SiGMA Europe 2024: What is the Platform Paradox?

During the latest edition of SiGMA Europe 2024 that took place from November 11 to 14 in Malta, Ashley Lang, CEO of Pragmatic Solutions, spoke about the so-called “platform paradox”.

To begin, he commented that “As You can imagine, operating under the Pragmatic brand, there's a high expectation for what we can deliver in terms of platform technology. We're often on the list of platforms that operators consider. So our phone rings a lot when operators are in the position of evaluating a platform”.

Tips for selecting a platform

Then Lang explained “What do I mean by platform selection approach, or platform strategy? Not just about choosing platform technology, because prior to even selecting what technology is the right platform done by your business, we advise operators to begin first with your business objectives. What are you trying to achieve in your operational business? What are your business goals? What markets are you intending on entering? What skills do you want to add? What scale is your business today, and what scale do you intend your business to grow to? Technology should service your business objectives. Technology itself shouldn't be the business objective unless it's to the end of achieving the business goals".

In this sense, he stressed that “Technology itself should not be the business objective unless it is in order to achieve business objectives.”

He added “Therefore, we encourage operators to think about their business objectives first and then begin the technology evaluation process based on the factors that will contribute to eliminating risks and accelerating the achievement of their business objectives.”

The importance of making a critical evaluation

Here Lang explained that many providers make the mistake of focusing only on technology. However, they must also “evaluate when they're looking at technology. Now, so that gets you through understanding who you're about to go into business with, because it's a serious, committed business relationship, critical to the future success of your business. The midpoint is looking at an in-depth, critical evaluation of the technology platform. And that involves meeting the technology teams, talking with the operational development and technical support teams within that operator's technology. It's not just about licensing the platform”.

Another point that Lang highlighted is the importance of communication with customers. In this sense, he stressed that “every operator has an ongoing demand for development services. And no matter how many licensees may share the technology that powers your business, for you to that vendor, you want to feel like they're only and most important customer. In order to do that, you need to have a commitment from them to provide you a model for development resource access to accelerate your roadmap specific to your business”.

Finally, to explain the so-called paradox of the Platform, Lang highlighted that, in addition to thinking about technology, a businessman “needs to have a conversation with that platform provider about how are they going to provide you the resources and what's their operating model of licensing and developing upon the platform to support your business”.