Purpose: It is difficult for small- and medium-sized enterprises to modify themselves to achieve digital transformation; a digital empowerment platform can help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to digitalize. Therefore, it is of great significance to identify the key factors of the development of logarithmic words. Design: This study first uses the ISM method to establish a network of influencing factors, identifies key factors from the perspectives of network structure and enterprise competitive advantage, and finally conducts a comprehensive analysis using a six-quadrant matrix. Findings: Capital, talent, and data collection and analysis technology are key factors driving the development of digital empowerment platforms. Standards, accurate and continuous industry information, and efficient and sustained co-operation with empowered industry enterprises and research institutions are key factors in establishing a sustained competitive advantage. This study proposes two development paths for enterprises and two policy recommendations. Originality: (1) The history of digital empowerment platform enterprises is relatively short, and there are relatively few studies on the influencing factors of its development. (2) By employing mathematical network analysis and competitive advantage analysis methods and comprehensively analyzing key factors, this study innovates the multi-factor evaluation method.