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Defining Core Foundation and How to Get It Right

To achieve strategic digital goals, Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires the involvement and integration of people, processes, and technology. Architectural flaws are exposed every time a negative interaction occurs with your application, website, phone call, or service provider. Without resolving these issues, great organizations can be destroyed. The issues, their solutions, and related aspects will be covered in this chapter, where we will be explaining the following aspects:

• Owning EA and the manifestation of an effective Core Foundation framework
• Business agility and IT value realization are complex
• Steps for getting it right the first time – core foundation
• Leadership principles and how they relate to enterprise architects

Owning EA and the manifestation of an effective core foundation framework

Even financially thriving organizations have faced massive challenges because they did not pay close attention to customer dissatisfaction and negative feedback related to interactions with customer service.

These architectural gaps have had a devastating impact on prominent companies in the past. One of the primary reasons for such inadequacies lies in the fact that their digital economic model is based on an integrated solution; however, most businesses operate around product verticals. Companies tend to define customer experience based on a certain product or service, not the overall experience with the business. These are effective approaches for creating an infrastructure that delivers a top-notch experience for target audiences:

• EA and the business must align

After careful consideration, an EA team proposes changes within the business landscape. They conduct thorough research on how a particular implementation will affect the business and to what extent it will provide capabilities that can enhance the overall system and processing workflow. Another approach to make this system effective is to divide responsibilities among various business units. EA is the bridge between functional groups; therefore, a centralized EA is the preferred option.

It is not recommended that you implement an independent EA department for every business unit. This approach is more likely to result in misalignment, inefficiencies, and potentially devastating outcomes. EA encourages organizations to engage with various stakeholders or EA that are not just technology-focused, such as application consultants or data specialists, but also business stakeholders, financial people, and risk people, and really try to involve them in the process model which would benefit the business and IT alignment far better.

• Who is accountable for EA decisions?

When plans work out well, everyone is ready to take the credit, but with a failed IT venture, everyone tends to pass the responsibility onto someone else. To avoid such a situation, where a disagreement turns into finger-pointing, companies must establish clear accountability for the issues related to business architecture. Accountability problems begin in a conference room filled with IT and strategy teams, finance departments, and software development groups. With every stakeholder on the table, differences of opinion are bound to surface. Transparency is important, but with an ineffective accountability system, things can get out of hand. In general, the EA Governance committee should be held responsible for any EA decisions across the organization, but keep in mind the collaborative efforts of architects from different lines of businesses and domains.

• The collaboration of EA with the business and organization

Communication is the key to success for any organization, and meaningful collaboration among various teams within a company ensures a positive outcome. Often, the EA department limits itself to creating comprehensive system maps with critical information that addresses all the requirements. However, with limited or no discussion with and among the departments affected by those plans, it is impossible for the business to interpret the EA’s recommendations.

Across the EA effort, other teams are held responsible and accountable for their areas of expertise – for example, software developers are held responsible for designing complex technology frameworks. Typically, the EA team works with more conceptual tasks, such as business processes, the time and talent required for the delivery of software and services, the overall business objectives, and the scope of individual IT projects. To ensure the maximum productivity and advancement of target goals within an organization, close collaboration is imperative. To increase the likelihood that IT and other internal teams will embrace and support the new architecture, EA must guide team leaders across the business, interpret complex ideas, gather feedback, and involve other teams within the design process.

• Keep strategy and operation tasks separate

The EA team is responsible for conceptual tasks such as strategy, analysis, and facilitating the implementation of prescribed changes. However, in many organizations, their duties are not limited to just these tasks. Often, they are pulled in to manage or provide direction on key issues or initiatives. For example, building the business case for a large IT transformation project or assisting the IT team with a systems-migration project.

The EA team’s extended knowledge of every department and ongoing projects, along with the problem-solving skills within an organization, are leveraged to make the right business decisions. Instead, the team’s primary focus should be on strategy building, lending a helping hand on other projects, and assisting with day-to-day business affairs as they relate to the work of the EA team. As long as operational and strategic tasks are managed efficiently without the duplication of work, the EA team will be most productive.

