Andy Mulholland, Global Chief Technology Officer at Capgemini, wrote two white papers that proposed technology architectural models that were adopted by the IT industry. This interview discusses his latest white paper.

Basic Definitions of Big vs Small: Information and the ability to use it is the lifeblood of any business. With changes in technology, the way we do business is changing. Corporations learned that big, one-size-fits-all applications do not deliver business value. Big applications are inflexible, demand conformity, and are restrictive.

Contrast these big applications to e-Bay, which began as a user-driven, web-based business. It has over 106 million users today, and was built totally out of continually adding small service elements that clients wanted.

Business Intelligence: Companies must have a single version of the truth enterprise wide. That's where data warehouses come in. Compliance and business intelligence is about reliable data. And by running against one set of data, the enterprise gains one version of the truth, plus the flexibility to use that truth in many ways.

Why Move from Big to Small: We've exhausted most ways to cut costs and save money. Now we need to find ways to penetrate newer niche markets. To do this, organizations need nimble applications that operate flexibly off of a data set. This allows the company to continually evolve based on changing customer wants and needs.

Transition from Big to Small: There are three major requirements for success:

1. Decide on a business model.
2. Know how to manage compliance.
3. Pick the right strategic partners for technological help.

Read Andy Mulholland's white paper, "Moving from 'Big' Monolithic Applications to 'Small' Granular Services".