A Strategy for an Open Platform

“Platform” is possibly one of the most overused terms in the modern economy. Because of that, it is important that our strategy both understand the fundamental meaning of the concept, and the foundational value propositions that can emerge from it. This document outlines the primary elements of a technology platform, the mainstays to achieving success for each, and what it means for them to be considered “open”.

What is a platform?

The definitional meaning of the word platform can assist us in gaining an enhanced understanding of what is meant by the term technology platform. In a literal sense, a platform is of utility in a variety of ways. First, it provides a smooth, dependable, and level surface above an otherwise rough and unsorted earth. Second, a platform provides a degree of lift above that ground and facilitates visibility by a greater audience. Third, a platform is quite often deployed for the purpose of performance and presentation. Each of those literal concepts are critical in the application of a metaphorical platform, else it really is not a platform at all.

Each of these primary value propositions for a platform directly correlate to providing value in the form of an open Trimble Cloud Platform.

Smooth, dependable, and appropriately level

In a general sense, all software is a deployment made on the back of another work — it is very seldom that new software products are offered through the arrangement of 1s and 0s. Layers of abstractions and simplification provide increments of value toward the creation and maintenance of solutions that solve real-world problems.

Trimble Cloud Platform seeks to add incremental value for new solutions by software and hardware innovators through making accessible difficult, long, and labored intellectual work. The value proposition is delivered when complex, established thought is integrated in ways that are more efficient than doing the thinking from scratch. The most value is provided when this hard background work can be offered to an integrator with little thought or concern.

However, the value proposition is not only the thinking itself, but its delivery in a dependable format. A true technology platform abstracts the support, delivery, and maintenance of the underlying levels of incremental efficiency, so that the user only need worry about the layer at which they have integrated. For Trimble, that means predictable patterns of version releases, high levels of availability, and integration interfaces that increase efficiency as opposed to reducing it.

For all of this to be considered open, it must use formats, specifications, and standards that are accepted and understood by a broad audience. An open platform seeks to unleash creativity through facilitating interoperability, and not fence it in by proprietary design and excessive license constraints.

A degree of lift above the ground

Most any activity is more easily carried out on a level and even surface. The same holds true for the delivery of technology solutions. A Trimble technology platform seeks to remove inconsistency, and randomness to the degree possible, so that an integrator finds a surface that is predictable and stable. In a more direct sense, a Trimble Cloud Platform offers this by way of consistency in patterns of navigation, nomenclature, documentation, visual communication, pricing, and support.

Every time a user must pause because they have discovered an inconsistency, it is not dissimilar to discovering a missing plank on a stage. Too many missing planks, loose nails, and stones, and the user may find that the platform does not provide its intended value and the rough earth itself is a better place from which to work (or upon another platform that isn’t missing planks).

An open platform offers consistency through its attention to these details. A term that refers to one thing must mean the same for another thing, or else it is considered a loose plank. However — perhaps more importantly — the terminology, navigation, pricing models, and support must attempt to be easily comprehended with the lowest level of effort possible.

If a platform increases the required mental load of a potential integrator, it may not actually be providing any actual degree of lift above the variances of the metaphorical ground.

A place for performance and presentation

In many instances, a third value proposition for a true platform is its ability to provide attention and discovery for its users. At the heart of any stage are the performers and the audience; without either, the stage or platform has no real value. The Trimble Cloud Platform has its own performers (technology providers), and audience (technology integrators); however, in the case of the Trimble Cloud Platform, the audience is not necessarily passive and unengaged, but are invited to be active players in the performance.

When an integrator is able to easily discover, understand, and integrate the technologies made discoverable by a provider, new and improved solutions will inevitably evolve.

An open platform makes this environment for technological engagement available to as large an audience as possible. The underlying belief is that, when many minds tackle problems with accessible tools that provide incremental value, it will unlock larger value and more potential than a limited set of minds can. That is the magic made possible through an open platform: the creation of solutions that are a multiplication of any single mind or any single tool.

Conclusion

As Trimble aims its efforts towards achieving the status of an open technology platform, it must be vigilant to ensure it is properly focused on delivering the value propositions definitional to the term. Those three primary areas of focus are:

A smooth surface: The ability to facilitate easier implementation through predictable patterns and consistency.
A lift above the ground: The ability to deliver incremental value to the user by starting them at a higher level as opposed to the otherwise “natural ground.” A platform should require less mental load and time investment by a user, not more.
A place for display and for reception: The delivery of “network effects” between providers and integrators. Easy discovery of solutions by a large audience of integrators leads to a higher probability of innovative outcomes.

When these primary value propositions are kept central to the platform vision, the outcome becomes an environment that both inspires and facilitates successful innovation and delivery of new products and services.