• Approval rights for the EA team

Organizations underestimate the power and capabilities of EA teams, and this can be seen when the leadership fails to understand how EA works or they do not give the EA team credit for achieving positive outcomes. Other departments, such as IT, marketing, and sales, tend to have bigger budgets at their disposal and are often provided room to take risks.

When leadership provides equal opportunities for the EA team to be involved in decision-making, policy change, and other processes, EA can turn out to be the most valuable asset in an organization. They have visibility to issues across the organization and can think ahead to potential issues that the business might encounter in the future. They can attract high-potential management talent that can help the organization rethink tailored IT systems. Being recognized and acknowledged as a valuable stakeholder is meaningful and motivates EA leaders and team members to continue great work.

• EA elements for accountability

A centralized system for communication, collaboration, and accountability is absolutely essential for maintaining a seamless workflow. In an organization, if each group uniquely interprets a piece of information, communication issues are bound to occur. The EA team should have full control over all IT decision-making processes while also ceding responsibility for particular elements to other business units. Teams can avoid communication errors and ensure maximum productivity by assigning an individual on the team to be accountable for the work of the EA team.

• Measure EA’s effects on the business

The need to pursue an EA approach has never been greater. EA supports a digital-forward approach with a flatter leadership hierarchy. Minor glitches and operational issues can be addressed easier and faster with this Enterprise Architecture model.

Analyzing and measuring the overall impact an EA approach has on a business is a very complex task, due to the operational methodology behind EA’s day-to-day processes. The team’s everyday affairs are dependent on individual business units, external service providers, and many interdependencies. The nature of their tasks is conceptual, which makes it nearly impossible to measure an absolute impact. However, the best way to critically analyze it is to base judgments on a single project.

For example, consider how application features overlap, the capabilities that might be required for integration testing, or the complexity or cost-effectiveness of overall management tasks.

The organization’s overarching EA strategy can be mapped using key performance indicators (KPIs) upon which each stakeholder has agreed. While the organization evolves, these strategies can be adjusted accordingly.

Having said that, EA cannot be leveraged to redesign operations when there are fewer than 50 team members. In that case, the first step is to digitize the business and pursue appropriate courses of innovation. The following diagram illustrates the transitional processes of architectural modules and the relationships between security, data, applications, and technology:

Figure 2.1 – The standards and transitional processes within an architecture model

Business design influences business strategy. That’s why it’s important to take a clear stand on responsibilities and accountability and enable teams to engage in cross-communication to ensure smooth and effective processes.

Three principles for organizational redesign

Three organizational design principles can be applied to ease the process of establishing an EA approach, support seamless implementation, and promote the achievement of maximum positive outcomes.

The following sections describe the three principles of organizational redesign.

Principle 1 – componentization – designating clear responsibilities and accountability

In light of today’s fast-paced technological advancements, every organization must be continually upgrading and revising the EA program. This is achieved by breaking down multiple elements of an organization into different components. For example, an organization might choose to focus particular attention on products, customer experience, and core enterprise processes.

It’s critical to designate clear responsibilities and accountabilities among those groups. An organization’s ability to adapt to a given change is directly related to how well the EA team can map a quick and effective redesign of the EA process to incorporate the change.

For example, typically, payment processing is built into many different products within a single organization. The resulting dependencies require building technology capabilities that transform payment processing into reusable methodologies. Payment processing is a good example of the kind of system that can be updated easily to incorporate modern advancements, which results in meeting or exceeding customer needs with minimum effort. Such an infrastructure might apply componentization (breaking software down into identifiable pieces) to leverage data strategically, and can drive additional opportunities for innovation.

In the past, EA meant redesigning whole systems, strategies, and operational processes. IT specialists and enterprise architects helped management to set goals and map business processes. However, this approach is now obsolete, as it does not support componentization. Each new component that arises from the EA process adds value when it is implemented, and an incremental approach ensures steady, reliable progress toward organizational goals.

Principle 2 – functional diversity – ensure team members reflect a wide range of perspectives

At this stage, the role of leadership defines the overall business strategy. Leaders must assemble productive teams and provide skill-developing sessions that help each member set realistic individual performance goals that map appropriately to ensure the team, as a whole, will achieve the company’s goals. Along the same lines, one of the most important aspects of embracing people, process, and technology opportunities is to empower cross-functional teams along with their clear responsibilities and accountability measures.

