About five years ago, I had a less than pleasant encounter with an arrogant, known Johannesburg business personality. In the meeting, while presenting Indigo’s digital platforms, he asked ‘why pay for collaborative space when it’s free on Google Drive’? I hope for his sake, that he has not built his platforms, community engagement and knowledge repositories on Google Drive. Here's why.

Sounds a little bizarre because neighbours have always been a community right? Well, it’s only right if you’re not behind high walls, locked doors and security-monitored streets.

Platforms, The Platform Revolution, Communities and customer retention, the building of smart connected ecosystems – there’s a wealth of topics, yet I still managed a fortnight of blog writer’s block. Then I listened to Reid Hoffman interview Caterina Fake, one of the co-founders of Flicker. “We need a more human internet,” says Fake (and yes over the years this surname has apparently caused pain, including the cancellation of travel tickets, social media reporting and more.)

Blog 2 in the Platform series. Your customer of days past was in the dark. If they purchased an item, they had no idea what the profit margin may be. Endeavours to understand where the best price may be was an onerous task. Consumer responses to new and more competitive products were not broadly available.

The Platform disruptors Blog Series – Blog 1

Just take a look at where disruption has come from over the recent 10 years or so. Do you think taxi, hotel and music disruption are about new products? They’re not, they’re about platforms.