Platform Technologies

Platform technologies are architectures that allow diverse products to emerge without reinventing processes for each new offering, enabling flexibility and innovation. Examples range from app stores and e-commerce sites to automobile manufacturing and personal computers. Unlike non-platform tools like hammers, platforms are layered: foundational infrastructure supports the platform itself (such as an operating system or vehicle chassis), which in turn provides standardized building blocks—often accessed via APIs—for creating varied applications or products. This abstraction and modularity let developers and companies remix and bundle services in countless ways, fueling rapid development, differentiation, and scalability. In both technology and business, the platform approach underpins much of today’s dynamic growth and versatility, making it foundational to modern systems architecture.
Source: Systems Innovation