This approach might seem like a drastic and sudden shift from the traditional way of dealing with management matters, and initially, that might upset the smooth flow of operations. To mitigate the negative effects of such circumstances, leaders must allocate appropriate processes and technology within each component. Every individual on each team must feel empowered to speak up and be supported by leadership when it comes to processes and technology related to their functional areas of the business.

Research shows that diverse teams perform better than homogenous teams. From data scientists and software engineers to lawyers and finance experts, every team member must bring unique skill sets. Diverse talent means more than cultural diversity; it can include worldview, educational background, family responsibility, neurodiversity, and more.

Each member should stand out with diverse capabilities to boost creativity and ensure better critical thinking. Functional skills, such as product expertise, development capabilities, and user design experience, add great value to the team, too. When a diverse team of experts comes together to ensure excellent cross-functional operations within an organization, a maximum outcome is virtually guaranteed by the EA.

Principle 3 – user focus – creating a culture of continuous feedback and redesign

EA can have a significant positive influence on the overall operational strategy of the organization. When teams are equipped with the right kind of information, resources, and technological capabilities, innovation and growth make their way into the company. Leaders play a major role in shuffling the existing teams or creating new ones to make the most out of their opportunities.

In setting the foundation for EA, it’s imperative to identify new investments based on end user behavior and feedback. A redesign of the strategy is made possible based on the objectives and goals leveraging digital technologies, which advance quickly and may offer capabilities that were previously not possible.

For example, the music-streaming, audio-streaming, and media services provider service Spotify took an unconventional step, given its own opportunity in the marketplace. Its leadership team decided to bet on employees by investing in teams rather than focusing their approach strictly on strategic initiatives.

Spotify embraced a people-driven, autonomous approach for scaling the agile methodology that emphasized the importance of culture and network. This approach helped the company increase innovation and productivity by providing team members with autonomy, communication, and accountability.

The results far exceeded their expectations, and even those of industry analysts, and today, the company is an industry leader in entertainment.

Identifying the need for a foundation for execution

Every company needs an efficient operational system from top to bottom, and EA must set the foundation for execution. For some organizations, the need is critically time-sensitive, while others are less pressed and can take things slow to plan for a smooth transition.

Let’s dive into some of the risks that leaders must take, the reasons behind them, and metrics to assess the key factors in those situations. We will explore how to recognize the need to take quick and effective steps that will allow continued work on the foundation for execution.

Here are nine risks to EA to avoid, identify, and resolve.

Risk 1 – single customer queries elicit different answers

Think like a customer and imagine how frustrated you would be if individuals and departments gave you different answers to the same question. The same is true with EA. When an organization doesn’t have the infrastructure to share accurate information across functional areas, the result can be extremely damaging.

The need for a foundation of execution is absolutely urgent if customer-related matters that should have been done in one project cycle are being attempted again and again. The higher the percentage of employees’ total time spent on rework, the greater the need for action.

Risk 2 – new regulations require a major effort

The organization must comply with ever-evolving government regulations. Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange underwent major processing and operational strategy upgrades in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/531781-why-a-sarbanes-oxley-update-is-needed-to-protect-our-financial/), a US law that mandates financial reporting and record-keeping practices for corporations.

The legislation was a trigger for many companies to implement the foundation for execution to streamline financial management. In 2005, large companies spent 15% of their IT budget on measures related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

The cost of regulatory compliance can be reduced with an EA foundation for execution by creating a capability to access data on a recurring basis. A company is in urgent need of action if more than 15% of its IT budget has been allocated to fulfill regulations.

Risk 3 – agility challenges and unprofitable growth initiatives

The operational processes within an organization have a certain workflow that is difficult to change after a merger. Developing new capabilities might take longer than expected when the team cannot leverage an existing business strategy.

Using an outdated system instead of digitizing the infrastructure delays profitable outcomes. So, if an organization applies existing capabilities for a new strategic initiative and those initiatives are profitable, there’s no urgent need for action.

