Why the Digital Business Platform Is Becoming the New Enterprise Operating System

Traditional enterprise architecture separated business logic from technology delivery. That separation no longer holds. The digital business platform now mediates how services are assembled, how partners connect, how data flows across value chains, and how the organization responds to market signals. It is the runtime environment for enterprise decisions, not just enterprise transactions. Siemens' MindSphere platform shifted from an IoT product layer to a core operating environment for its industrial business units, enabling cross-divisional service bundles that generated over EUR 1B in new revenue streams by 2024. IDC's 2025 Enterprise Platform Survey found that 58% of digital transformation leaders reported their platform strategy had become indistinguishable from their business strategy within three years of platform adoption.

Transformation leaders should reposition the digital business platform from IT agenda to executive agenda — its design choices set the constraints and possibilities for everything the business wants to do next.