How companies can learn to operate as co-creational, adaptive, “living” enterprises

PurposeThe authors anticipate that in a post-COVID, hyper-connected and interdependent world, all businesses will inevitably have to become co-creational “living” enterprises -- organizations that purposefully learn and adapt through experiential interactions with all stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachMaps out how enterprises will need to develop “Platformized Impact Ecosystems of Engagements of Experiences” (PIEEE). These are digital platforms that bring together five key facets of the current fourth industrial revolution -- digital technology platforms, impacts of activities, experience personalization, service ecosystems and flows of engagementsFindingsIndustry 4.0 enterprises now manage a software-based value chain that must constantly learn and adapt its offerings to meet the rising expectations of individuals as they navigate through a multitude of interactive experiences.Practical implicationsMicrosoft's Health Care in the Cloud and Signify's platforms transform value for stakeholding individuals’ experiences in ways that were never possible before.Originality/valueThis article imagines a not-too-distant future in which the most successful companies conduct business with customers, partners and a variety of stakeholders on digital platforms that are so interactive, adaptive and responsive that it’s not hyperbole to describe them as co-creative “living” systems.