We know many stories of innovators and entrepreneurs who - often starting from their own problem or difficulty in everyday life - have created a platform, starting from nothing and fluidizing a transaction that was already possible, but at least complex. Is this the only way to create a platform? Actually, no. Even existing businesses can create a platform. Some all-too-simple examples, think of Amazon, Apple or Google who are platforms in many ways and launch a new platform from time to time. But somehow the concept of platform is written in the DNA of these companies. Is it possible for, let's say, a "traditional" company, or better, one based on a linear value chain, to launch a platform? The answer is absolutely yes and we see it with the story of Alidays. Alidays is an Italian tour operator that specializes in outgoing leisure travel. Alidays's head office is in Milan, and it was established in 2002 with the aim of offering special foreign language courses held at some relevant universities in the United States, to the Italian academic world, in an attempt to enhance their travel ethos. The company focused on leisure travel with substantial investments and considerable development thanks to the implementation of the concept of tailor-made travel itineraries for the specific needs of individual customers. The project centred since its foundation on the business-to-business (B2B) market, focusing exclusively on retail agencies. The original main product was North America, progressively extended to cover all non-European continents. The company's mission is to ‘Create unique travel experiences that will allow travellers to feel better’; travel experiences that broaden one's horizons without preju- dice, to respond to the curiosity to know the people, the stories and the places related to the journey; and a passion that enriches and makes you happy. Since its launch, the vision that Davide Catania, Founder and CEO, has pursued is to create and innovate the travel ecosystem that fosters exchange and relationships between all actors involved in the journey. The ultimate goal is to rationally and emotionally involve the ‘viaggi-attore’ (travel-actor), the protagonist, in the creation of the project. Davide said: even if Alidays is constantly growing, we feel the need to create a direct relationship with travelers, renewing and reinforcing our collaboration with travel agencies. We need to redefine the ecosystem where we operate in collaboration with travel agencies and travelers leveraging the opportunities provided by digital technologies. Davide's words are clear: they work in an industry - the travel industry - that has been revolutionized by digital technologies. Being in a protected niche, such as long-haul travel, is not enough not to look ahead and promote themselves as promoters of innovation. This is where Fluidtravel comes from. Launched in 2015, Fluidtravel emphasized this approach: A unique travel experience platform organized into categories of interests, themes and destinations, that change completely the approach of a traveler to a tour operator. The question is not where would you like to go, but what kind of experience would you like to live? Through a simple mechanisms, travelers can express the kind of experiences they would like to live – for example expressing the levels of relax, fun or daring they desire. At this point, it is the platform that offers a range of experiences that may be of interest to the traveler; once identified, they will be put in touch with the travel agency to design the trip in its operational details. From a platform perspective, this step is critical. Alidays traditionally works as a tour operator, this means that it buys from a supplier, such as hotels or area lines of services that it sells to travel agencies that sell packages to travelers. We are dealing with a typical linear value chain business. With Fluidtravel the situation is very different. Travelers come to Alidays, under the Fluidtravel brand, and receive a tool - the experience selector - that will allow them to be put in touch with a travel agency for the design and planning of the trip. The first side is the travelers, while the second side has both the experience providers available on the platform and the travel agencies. In a nutshell: Alidays goes from being a B2B provider that never comes into contact with the end user to being an intermediary between its historical customer, the travel agencies, and the end user, enabling a new meaning in the travel organization: tell me what experience you want to live, not where you want to go. The Fluidtravel story has big implications for launching a platform. First: platforms can be launched by established companies as well, rethinking their role in the value chain. Second: launching by an established company significantly reduces the chicken-and-egg paradox, at least access to either side - in this case to experience providers and agencies - comes from a previous relational network that can be used. Third: the platform concept can help established companies revisit the role of their relationships, assets or even skills, enabling strong business model innovation.
