has been stressed a lot in the software business for this purpose, but it only works in rare cases. So, which other sources of revenue to fund a low price are there? Here are my examples:
Google search. The service offered by Google is free. If you look at it more carefully, there is a compensation. it is data about the interest and the searches a user starts. This data is sold to advertisers. Revenue from advertising feeds free search.
Communities instead of sales force
Outsourcing for the prize of (almost) zero and scaling your salesforce dramatically. These are the benefits of leveraging product communities for supporting, maintaining and even selling your products. Network effects can accelerate this effect even more. Examples are:
Nespresso community
Skype was and is mostly promoted by its community. the network effects of having additional people join.
Open Source communities
Do more to adress the job
Just do a little more than your competition. Sounds easy, but it might take some hard thinking to deliver. Here are examples:
German epost does not only store your mail while you are away from home, they will scan all incoming letters and provide them online for you to look at it.
Life is good. Social retail. Shopping is great. Might be even greater if you are doing good while you are shopping.
More information to come soon. Many of these ideas are in the book Profit from software ecosystems
Literature
Content on this site comes from the following book and the ones in the gallery:
Mergers and Acquisitions in the Software Industry
other background literature is:
Osterwalder, Business model generation
Mark W Johnson, Seizing the white space
R. Meyer, K.M. Popp, Profit from software ecosystems
Software partnerships and business models: Distributors
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Distributors
A Distributor gets software directly from a software vendor and sells this software to Authorized resellers. The relationship with Authorized resellers is handled by the Distributor.
Business Model Canvas for Distributor
The value proposition for the customer of the distributor is that he provides the distribution service to resellers and that the distributor provides great margins for the resellers and that he supports resellers in selling the solutions. The customer relationship is direct to the resellers. Customer segments cannot be determined in this generic distributor business model.
Revenue streams are license, support and maintenance fees flowing in from the customers and resellers to the distributor.
A distributor key activity for making business in this business model is convincing and onboarding resellers. As soon as the resellers are on board, the next key activity kicks in: enabling the resellers to sell. Key resources are sales support for resellers and support for the resellers´ customers.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Software partnerships and business models: Revenue share
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Revenue share
The software vendor endorses the product of the revenue share partner. if the customer buys the partner´s product, the software vendor gets a share of the partner´s revenue.
Revenue share partnerships are also popular in the software industry and are usually used as door opener into other companies´ customers. Revenue share makes sense if the product offerings of the partner and software vendor are not competitive, but complementing.
Advantages of Revenue share are: software vendor participates in revenue that is generated by other companies, limited cost for software vendor for endorsing other vendor since cost of sales stays with the revenue share partner.
Business Model Canvas for Revenue share
The value proposition of this business model is clearly additional revenues for the partner, who does the revenue share with SAP. For the company engaging with revenue share partners, the generic model is not limited to specific customer segments. But depending on the products for the revenue share there can of course be customer segments.
Incentified by the revenue share, the company gets license, support and maintenance revenue streams.
Key activity is endorsing the partner´s software to start the revenue share, key partners are the software vendors providing the software. Key resources are the sales people hunting for customer contracts triggering the revenue share.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Software business models: Google´s Business Model
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Google is a software company that started in the search and online advertising business and has extended its business to many other areas. Google´s revenue is mainly from broker business.
What Google does successfully is matchmaking between online advertisers and potential customers. But Google has more products and services than just online advertising and search. Let us have a look at the business model. We start with the products/services offered and the business model archetype.
Besides of Google´s main business as a broker, Google is a manufacturer of the Google Search Appliance, which is a hardware appliance that includes Google´s Search Engine. Target customers are companies, that should use the search appliance for searching their intranet. Inventor business at Google is mainly focused on inventing products for the broker business and for other SaaS offerings like Google Apps, Gmail or Google Voice. The SaaS offerings are created by combining the business models Physical Lessor, IP Lessor and Contractor. In addition, Google acts as a IP Lessor for browser, operating systems and content of books.
