The importance of transitioning from standard business models to ecosystems for long-term business growth is demonstrated by successful instances of leading organizations that have developed robust ecosystems. There are a number of ways to define the term "ecosystem," and we'll look at a few of them:

• the ecosystem is defined as a group of people who engage with the business and are involved in the value chain either directly or indirectly;
• the second approach sees the ecosystem as a marketplace with a wide range of fully linked products and services to meet a variety of client needs;
• the third approach presents the ecosystem as a self-developing organization (i.e., the company is presented as a living organism), in which non-traditional (newest, innovative) management approaches, principles and tools are applied and used.

What are the factors that have influenced the transition from classical organization to ecosystem? Let's try to understand them. First of all, it is related to the emergence of customer demand for a quick access to a wide range of quality goods and services with minimal effort through simple, convenient and comfortable digital channels. The next factor influencing this transition is Generation Z agreeing to allow businesses access to their personal data to get the best product offerings and personalize communications. Another factor contributing to the transformation of traditional business models is the opportunity for business partners to freely choose future-oriented management decisions.

Well, the transition from a classical organization to an ecosystem is the result of factors such as technological growth and the changing capabilities and needs of different market players. Now let's look at what this transition means and what the differences are between classic organizations, ecosystems, and digital companies.

Let's start, for example, with the question of interaction with customers. A classic organization is characterized by interaction with customers at the point of sale or service, while a digital company has digital sales and customer service channels, whereas an ecosystem is characterized by providing a ccess to a variety of products and services for its customers in a single digital space.

Moving on, the next distinguishing feature is the level of automation. What about the classic organization? Obviously, the characteristic feature of classical organization is the low level of process automation. What about a digital company? In this case we can already talk about advanced analytics and digital end-to-end processes. And finally, what can we say in this case about ecosystem? We are already talking about digital platforms that facilitate flexible integration with business partners.

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And we can add a few more points about the ecosystems, which at the same time are distinctive features, especially the provision of a personalized customer experience, a flexible and adaptive culture, and, of course, the possibility to obtain a synergetic effect from a variety of offers in a single digital space. So, the ecosystem is a digital marketplace where customers, clients, and consumers can purchase a wide range of different products and services, and most importantly, these products/services are offered not only by the "ecosystem center," but also by third-party vendors, which certainly allows for synergy for all participants.

by Lena Shadrina