Platform Thinking: exploiting data through platforms (Coursera)

Offered by Politecnico di Milano,
Platform Thinking: exploiting data through platforms (Coursera)

(Digital) data are often considered the new oil. Companies often exploit them building platforms, involving different sets of users that generate data – for example, enjoying a digital service through a mobile app – and other organizations that see value in those data and wish to leverage them. This module of the “Platform Thinking” series aims to assess the role of data in digital platforms.

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We are talking about companies – like social networks – that exploit data to offer personalized advertising or personalized experiences – in services like Netflix or Spotify – but even companies that offer data to external partners for other purposes, like fitness apps that share data with pharmaceutical companies or other health companies. This is a widely intriguing but also a slippery topic, given the amount of data-related scandals we lived over the last few years. Therefore, this course aims to assess the strategies and tactics to exploit data through platforms, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of creating and managing data-driven opportunities. In doing so, we will consider the ethical and policy implications – and related opportunities – to have a transparent and trustable relationship with the end-users. Finally, we will position the data within the platform thinking process.

What You Will Learn

  • To understand the role of data in the sustainability of digital business models
  • To assess the various strategies to capture value from data
  • To analyze the business environment around you to identify potentialities for a platform revolution based on data
  • To analyze the available data to apply platform thinking

Syllabus

Week 1 - Introduction to the course
Week 2 - Strategies to exploit data
Week 3 - Generating platforms through data
Week 4 - Implications of data exploitation

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