Google business model canvas
Looking at all major Google businesses the following Google business model canvas can be created:
The key value propositions of Google circulate around free and easy to use offerings as well as apps for end users as well as online advertising and cheap online solution for corporate customers.
Customer relationships in the Google business model canvas are mainly highly automated mass relationships, while some direct relationships are kept for corporate customers.
Revenue streams of Google will be analyzed further down on this page.
If we look only at Google search, we find the following business model canvas:
Google´s revenue models
This overview of revenue models is limited to large sources of Google revenue. As mentioned above, the main source of revenue at Google is from their broker business, which we will analyze in a little more detail below.
Now let us have a look at Google´s revenue model for the broker business. As you may remember, there usually is a compensation for every product and service, not necessarily as a payment. In Google´s case the non-monetary compensation for their search offering is the key to Google´s fortune.
Here you can see that Google´s search business basically provides a search service to search customers and a PPC (Pay per click) advertising service to its advertising customers. The compensation for the PPC advertising service is payment per click on an advertisement. The non-monetary compensation for the search service is data about the user who is searching.
Google´s revenue model synergies
The Google business model has two striking advantages: The information about the search customers is provided to Google for free and Google sells advertising space, perfectly matched with the customer in-formation, to advertisers via an automatic online auction.
So Google leverages a revenue synergy between the search and advertising business. The revenue model allows the revenue generated in the broker business to be used to carry the sunk cost and operations cost of offerings like Gmail and others.
Find more information on business models in the following books:
Software partnerships and business models: Certified solutions
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Customers are looking for minimizing their integration cost in a heterogeneous landscape of software solutions. To proof that the integration between two software solution exists and has some level of quality, software vendors are offering certification programs. Certification allows competition between software partners to keep prices low while certification increases integration quality.
The software vendor provides certification services for a certification fee and logo usage to software companies. Software companies sell their software to customers. No revenue share is paid to the software vendor.
Business Model Canvas for Certification
The value proposition contains the following values:
Reduced development cost and time for integrating solutions since the integration already works based on the certifiable interface.
Quality products are being integrated to avoid that customer value is destroyed by bad quality.
Partners that get certified on an interface create value for the company that offers the interface on their solutions because the solution scope is extended by the partner products.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Open Source Business Models
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Commercial use of open source
For a commercial company, Open Source Software is software that is licensed to that company under an open source license. The commercial company may make use of the open source, like usage or redistribution of the open source free of charge, but it also has to fulfill the obligations, like delivering a copy of the license text with the software.
So the rights and obligations have to be analyzed diligently to make sure there is no violation of the license terms.
Suppliers of open source software
Open Source software can be supplied by a community or by a commercial company. We speak of community open source and commercial open source respectively.
For community open source, a community of people provides creation, maintenance and support for an open source software. In most of the cases the community provides these services free of charge.
There are, of course, differences between a company and the open source community. These differences are important to understand, because they influence a customer´s supplier decision and they also create niches for companies to establish a business in that niche.
Commercial open source vs. community open source
So a customer might decide for commercial open source if he needs customized license terms, runs open source in a mission-critical environment and thus needs service level agreements in support or if he needs maintenance provided in a different way than via the open source community.
In many business contexts it makes also sense to have liability and warranty provisions from a supplier when using open source. In most of the existing open source licenses there is exclusion of any warranty or liability (3). This is another reason why companies might choose commercial open source over community open source.
Classification of open source business models
Based on a classification of business models (Weill et al.) we will have a look at open source business models.
Open source usually is free of charge, but that does not necessarily mean there is no compensation for using the open source component.
The next figure shows a classification of generic business models. The business models relevant for commercial open source business are marked in bold. In this general classification of business models, software classifies as an intangible product, see the corresponding column “Intangible”. Software can be created or written (“Inventor”), distributed (“IP Distributor”) or licensed or rented to customers (“IP Lessor”). In addition, the customer needs services to run and maintain the software, like implementation, support and maintenance services. These classify as “Contractor” business. We assume here that all open source businesses make use of at least a subset of these four business models.
No matter if it is a community or a commercial software vendor, one or many of these business models are applied. By choosing a specific selection of business models, a so-called hybrid business model is created. Creating a hybrid business model means combining different business models with their specific goals, requirements and cost structures.
