To address the challenges of digital transformation (DT) among SMEs and the risk of “platform-dependent disempowerment”, this paper adopts adaptive learning as the core analytical lens and conducts an embedded single-case study based on the Rock service platform. Through multi-industry comparison, it develops a collaborative evolution framework of external empowerment and internal learning, systematically revealing the dynamic mechanisms and contextual variations of how service platforms enable SMEs to achieve full-cycle DT. The findings show that: (1) Service platforms are not only providers of resources and technologies but also catalysts that reshape SMEs’ adaptive learning paradigms, thereby becoming the critical external driving force of transformation. (2) Adaptive learning acts as a core mediating mechanism linking platform empowerment and transformation performance, where the dynamic alignment between learning modes and empowerment strategies across different industries and transformation stages directly determines transformation effectiveness. (3) The “implicit-explicit” dual-helix mechanism explains how platform empowerment drives implicit changes in strategy, capability, and organization, which are then transformed into explicit outcomes of business digitalization, thus building sustainable endogenous capabilities and effectively mitigating the risk of dependency-induced disempowerment. This paper not only advances the process theory of DT and its industry-specific adaptation mechanisms, but also provides theoretical and practical guidance for designing full-cycle and context-specific empowerment paths between service platforms and SMEs.