Where I stand today that moves me to the future
Let me provide a really short round up of 2024 from my learning and explaining on innovation ecosystems and specifically integrated business ecosystems. Then I outline some of my plans for 2025 to build out the value of Ecosystems in business.
Ecosystems for business have an absolute need to be integrated, they are heavily interconnected. This post of A New Way to Drive Value Through The Integrated Business Ecosystem Design provides handy visuals depicting the different ecosystems that make up (my) integrated business ecosystem framework.
I have spend time on measuring success, defining the different components, exploring and extending this out. I had a recent post showing some key developments in this thinking with reference posts, moving towards providing a compelling business ecosystem case
I sought out a AI generated view from Google NotebookNL research assistants discussing why Ecosystems are really different to consider, which I found encouraging and good, easy listening.
The work in 2024 will gather even more pace in 2025
Recognizing the importance of Dynamic Ecosystems
The most exciting work in 2024 has been on the importance of recognizing Dynamic Ecosystems. I believe these are a new core of organization design.
“At the heart of this interconnected business ecosystem framework lies the Dynamic Ecosystem layer, a core, a powerful engine, the nervous system designed to actively challenge assumptions, validate strategies, stress-test our adaptation and resilience capabilities, and provoke the re-imagination of our fundamental business models.
In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, complacency and rigid thinking can harm an organization’s long-term viability. The Dynamic Ecosystem layer serves as a contrarian force, a provocateur that continually questions our established norms and pushes us to explore alternative perspectives.“
So I close out 2024 with this short summary on Why Business Ecosystems are highly valuable to think through and turn towards 2025 and my plans to support the evolving understanding of the value and importance of Ecosystems in business.
Turning to 2025.
The focus has to shift even more into engagement by building a blueprint and roll out a structured approach to thinking and designing on Business Innovation and Ecosystems.
In the work ahead for 2025, there is a lot to do and build upon.
In the pipeline are exploring sustainability for ecosystem building, comparing Natural Ecosystems as well as looking at Neutral Ecosystems, from the Gen AI perspective. In building and extracting different innovation insights, l will use AI to complement and aid acceleration in design and thinking in these areas.
There is a real need of a harder assessment and re-looking at bringing in the Ecosystem Platform Management into a different perspective than our current platform-driven focus is leading to building ecosystems, it should be ecosystem and networks are driving platforms and their unique designs. A platform readiness assessment considering the different criteria of Ecosystem needs to capture and be responsive too.
There is a real need to take a fresh look at taking both Cross-Sector Innovation Collaborations and the work I did on a four-part series on the benefits of Cross-Sector approaches, as well as Partner Ecosystems need recognition even more, as the gateway into collaboration and unlocking value in their engagement potential for growth and expansion in novel and cost controlled ways.
The Business Ecosystem Blueprint needs establishing
Specifically the expanding out the Blueprint in thinking and design for the Integrated Business Ecosystem framework. I have been working on establishing the metrics of success and pushing to understand the interdependencies and synergies of this integrated approach and why it is dynamic, adaptive and collaborative and its impact and different outcomes from taking this approach. Dynamic Ecosystems will figure strongly in this, as I see this as the emerging core.
The barriers to change need exploring
The barriers are a real challenge to overcome, be these mindsets, risk aversion, organization silo’s, that short-term focus prevalent today, cultural resistance, the threats to the existing establishment, or sunken costs, out-of-date approaches or is it time simply not invested in awareness of the need to make radical changes to today’s process in operations or just education? All need addressing where appropriate.
Exploring these barriers do need a real focus in 2025 to bring the recognition that the modern business landscape needs this total re-evaluation of the existing constraints that are significantly contributing to holding organizations back, so as to take fresh, more open collaborative thinking in finding new value, growth or fresh market opportunities that Ecosystems require.
Resetting the Voice of any journey
The customer journey through ecosystems is providing a rolling out of thinking and updating. There is a need for a new Voice of the Customer, the Voice of Partners within any Ecosystem thinking, and more importantly, that “higher” level of the Voice of Ecosystems.
Building a new toolkit for Ecosystem management
I will be continuing to look for new tools, methodologies and structured approaches to build on my recent work. Mapping, visual tools, decision trees and revisiting the minimum viable ecosystem (MVE) are advancing.
Each of these tools of Ecosystem mapping, visual flows extending a minimum viable ecosystem (MVE), establishing the metrics, exploring decision trees and complex value webs, are on the list to extend even further from my initial investigations. I will be on the search for others to aid implementation and underpin execution.
I am keen to extend out my interconnected implementation toolkit and structure in 2025.
I have a whole host of approaches here to explore and extend through deeper engagements. Of course, the integrated business ecosystem framework and how it links into the composable innovation framework I have suggested as a better basis for managing innovation in the future. Both are very front and centre to business ecosystems building. It drives the research and translation of all of the above to continue to build it out in recognition and business transformation.
Applying ecosystem thinking to sustainability really grows in importance.
The last area of need to explore in 2025 is how Sustainability and the Circular Economy gain from a Ecosystem thinking to enable a more robust addressing of these issues. I have put this under “the urgency of the sustaining future” in context and evolution.
The Formulation of an Ecosystem Business Model
Finally, in the past few months I have been moving towards outlining a Ecosystem Business Model readiness and criteria assessment and that is at a good position for early outline in 2025. This excites me on its build up, its criteria to assess and explain Ecosystems for finding value and structuring the proposition- Within this assessing the considerations by each criteria of how platforms form an important part of this readiness and model gives a deeper search for synergy and recognizing the interconnectedness required.
The increasing shift to Ecosystem Coaching and Advising.
Most importantly I will be turning increasing towards Ecosystem Coaching, Advising and Mentoring to build on this engagement emphasis. The need to provide impact from Ecosystems becomes essential for passing through the different coaching stages as a big part of any transformation.
For me as a big part of this Ecosystem work is comprehension, reduce uncertainties and anxieties, to gain a greater confidence to experiment and draw others into a trusting, highly collaborative relationship of engagement, learning and managing diversity of opinions.
My intent
I keep motivated on Ecosystems for this need in delivering a higher purpose, providing the operating and management purpose and delivery to give this
2024 was a good year of Ecosystem discovery, progress and fulfillment, now I move into 2025, gearing up for greater engagement.
** Amended from initial post. (17/12/2024)