Risk 4 – IT is consistently a bottleneck

Usually, companies follow the traditional method of implementing IT processes that are carried out through a two-step exercise:

1. Communicating a business strategy
2. Building the IT infrastructure accordingly

In such environments, IT is a point of congestion, rather than a strategic asset, and the implementation of a new system to facilitate a strategic initiative can take up to 2 years. By that time, there would be dozens of new innovations within the same industry. Therefore, tasking IT with the entire EA initiative will, almost certainly, lead to unnecessary delays in implementation and challenges in keeping up with the modernization of IT infrastructure happening both within and outside the organization.

Transportation and logistics company UPS creates new customer service updates using information and feedback from current stakeholders to ensure added value every 90 days. The need for urgent action in an organization is crucial if it takes longer than 12 months for projects to deliver in an efficient manner.

Risk 5 – different platforms for the same task

Would you pay for 20 different platforms that perform the same function, or work toward enhancing the capabilities of a single platform that integrates with every other system? The latter approach is more realistic and practical, so it’s clearly the right way to proceed.

Yet, there are hundreds of companies that operate on multiple order-entry systems, and still, others have more than 30 different ways to pay customer benefits. Not only are the operational costs huge in these situations, but the time and effort that goes into keeping these platforms going are not worth the outcome.

The high cost of redundant systems and the risk of inaccurate data for compliance regulation and reporting lead to damaging outcomes. The desire for a variety of systems simply doesn’t justify the expense that follows. So, if an organization is running multiple platforms to execute the same task, it doesn’t add value. In fact, it will undermine the foundation for execution, and at some point, there will be an urgent need for action.

Risk 6 – critical information for decision-making is unavailable

No matter how big your warehouse is, or how extensive and comprehensive your data management system is, unless they are effective, they are useless. There are companies that have developed million-dollar software to streamline their everyday business affairs, but either the right information is unavailable or the facts and figures are not accurate.

The role of the EA decision-maker is extremely important here, along with a strong foundation for execution. They can use the right data to make the appropriate decisions while leveraging standardized processes. Your case for action is urgent if the decision-makers within your organization are unable to make effective choices on the same set of data every day.

Risk 7 – employees move data from one system to another

When a company pays a fortune to set up hardware and software to ensure maximum efficiency, what’s the point of it if employees are manually moving data between systems? After all, this is why organizations spend millions of dollars on technology and software.

Above all, in such cases, the risk of error is extremely high, and employees’ valuable time is wasted. Most leading companies have transitioned to artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and robotic process automation (RPA) systems that require little to no human interaction. These systems perform security measures, data compiling, storing and analyzing, inventory management, centralizing the whole purchasing process, and more.

As an example, Hewlett-Packard printers can reorder cartridges automatically when the toner runs low. That process is IoT, and it doesn’t require human intervention at any level. Most digital-forward companies execute half of their sales electronically. An organization can compare its processing with the existing percentage to see whether its system might require action.

Risk 8 – senior management dreads discussing IT agenda items

Almost all large, multi-department organizations have committees that look into issues related to their assigned area (e.g., finance, resource allocation, IT, hardware, and hiring).

Risks can be spotted here when only the senior executive committee deals with IT governance, setting the foundation for principles and investment priorities. The problem here is a lack of understanding and interest among executives regarding IT matters. When this risk is in play, these meetings might appear to be boring to these leaders, and/or they might not understand the IT needs of an organization. Growth initiatives are at risk when these problems are present in an organization.

On the other hand, companies with effective CIOs who exhibit a dedicated commitment to these agendas thrive because they are focused on strategic matters. An organization is in urgent need of action when the senior committee responsible for IT-related decision-making is ineffective.

Risk 9 – uncertainty about positive outcomes from IT investments

If you have to think about whether or not IT is offering good value, it’s likely the answer is no. While investing money, effort, and valuable resources in a project, leaders must make sure to set measurable goals. By the end of a quarter or a year, if they are unable to measure the outcome, the whole effort may have been a waste.

It is important to devote attention to ongoing projects to ensure they are on track and are delivering positive outcomes and value for the business. Part of that effort to recognize value is being aware of all internal matters related to IT and finance.