Since these business models are models on a type level, there might be different implementations of how a certain business model is run. An open source community might run the Inventor business for creating software in a different way (leveraging the community) than a commercial software vendor (leveraging a development team), from a process as well as from a resource perspective. But on a type level, both run the same type of business called Inventor.
So going forward, we will analyze commercial and community open source business models as a selection of a subset of the business models identified here: Inventor, IP Lessor, IP distributor and Contractor.
Community open source business model
The open source community business model usually makes use of the following business models: Inventor, IP Lessor and Contractor.
For the community, the Inventor business is what the community is most involved in. It is about creating open source software and engaging with the community members to coordinate the work and collect the contributions of the community members.
The IP Lessor business is also important for the community. The IP lessor business defines the terms and conditions of the open source license and makes the software available to customers. The license is defined by the community and all customers using the software have to comply with it. In some cases, there are multiple different licenses for an open source software that a customer can choose from.
The Contractor business contains all human services to customers. The community typically provides these via email and they contain services like maintenance, support, translation for country specific versions and the like. They are all carried out by community members. In almost every case, the customer does not pay for these services, but the customer has no rights to enforce any of these services and he does not have service level agreements, like a definition of minimum answer time for support incidents.
The community can serve two types of customers: software vendors and (end) customers. For software vendors, the open source community works as a supplier of software, for the customer, the open source community works as a software vendor licensing software to the customer.
These two relationships differ in the way that customers and software vendors might make use of the software. Customers usually license the software for internal use only. Software vendors license software for internal use and/or for distribution to customers. Often open source software is included in commercial software and provided to customers by the software vendor. In this case, the software vendor has to make sure he complies with all licenses of all open source software he is including in his software product.
Commercial open source business models overview
In the last section we described the community business model, now we turn to the commercial open source business model. Figure 4 shows the typical business models implemented by commercial software vendors. As mentioned before, a commercial software vendor does not have to implement all of these business models, but can rather build a unique business model by selecting a subset of available business models. One basic difference to community open source is that the IP Distributor business model is an option for commercial companies.
The history of commercial open source companies shows that in the beginning the companies focused on services around open source software, which matches the Contractor business.
The next step was to build distributions for open source software, like e.g. for Linux. This matches to the IP Distributor business model.
Today, we find all kinds of hybrid business models around open source. Companies are building software and donate it, completely or partially to the open source community (Inventor business model). Commercial software vendors often package or change or extend existing community open source software, so the community acts as a supplier of open source software to the software vendor. In some cases the software vendor does not use existing open source software from a community, but chooses to offer its proprietary software under a dual licensing strategy, e.g. under a commercial and an open source license.
Commercial services for open source
Since open source licenses are free of charge, commercial companies first and foremost focused on providing services around open source software. The expectation was simply that customers would still need services and since the license was free, that customers would have more money to spend on services.
Commercial open source companies provide the following services for open source software: Maintenance, Support, Consulting and Extension or adaption of open source software to a customer´s needs.
Maintenance services consist of the following activities: building future versions, bug fixes and upgrades and providing them to the customers.
Support services contain of accepting, maintaining and resolving incidents that the customer has while using the software.
Consulting services mean planning and executing the installation and go-live of customers´ system landscapes containing the software.
Extension or adaption of open source software based on customer´s requests is designing, programming, testing and delivering open source software that has been modified or expanded. Examples for extensions and modifications are:
Functional Extensions for open source applications with country-specific functionality or customer specific functionality;
Extending the usage scenarios for open source to additional countries by adding additional translations of user interfaces;
Adapting open source software means to make open source software run on customers´ hardware and software platforms.
Summary and outlook
The evolution of open source and commercial open source business is still underway. In the future we will see additional varieties of open source business licenses, such as in open source hardware or designs, and new open source business models, like in open source on demand applications or open source software in cloud environments.
