Disclaimer: This article is published in partnership with Siemens. Siemens is paying for my engagement, not for promotional purposes. Opinions are my own

A Series of Posts exploring the what, why and how of Siemens Xcelerator- part three

In three separate posts, I aim to explore the Siemens Xcelerator, firstly what it is, secondly, what it does and thirdly, this post, how it does it and why.

In this series, I felt there is a need for a deepening or exploring of what Xcelerator is all about. What are the implications and value opportunities for customers, distributors, partners, or analysts?

These three posts are “looking into” Siemens. I am looking from the outside to see the value of this launch announcement of the Siemens Xcelerator Digital Business Platform. The launch proposal offers much. The first two posts I recommend reading to provide context to this one of “how Siemens Xcelerator does it and why.”

This post is about “how Siemens Xcelerator does it and why,” from my perspective.

The stated objective: “Siemens AG has launched an open digital business platform, Siemens Xcelerator, to accelerate digital transformation and value creation for customers of all sizes in industry, buildings, grids and mobility. The business platform makes the digital transformation easier, faster and scalable.”

The real key here is the open connections between solutions and all engaged parties in the interactions and transactions.

What, why and how of the need for a B2B Digital Business Platform

The evolution of platforms needs to be thriving business ecosystems that offer a radical change in emphasis for all to collaborate around, share and build together. Achieving this requires an ecosystem mobilization and a platform strategy that delivers open technical and commercial frameworks, has a high ease of use and implementation ethos and looks to provide superior value creation and implementation.

Siemens Xcelerator digital business platform sets out to provide those three essential pillars needed 1) a thriving ecosystem of partners, 2) a growing, robust portfolio of bundled solutions to meet specific needs, and 3) a marketplace where interactions and transactions can be made to purchase hardware, software and service solutions, that are tailored to individual needs.

Bringing the Platform offering together

The depth and breadth of the collaborations and engagement undertaken between the participants will drive toward different value propositions. To specifically build a platform that seeks interaction and engagement from developers, and start-ups, seek involvement from SMEs to big tech companies, to draw in services, consulting, and integration partners, all forming the enabling environment.

Siemens Xcelerator sets out to provide the mechanisms to recombine technology and provide multiple new logic layers to build upon today’s existing business logic by bringing together the technical applications that are modular, cloud-connected and built on standard application interfaces (APIs) that adhere to the design principles of interoperability, flexibility, openness and as-a-service where offerings are constantly upgraded.

It is the rich choice provided in portfolio offering, ecosystem partners and a marketplace selection coming together that are providing the right technology and solutions that provide the robust platform to seek out information, advice, and expertise. This combination effect enables a thriving community that can explore in confidence, have levels of protection and trust and refer to user experiences to evaluate compatibility within their specific operating and business environment.

Siemens Xcelerator Community-centric approach

Ones that can accelerate the digital transformation by offering growing customization, easier, faster and scalable solutions through growing levels of cooperation and collaboration, A “go-to source” where discoveries and existing solutions become interoperable, increasingly personalized and customized to solve individual problems yet can become repeatable and scalable, assembled and disassembled to meet changing circumstances or market conditions.

The essential need for Platforms and Ecosystems in today’s business world

Ecosystems and platforms are not today’s story of partners simply selling, delivering and servicing the offering, but it is about collaborating, engaging, mobilizing, creating, and designing within a network of partners that see real value in the ecosystem, one that builds out on open, shared value models.

I repeat a quote from Peter Koerte, the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at Siemens, who recently stated in a podcast: “It’s a complex task. You need to have the hardware; you need to have software; you need services. So, nobody holds the key, nobody. So, there you go. You need to have an ecosystem that is orchestrated where you have created a portfolio delivered to our customers or to the customer to solve their problems. And that’s where we realized that Siemens very often already held the key with regards to having some of the critical components already, but not all of them. And so, we clearly said, okay, if we can bring them all together: the service providers, the software partners and the hardware – and this is very important, including the hardware – then we can make a big difference.”

