IT and Armani: A match made in heaven?

The fashion industry, obviously, is segmented in a lot of ways.  For example there's couture, ready-to-wear, and off-the-rack.

Have you ever wondered why you can't figure out what IBM means by "Autonomic Computing" and how the definition seems to change every time you hear about it?  Well, that's because "Autonomic" is IBM's couture line.  People don't really buy couture, of course - and everyone involved knows it.  Couture exists to make a statement, to set a vision.  It's over the top, and unrealistic ... on purpose.  Couture is all about throwing ideas up on the wall, and seeing which ones stick.  You have to keep throwing up new ideas though, or you're not getting the value out of it; that's why it keeps changing.  But, don't ever expect couture ideas to go mainstream without a lot of changes - they will be radically toned down in any real product.  Don't ever mix up couture software with software you can actually use.

Ready-to-wear, on the other hand, is a suberb marketing ploy because it's not actually ready to wear - unless you happen to be one of the less than 0.1% who exactly matches the original design.  For everyone else, ready-to-wear really means "needs lots of tailoring and then maybe it will fit, if you're lucky".  In software, the case study for ready-to-wear is ERP, and SIs are the tailors.  Once they are done, you always hear "That looks really good on you," regardless of how well or poorly it fits.  Your mileage may vary.  Unfortunately, at least the fashion industry is honest about whether their goods are ready-to-wear or off-the-rack.  I wish the software industry was as forthright - it ends up being the job of the customer to figure this out and it's easy to make the wrong choice.

In software, the king of off-the-rack is Microsoft.  While they might dabble in ready-to-wear and occassionally couture, their bread-and-butter is off-the-rack.  That's not a bad thing - off-the-rack might not be glamorous but it sure is profitable. Windows Vista?  Sure it has nice eye-candy but it's just an OS.  Snore.  Off-the-rack is all about volume, and that volume means big money - but it also means that you're going to get something generic because there's not enough volume in specialized items to make it worth an off-the-rack vendor's time.

So, what does all of this mean?  For a vendor, it means you need to understand where your sweet spot is and focus on it.  "Focus broadly" is an oxymoron.  For a customer, it means you need to understand what your vendor is good at (not what they are good at marketing, what they are good at doing) and understand what this means when you buy their products.  When you buy couture, you're buying ideas not implementation - and those ideas will change as soon as you blink.  When you buy ready-to-wear you're going to need services along with it - the core question is how much?  When you're buying off-the-rack, you're getting something good and effective, but it's not going to be a competitive weapon - it's a commodity that everyone has.

In the end, there's a lot that the software industry can learn from the multi-level business that the fashion industry has perfected.  But, is there anything the software industry can teach the fashion industry?  Maybe.  Gartner (the definitive software fashion-show paparazzi), has the "hype cycle" which says that every technology moves to the "peak of inflated expectations" where everyone thinks it walks on water.  It then drops into the "trough of disillusionment" as people get jaded with overhype and under-delivery.  Then, finally, the technology reaches the "plateau of productivity" as people start using it for real benefit.

Bell bottoms are a perfect example of how the fashion industry also follows the hype cycle.  They skyrocketed on popularity and were outrageous in proportions.  Then they dropped off the face of the earth.  Only recently have they reached the "plateau of productivity" in a much more functional (less outrageous) form than they started.

So, Hugo and Giorgio, if you haven't already figured it out, follow the hype cycle and you will make millions.  All I want is my cut.