Digital platform technology infrastructure

Can our infrastructure scale to support non-linear growth in ecosystem interactions?

This article is part of the Digital Platforms hub

Once a platform reaches critical mass of adoption, ecosystem activity may start scaling non-linearly. This is primarily observed on platforms on account of network effects, where greater ecosystem activity makes the platform more valuable, which in turn attracts further activity from the ecosystem.

A scalable architecture can seamlessly support higher workloads as ecosystem activity starts to grow non-linearly. Scalable infrastructure requires loosely coupled, modular technical architecture. Distinct functional subsystems are not strongly connected, enabling individual modules to be modified without cascading dependencies across the organization. This may be achieved by employing a micro-services-based architecture.

As the platform business scales, different subsystems may have different requirements regarding scalability. Loose coupling and modularity allows targeted modifications to be made at scale without increasing the complexity of the overall system. It also enables delegation of changes across different infrastructural teams instead of increasing operational burden with a central infrastructural team. Loose coupling across a modular architecture also enables greater resilience of the system by introducing redundancy as required. This is especially important in ecosystem use cases which spike at various points – for instance, transactions on e-commerce platforms spike in the holiday Season.