Every year, the tech world churns out a new crop of buzzwords—some stick, others fade. One that’s quickly gaining traction in digital transformation conversations is “platformization.” It’s popping up in analyst reports, boardroom strategies, and vendor decks alike. But what does it really mean? And is it just hype or a real shift in how organizations operate?
Let’s unpack this new business slang and why it’s more than just another trend.
What Is Platformization?
Platformization refers to the transition from point solutions to flexible, integrated platforms.
Platforms support a broad set of capabilities across an organization instead of single-purpose apps. Instead of stitching together dozens of tools, businesses adopt (or build) platforms that serve as unified hubs, which provide shared infrastructure, extensibility, and a consistent user experience.
Think of it as going from a toolbox full of mismatched tools to an all-in-one power tool that adapts to the job at hand.
Buzzword or Business Imperative?
It’s easy to write off platformization as an attempt to repackage "enterprise software" for a new era. But the terminology arose from a real-world need happening across industries today.
Businesses everywhere, from healthcare to financial services to manufacturing and tech, are drowning in fragmented tech stacks. In fact, the average company now uses 106 Saas apps. This high number of point solutions results in:
- Integration nightmares
- Disconnected data
- Security vulnerabilities
- Redundant costs
- Sluggish innovation
Platformization aims to solve these challenges by consolidating tools and processes into a centralized, interoperable ecosystem, reducing complexity and increasing automation and agility.
Signs That Platformization is Already Happening
Some are still skeptical of platformization. This is largely because not all “platforms” are created equal. Many were created by acquisition instead of planful development. This has led to vendors slapping a label on a suite of loosely connected tools and calling it a day. Others truly invest in shared architecture, modular components, and developer-friendly environments.
But if it were simply a fad, platformization wouldn’t already be taking hold across industries. Here are some hints it’s already happening:
- The Rise of Low-Code/No-Code
Businesses are empowering non-developers to automate workflows, build apps, and connect data on their own. This is so they don’t have to learn the ins and outs of a single point solution. Low-code or no-code platforms make it easy for anyone, from front office staff to practitioners, to complete tasks like building approval workflows or onboarding new customers without IT assistance. - Shift in Buyer Behavior
IT and business leaders are now prioritizing vendors that offer ecosystems, not just apps. Already, more than half of company leaders find point solutions for managing SaaS more difficult to manage. Instead, they’re looking for extensibility, API access, and long-term adaptability. In fact, 70% of companies now prefer a unified platform to optimize SaaS spending and automate, discover, manage, and secure their SaaS stack. - Rise of APIs and Integration Layers
APIs have become as important as the solutions themselves. Almost every SaaS product now boasts an API-first or headless architecture, leading tech companies to compete on how easy it is to integrate their products with other tools.
The proof is in the fact that API documentation and SDKs are increasingly front-and-center in product launches. Instead of simply building data connections, SaaS companies are providing a foundation for third-party developers to build on top of their existing platforms.
- Security Woes are Necessitating It
Tech sprawl is also creating adverse effects for companies’ cybersecurity posture. A recent study by IBM revealed that more than half (52%) of surveyed executives say fragmentation of security solutions is limiting their ability to deal with cyber threats. Seventy-five percent of companies that have embraced cybersecurity platformization, however, agreed they achieve better integration across security, hybrid cloud, AI, and other technology platforms.
Why Now?
Legacy systems can’t keep up with the speed of digital transformation, and maintaining a mess of point solutions is unsustainable. Platformization offers some very real benefits like:
- Faster deployment
- Lower total cost of ownership
- Improved user and customer experiences
- More scalable innovation
And for industries like healthcare, where compliance, interoperability, and efficiency are mission-critical, platforms aren’t a luxury—they’re a strategic advantage.
Streamline Your Apps in One Platform
Is platformization a buzzword? Maybe. Is it a real, necessary evolution in how organizations build and buy software? Absolutely.
Whatever you call it, consolidating your SaaS, from form and document creation apps to eSignature and workflow solutions, is a necessary move to save time and money. The biggest challenge? Finding partners you can trust to actually deliver on it. Formstack Streamline is a flexible, no-code platform that consolidates forms, workflows, documents, and eSignatures without the bloat of traditional solutions. Formstack Streamline gives IT departments a secure way to enable non-technical employees to build compliant, error-free, data-rich workflows without code.
It doesn’t matter if you’re streamlining patient referrals and registry, creating financial agreements, or facilitating new client or employee onboarding. You can do it all in one platform with Formstack. Let' chat and find out if Formstack Streamline is for you.
