Digital Platforms for Business

Abstract

Under the influence of digital transformation, which consists in the digitalization of various spheres of human life, a new technological phenomenon arises - a digital platform. In the context of economic development, rapid changes in digital technologies and a new quality of society, modern business is based on technological digital platforms. The authors of the article analyzed the concept of "digital platform" in the context of its use in business in the context of digitalization. The current approaches to the interpretation of digital platforms proposed by various scientists are considered. It is established that a digital platform should be considered as one of the digital tools of modern business that contributes to the digital transformation of socio-economic systems, which is carried out on the basis of digital platforms that integrate economic, social and technological processes. Also, a digital platform is a virtual platform for business and a set of its users, software, hardware and network complexes, a business model of the company that implements it, which provides users with the opportunity to interact, exchange resources, goods, services or information using digital technologies at any time from anywhere in the world. It provides a basis for creating and managing various online services, and may also include tools for data processing, integration with other services and process automation. The key elements of a digital platform are: community (participants, i.e. producers and consumers); data (ensuring interaction between participants); infrastructure (services, tools, rules within the platform). The advantages and disadvantages associated with the functioning of digital platforms are identified. It is also noted that the overall success of a digital platform depends on a number of conditions: firstly, it is the intelligent management of positive network effects (simultaneous growth of suppliers and consumers of goods and services); secondly, the maximum simplification of the main procedures for interaction on the platform and the reduction of costs for all interested participants. Therefore, digital platforms are one of the most important tools in the digitalization process and are considered promising for the digitalization of business. They consist of technological, productive and communicative elements. This allows for the effective development of modern business using network platforms based on the principles of the sharing economy - the sharing economy, which consists in the acquisition, provision or shared access to goods and services, carried out using digital platforms based on the community, which has become especially relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.