We don’t take our skies when we go for biking and we don’t take our bikes when we go skiing.  It sounds very simple and intuitive. What would you take if you are planning to go to vacation to a planet Boron ( I made it up and the planet is made of element Boron) in a 4th parallel universe (some time in the future we may prove ourself  there are parallel universes)?

Since no body has visited planet Boron, you may take your skies or bikes  or  ski jet or new toys or all of them.  Again, it sounds simple and intuitive.   The same simple and intuitive concept applies to technology landscape. When you have clear direction on  business and IT strategies , it is straight forward to pack your technology landscape  for your business venture.  If the business/IT  strategy is not clearly defined,  it is better to have multiple options in your technology landscape.

Let us say, the business strategy of a captive finance company is to support the parent automotive company to promote the product sale through financial services to dealers and consumer. Assume that the IT strategy of the captive finance is to simplify IT landscape, reduce cost, be agile and be efficient.  In the highest level, business and IT strategy are clearly defined. For this instance, the Model T technology landscape is very suitable. Let us say the made up business & IT strategies apply to companies like BWM Finance, Daimler Finance, Toyoto Financial and etc.  They requires Model T technology landscape.

Model T –  Technology Landscape:

Build all application landscape based on one technology platform. One technology platform that supports multiple fronts like web application, desktop, desktop, virtualization, database, operating system, middle ware, collaboration, enterprise applications, backend systems. The technology platform which support all fronts is Microsoft platform. Develop every thing on Microsoft platform. It means, there is no mainframe, no Unix (- HP-Ux, SUN, AIX) , no AS/400, no Linux, no open source. End to end technology will be under one platform. It will provide significant cost advantage and  efficient from operation stand point. Microsoft platform is just an example for Model T – Technology landscape. It could be OpenSource, IBM (no desktop option), Oracle (no desktop option), AS/400 (no desktop option), Z/OS (no desktop option).  The risk is, if the platform provider changes their strategy or go under, it posses significant risk to the organization. At the same time, probability of risk becoming an issue in next 5-10 years is very low for company like Microsoft.

Model Perp – Technology Landscape

Perp is a math symbol looks like inverted ‘T’. Model perp is opposite of Model T. When the business strategy and IT strategy can’t be clearly defined for any unforeseen reasons, then model Perp is more suitable. Model Perp is to have combination of platforms in your technology landscape. It includes but not limited to open source, Microsoft platform, Enterprise resource planning software, cloud based solution, ASP, enterprise platform – Mainframe, AS/400 and etc. The risk is lower, cost is higher (cost of MIPS for mainframe is higher than cost of Intel processor to run Windows or Linux) and flexibility is higher.

If you are getting ready for your trip to planet boron in your organization, select Model Perp technology landscape. If you are getting ready to Denver for a skiing trip during x-mas holidays, just pack your Model T skies and forget your bike.