What type of CIO / CTO are you?

Technology has undergone a huge shift in recent years, with increased adoption of the cloud making a seismic impact. However you look at it, Technology Strategy is still founded upon the three core pillars: Business Ambition and Investment Intent, Operating Model, and Technology Landscape.

My experience now shows that this strategy is underpinned by a CIO / CTO who is either:

• Application Centric
• Cloud Centric

What does this mean? Well, fundamentally it describes a way of thinking that will determine the heart of the strategy - and how the three core pillars will be constructed. It is not conditional on the size of the organisation, and it is not conditional on the industry sector in which the business operates: it is based upon the DNA of the leadership.

Application Centric

Being Application Centric, your application software provider is at the core of everything. Strategy is built driven by the application vendor being able to deliver it as part of their portfolio (there may be more than one core vendor, depending upon the split of capabilities), and the Cloud provider is predominantly seen as infrastructure - viewed as an alternative to on-premise or otherwise privately hosted.

Cloud Centric

A Cloud Centric leader views the cloud as a massive opportunity that is significantly greater than just infrastructure. Applications are seen as just that: solutions that are part of a bigger opportunity, and need to fit in with their broad vision. They see that the providers offer solutions that can combine data from many applications, and offer engineering and technology offerings that are beyond that of individual application vendors. This may, or may not, be delivered by a single cloud provider, but the vision is all encompassing.

There is no right or wrong way to be - as both mindsets are proven to underpin great strategies.

It may be generational - and this is something that I will explore in future articles.

I will be exploring this theme regularly now - and want to leave two questions:

1. What do you think are the strengths or weaknesses of each mindset?
2. Which mindset are you?