Platforms of Participation – Two Angles / One Vision

I recently finished reading Wikinomics, a though provoking book about Web 2.0 technologies and mass collaboration. One section of the book talks about Platforms of Participation and uses several examples including Amazon.com and Second Life to make their point that open platforms that allow consumers / users to collaborate will draw people to their community which in turn will drive real and significant revenue.

Last night I read a great blog entry Musings on Organisations and Platforms. In this entry, the author, JP, pushes the metaphor of a modern airport to the extreme to demonstrate how open Platforms of Participation can benefit not just the business that creates the platform but the entire ecosystem that exists in-and-around the Platform.

As I reflect on these two different, but related, examples of Platforms, I am asking myself how any of this helps financial services firms, if at all. The financial firms with whom I’ve worked (either directly or indirectly) are organizations that take their IP very seriously. The firms erect walls around themselves to secure their data and to protect their interests. Unfortunately, in far to many examples, the walls exist between parts of the same organization and in some cases even between groups in the same part of the organization.

For clarity sake, let’s look at Sample Large Bank (SLB). SLB has strong walls around it to protect its interests and its customers interests. For this SLB is praised and respected. SLB trades Equities, Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities, and has 4 competing groups (one for each of their product lines) in each of the three major regions of the world – making 12 competing self-interested groups. Each of these groups has their own application architecture, their own standards, their own IP, and their own view of core data. The people in each of these groups look at the other groups as competitors, and they build walls between each other…

Now, let’s look at New Nimble Bank (NNB). NNB has strong walls around it to product its interests, however, they have some components that they keep intentionally open to allow their customers to have a more rich and interactive experience with them. Over time more content is being opened up to their customers – and their customers are driving this change. NNB trades Equities, Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities, and has 4 cooperating focused groups (one for each of their product lines) in each of the three major regions of the world – making 12 cooperating very firm-oriented focused groups. Each of these groups share a common enterprise architecture that has some core standards and tools that are globally managed, but the core groups are always open to new innovative ideas and allow the platform to grow and morph as demands change. The local teams build focused components to solve their local needs, but all of these components are available to all to use or to refactor. NNB employees collaborate using a common Wiki and blog. Questions are posted, and experts in other teams and in other regions quickly help resolve open questions. Goals, plans, and designs are all refined through the Wiki, and are transparently available to all at the firm. Where SLB has 12 large order management systems that don’t interoperate, NNB have a common order management architecture and message bus, and each region’s local focused system leverages this core technology and interoperate “out of the box” (sounds like an Apple Get a Mac ad…).

Can NNB exist in real-life? Why not? We know SLB does…….

SLB’s can become NNB’s by looking to apply Enterprise 2.0 techniques within their four walls. This will work. It can start with one team breaking down the silos and opening up to collaborative transparent communication. It can grow organically into larger and larger groups and can transform the enterprise from within. NNB’s are not born, but made when then decide they are tired of being SLB’s… A journey to being an NNB starts with one step, one wiki, one blog, one tag, one enterprise bus, one common architecture, one team vision, one collaborative culture…