For best practices in open source use in commercial products see these books:
Software partnerships and business models: Appstores - online marketplaces for partner products
The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems is an annual event which connects top notch researchers and business professionals in the field of software and platform ecosystems as well as business networks. Here is an example of a topic we will discuss at the event.
Appstore description
Large software or device vendors usually offer an Appstoreto sell applications based on their platforms. Customers of the Appstore gather there to look for complementing solutions from partners. Partners have the opportunity to advertise partner solutions exactly where customers are looking for the solutions.
Business model canvas for appstores
The value proposition of the marketplace for the partner contains two items. The first value proposition is access to the customer base of the appstore provider as well as to other partners and other visitors of the marketplace. The second value proposition is the additional revenue the partner can get from selling to the customers of the appstore provider.
Customer relationships: the software vendor has to care for the referral relationship to the partner and the customer. The partner might get engaged with customer segments containing customers of the software vendor, prospects of the software vendor, other partners of the software vendors visiting the marketplace and other visitors of the marketplace as well.
More details and background information can be found in these books:
Mark your calendars April 29 2021 Growth strategies for platform ecosystems
B2C Platforms like Amazon or Alibaba have all the hype and all the envy. But how does a company create, build or run platforms, business networks, a company in the API economy? answers here:
The program committee would like to invite European researchers and practitioners in the field of software ecosystems, platform ecosystems and business networks to come together in Heilbronn, Germany, on April 29th, 2021, to discuss recent (academic) research and recent business experiences and lessons learned, insights or issues related to management of ecosystems, business models or technical issues including but not limited to topics like
Software ecosystems
Research progress and new knowledge for software ecosystems
External forces - the new normal and the impact on software ecosystems
Business networks
Business networks vs. platform businesses
Business networks as platforms for transaction, innovation
Growing business networks by extending beyond participants
Platform Business Models
Types of platform business models for transaction, innovation
“Platformizing” existing businesses - how to be successful?
Business model innovation resulting in a platform business model - how to make it work?
Architectures and APIs for platforms
Growth strategies based on platform ecosystems and business networks
Growing by acquiring a platform business
Digital platforms and businesses
data-driven and analytics ecosystems
We will invite practitioners to the workshop to ensure discussion about the practical impact of research and to give the presenters the opportunity to discuss with practitioners and researchers alike.
The workshop location at City Campus in Heilbronn, Germany, with many software and software service companies having an office nearby which eases the participation for practitioners.
Workshop style
Online or covid-safe onsite in Heilbronn, Germany.
Socialize and discuss with (academic) researchers and fellow professionals.
We value discussion as well as presentations. So a short, 15 minute presentation is followed by 15 min discussion with fellow researchers and practitioners.
The workshop will be held in English language only.
Submissions
Propose your presentation titles or poster proposals via email (title and 100 word abstract) to ewseco17@software-ecosystem.com
Submission deadline is March 15th 2021 6pm CET.
Great keynotes for EWSECO April 23 2020 Growth strategies for platform ecosystems TICKETS ON SALE
B2C Platforms like Amazon or Alibaba have all the hype and all the envy. But how does a company create, build or run platforms, business networks, a company in the API economy? answers here:
We have exciting news, the workshop draws massive attention and attracts keynote speakers, sponsors and more:
Keynotes
One keynote speaker is Rolf Schumann, Chief Digital Officer of Schwarz Gruppe. He will talk about enriching the customer experience in retail B2C business networks.
The second keynote speaker from ORY Systems GmbH will give a keynote about using open source to create a successful innovation platform.
BUY Tickets
Sponsors
The Schwarz Group, headquartered in Neckarsulm, Germany, owns the companies Lidl and Kaufland and is Germany's largest retail group with a group turnover of 90 billion euros. Its activities are divided into discount food markets under the name of Lidl and hypermarkets and hypermarkets such as Kaufland, KaufMarkt, Concord and Handelshof. Today, Lidl stores are located in almost all European countries. Lidl is currently represented in 26 countries, Kaufland in Germany and in six other countries.
