Technology Model
​Technology becomes transformative when it’s not just built to function—but architected to enable purpose, empower capabilities, and accelerate value at every turn.
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In this article:
What Is the Technology Model?
​The Technology Model is a structured representation of the technology applications and their underlying application components or services that enable the execution of Business Capabilities across the enterprise.
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The Application Model is the foundation of the Technology Model. It includes both applications (as functional systems) and their modular components or services.
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Each service is designed to align directly with a unique level-2 Business Capability, ensuring that technology investments and architecture are capability-driven and purpose-aligned.
Role in the AlignedX Model
Within the AlignedX Model, the Technology Model provides the technology enablement layer that supports the execution of Business Capabilities defined in the Business Capability Model. It ensures a clear and traceable alignment between business needs and the systems designed to fulfill them. By structuring applications into modular services mapped to specific capabilities, the model promotes reuse, agility, scalability, and modernization of the IT landscape. It also helps identify redundancy, gaps, and opportunities for rationalization across the technology portfolio—supporting strategic transformation with a flexible, capability-aligned architecture.
Figure 8. Technology Model Illustration for AlignAir
Why Is It Important to Develop the Technology Model?
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The Technology Model is essential for aligning IT architecture with business strategy. It ensures that technology applications and services are purposefully designed to support the Business Capabilities required to deliver value, drive transformation, and respond to change with agility.
Key Reasons to Develop the Technology Model
Align Technology with Business Capabilities
The Technology Model ensures that each technology component—whether an application or a service—is directly mapped to a specific business capability, enabling clear traceability from strategy to system.
Enable Modular and Scalable Architecture
By decomposing applications into services aligned to level-2 capabilities, the model promotes a modular architecture that is easier to scale, modernize, and integrate across platforms.
Support Reuse and Rationalization
It helps identify redundant or overlapping systems, enabling consolidation and reuse of services across the enterprise, which reduces costs and complexity.
Accelerate Transformation and Innovation
A clear Technology Model facilitates the adoption of emerging technologies (e.g., AI, cloud, APIs) in the context of strategic capabilities, enabling faster innovation with minimal disruption.
Improve Governance and Investment Decisions
With a capability-aligned view of applications and services, the model supports informed IT planning, funding, and portfolio management, ensuring investments are aligned with business priorities.
Enhance Agility and Time-to-Value
By modularizing services at the capability level, changes or enhancements can be made independently and incrementally, enabling faster delivery and adaptability to evolving needs.
Facilitate Business-IT Collaboration
The model provides a common language and structure for aligning business and IT teams around what needs to be built, why, and how it contributes to value delivery.
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How To Develop the Technology Model
The Technology Model defines how applications and modular services support the execution of Business Capabilities. Its purpose is to create a clear, traceable alignment between business needs and the technology ecosystem—ensuring that technology enables strategy, scales with agility, and supports transformation.
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Development Steps
Start with the Business Capability Model
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Use the Level-2 Business Capabilities as the organizing structure.
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Ensure each capability has a clear purpose and defined outcomes, which will guide technology alignment.
Identify Existing Applications
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Inventory current enterprise applications and platforms in use.
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Document their primary functions, associated business areas, and known capability alignment.
Decompose Applications into Services
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Break each application into modular components or services that can be individually mapped to specific Level-2 Capabilities.
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Each service should:
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Perform a distinct business function
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Be independently deployable or manageable
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Correspond to a single Level-2 Capability
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Map Services to Capabilities
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Create a mapping table or architecture diagram that shows:
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Business Capability (Level-2)
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Enabling Service
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Owning Application/System
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This mapping ensures clarity on which technologies enable which capabilities and identifies redundancy or gaps.
Classify Services by Function
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Categorize services into types such as:
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Core services – enable strategic capabilities
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Shared services – reusable across multiple capabilities (e.g., authentication, payment)
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Integration services – APIs, data services, messaging layers
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Intelligent services – analytics, AI/ML functions tied to specific decisions or processes
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Assess Gaps and Redundancies
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Identify:
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Capabilities without adequate technology enablement
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Duplicate services across applications
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Legacy systems that require modernization or replacement
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Align with Architectural Principles
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Ensure the model supports:
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Modularity and reusability
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Cloud readiness or hybrid deployment
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Service orientation (microservices, APIs)
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Security, compliance, and performance requirements
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Document and Visualize the Model
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Create layered architecture views showing:
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Capability-to-service mappings
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Application landscapes
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Service interdependencies
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Maintain this as a living architecture asset tied to enterprise architecture governance.
Best Practices
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One service per Level-2 Capability for clarity, accountability, and reusability.
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Use standard naming conventions to simplify service identification and integration.
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Ensure business and IT jointly validate mappings to maintain alignment.
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Adopt API-first or event-driven design patterns where applicable.