Today it is suggested that 70% of digital transformations fail, so we need a different approach.

So, why do digital transformations fail? The barriers are made of several significant impediments; often of inherent inefficiencies, the fear of disrupting the traditional business model process by changing technology or existing architecture, having the constant concern of dealing with business continuity if you set about undergoing change, will the results keep that remaining competitiveness or bring about a new business positioning all contribute into the varying levels of mindset about adopting technology adoptions, and the concerns of deciding the right investments that prevail today. There is a real complexity in solutions and managing any digital transformation.

The future is emerging but in highly collaborative ways.

Today in business, the recognition is this need to be constantly redefining and improving performance, requiring a continuous evolution to accommodate the pace of technologies pace of change, coupled with the new emerging technologies of machine learning, automating data analytics, AI, Automation options and the sheers scale of data sets stored increasingly in the cloud to extract insights and fresh value.

To position today and for the future, there is the need for flexibility, adaptivity, agility and innovation. Being positioned for being stronger in response and resiliency. Adopting the organization to a constant stream of knowledge insights, combining connected learning and requiring continuous learning. All of this requires a radical change. It needs a community, a thriving, evolving ecosystem of like-minded or valued supporters to help you to adapt and change, to accelerate the digital transformation. Those who network, collaborate and co-create are better positioned to adapt and provide a more sustainable business connected and responsive.

Business today is also recognizing the value of as-a-service to support scale, take advantage of constant change in providing continued updates, and manage a business to its throughput and needs. You need as much fluidity in your assets as you can manage.

Ecosystems and platforms are better positioned to handle future dynamics.

Today, the market environment is constantly dynamic and rapidly changing, more competitive and demanding. The best chance of achieving sustainable revenue is to be highly fluid and adaptive to meet these rapid changes. In modifying and adapting to changing conditions, the key is achieving an adaptive, flexible operating environment, this requires it to be fully digitally connected, respond and adapt swiftly, and align with the right partnerships and networks, to draw down expertise and solutions. Being part of a thriving ecosystem is becoming essential to meet these rapidly changing and ongoing market conditions.

Siemens is well-positioned as a leading Industrial and Technology company in B2B solutions covering industry, buildings, grids and mobility to facilitate and orchestrate a digital business platform. Siemens has the expertise, history and trust built up over 170 plus years. The Siemens Xcelerator is designed for openness, reusability, and interoperability through a partner and customer network to solve individual customer problems.

The Three Pillars of Siemens Xcelerators Digital Business Platform

Placing software, hardware, and services in a network of partners and customers at the core of Siemens Xcelerator solutions allows innovators, developers, pioneers, and businesses of any size to come together and solve complexity in easier, faster, and scalable ways. The solutions are designed as building blocks that are basically fundamental elements, so these can be deployed across various contexts and challenges.

Solutions can be built, combined and optimized more contextually while gaining from leveraging these components built up in common open standards and defined specifications. for this, interoperability and contribution to larger solution systems, providing a plug-and-play across each other and a re-bundling effect through additional new building blocks that “build on” for continued improvements.

The bottom line for Siemens in their rationale to launch this Xcelerator digital business platform is to find solutions with partners that set about breaking down data silos and customer challenges helping companies to increase their performance, productivity, flexibility and sustainability to enable faster innovation and value creation, to transform even further on what they have today.

To succeed, you need to imagine a dynamic, living system constantly being used, explored, improved upon and having value extracted continuously; Siemens Xcelerator’s digital business platform, I feel, is aiming to be positioned as highly valuable in a B2B environment to contribute to and accelerate the digital transformation. The power of the ecosystem of partners in building a portfolio of modular solutions and providing these in a marketplace open to all offers a radically new approach to tackling industrial design as it is highly collaborative and relationship dependent.