ORY´s mission is to help make the cloud more manageable, useful and safe and to give developers access to infrastructure and services that makes developing for the cloud easier. We consider it a privilege to be able to help developers push the boundaries of modern cloud technology. ORY is the open source and cloud native identity infrastructure. ORY is written in Go and open standards and consensus are the foundation. It is language and platform independent, extremely lightweight, starts up in seconds and doesn’t interfere with your code.
About the workshop
The program committee would like to invite European researchers and practitioners in the field of software ecosystems, platform ecosystems and business networks to come together in Heilbronn, Germany, on April 23rd 2020, to discuss recent (academic) research and recent business experiences and lessons learned, insights or issues related to management of ecosystems, business models or technical issues including but not limited to topics like
Software ecosystems
Research progress and new knowledge for software ecosystems
External forces - the new normal and the impact on software ecosystems
Business networks
Business networks vs. platform businesses
Business networks as platforms for transaction, innovation
Growing business networks by extending beyond participants
Platform Business Models
Types of platform business models for transaction, innovation
“Platformizing” existing businesses - how to be successful?
Business model innovation resulting in a platform business model - how to make it work?
Architectures and APIs for platforms
Growth strategies based on platform ecosystems and business networks
Growing by acquiring a platform business
Digital platforms and businesses
data-driven and analytics ecosystems
We will invite practitioners to the workshop to ensure discussion about the practical impact of research and to give the presenters the opportunity to discuss with practitioners and researchers alike.
The workshop location at City Campus in Heilbronn, Germany, with many software and software service companies having an office nearby which eases the participation for practitioners.
BUY Tickets
Workshop style
Socialize and discuss with (academic) researchers and fellow professionals.
We value discussion as well as presentations. So a short, 15 minute presentation is followed by 15 min discussion with fellow researchers and practitioners.
The workshop will be held in English language only.
Poster session
As a new feature of the workshop, we are offering a poster session. If you are interested to present your work in progress to practitioners and fellow researchers, please submit a title and abstract as stated below, mentioning that it should be a poster session.
Submissions
Propose your presentation titles or poster proposals via email (title and 100 word abstract) to ewseco17@software-ecosystem.com
Submission deadline is March 30th 2020 6pm CET.
Managing the Dark Side of Software Ecosystems
Despite all the potential benefits for
complementors, however, innovation in platform ecosystems also introduced essential
new risks that remain under investigated.
The emergence of platforms is significantly changing the organizing logic of software
development. Platform owners are increasingly engaging vibrant ecosystems around
their platform to foster third-party innovation. Despite all the potential benefits for
complementors, however, innovation in platform ecosystems also introduced essential
new risks that remain under investigated.
Find more information here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3245777
Talk about it and discuss at Platform Economy Summit https://goo.gl/GAJmg1
Proceedings of the European Workshop on Software Ecosystems 2017
The proceedings of EWSECO are out now! The European Workshop on Software Ecosystems http://www.ewseco.org is an annual event which connects researchers and fellow professionals in the field of software ecosystems.
Presentations in 2017 included:
1. Software M&A Ecosystems -- Industry Keynote by Julis Telaranta, Corum
2. Sandbox vs. Toolbox - Analyzing boundary Resource in B2B Software Platforms -- Maximilian Schreieck, Robert Finke, Manuel Wiesche, Helmut Krcmar
3. Manage multiple platform-ecosystems -- Christopher Jud, Georg Herzwurm
4. Survival of the smartest: Digitalization of mechanical engineering companies by creating a software ecosystem -- Industry Keynote by Benjamin Müller, ADAMOS GmbH
5. Building your IoT ecosystem: Proposing the Hybrid Intelligence Accelerator -- Dominik Dellermann, Nikolaus Lipusch, Philipp Ebel, Jan Marco Leimeister
6. The European Standard on eInvoicing EN16931 - Applications and Services to implement Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing -- Industry Keynote by Seeburger AG
7. Platform Business in Application Markets: Data Analytics of Mobile App Usage and Descriptions -- Lauri Frank
8. Fake it till you make it: how to bootstrap an ecosystem before your company is ready -- Alexander Eck, Benjamin Spottke
9. Strategy definition in large enterprise software ecosystems -- Ralf Meyer