To cater to the previously mentioned risks and smooth flow of processes, clarity of the requirements and the consistent analysis of the results of architecture initiatives help ensure strategic value from IT. A company where senior-level management can describe the EA is in safe hands. However, an ineffective core foundation can lead to devastating consequences. In such circumstances, EA plays a major role in acting as a bridge between business groups. An organizational redesign could be an option, but a few principles should be considered, as mentioned previously. Before becoming invested in infrastructure, setting measurable goals and working toward them can generate a huge positive impact. 

Complex business agility and IT value realization

The need for business agility can never be overestimated, as agility makes it possible to respond to any type of enterprise change as quickly as it happens. Being able to adapt to market changes by opting for modern technology sets the right foundation for an agile organizational process.

For some, this process can be slow and steady; however, other organizations believe in rapid transition. This adaptation is facilitated by modern tools and digital solutions that help decision-makers take the right steps. The accurate and readily available data is reported and analyzed so that it can be leveraged for the business agility process.

Digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers. Depending on the size of an organization, the ratio between the extent of digital transformation and the outcome could vary.

The following list of business agility statistics as derived from a thorough analysis and demonstrates the percentage of businesses that embraced the agility model and the true value of the process. Moreover, the statistics reflect the challenges that companies encounter during the transition:

• The majority (71%) of businesses have opted for the business agility model. However, 45% indicate that breaking down the silos between business and IT has been the driving force for their shift toward agility. The process is impactful to a great extent but can be a bit challenging when it comes to abandoning traditional practices.
• Some decision-makers are so accustomed to their legacy procedures of conducting business affairs that any kind of change seems uncomfortable to them. A survey of employees found that, in 35% of cases, the most common obstacle to digital transformation was the CEO. The advancement of technology and growth initiative suggestions simply do not mean anything to these leaders. However, 56% of CEOs who welcome modern shifts in technology report that digital improvements have led to increased revenue.
• An organization’s culture defines the pace at which growth initiatives are executed. Most (59%) professionals find it difficult to facilitate any kind of advancement. According to them, culture and performance management are the key challenges in their shift toward agility:
  • 81% of organizations started their agile transformation within the last 3 years.
  • 70% of businesses want to integrate both business- and IT-enabled agile transformation in the next 3 years.

Organizational agility is not just an essential element to keep moving forward toward increased revenue and customer satisfaction. Another undeniable aspect of this transformation is the capability to withstand turbulent markets, competition, and other forces. The companies that have a weak EA find it difficult to stand tall when the ground shakes. Conversely, the ones that are able to predict new market trends and customer behavior can plan their strategies accordingly. They are prepared for the worst system shocks and use these tough times to their advantage.

Transitions leading to a future state can be overwhelming for the business and IT departments of many organizations. However, the decision-makers can make the whole process bearable by prioritizing excess spending. The focus must be on satisfying customer expectations and advancements that position a company well for long periods of growth.

To ensure optimal outcomes from this infrastructure, business leaders can improve collaboration inside and outside their enterprise, and align interdepartmental objectives and performance measures with the overall strategy. Following the establishment of an effective and seamless flow of information across the organization, teams should put in place an automated knowledge-sharing platform to operationalize processes to share that knowledge.

The importance of realizing value

What’s the journey all about if there is no end goal? Similarly, when an initiative is implemented and investments are made to achieve a strategic mission, the possible outcomes are measured.

The role of the leadership is to set the target and expectation of a certain implementation; then, the project is handed over to the team assigned to implement it. The team works to deliver while following the set schedule and allocated cost. Their primary focus is to maintain the flow without the day-to-day concerns regarding the larger business outcomes their work will enable. Leaders can educate teams about the business benefits of their work. When teams don’t understand how their work fits into the larger picture, this results in multiple challenges that could interrupt the success of the process.

Poor governance, ineffective communication, the failure of teams to collaborate, and poor adoption are some of the leading challenges that teams face. Moreover, delays in mastering operational efficiencies are, typically, rooted in processes, roles, and strategies that are out of sync.

The third parties who provide an organization with tools or solutions can have insightful opinions on how to utilize them. Not engaging with them to leverage their expertise on a particular matter can have negative outcomes. Companies that are unable to adopt modern work cultures and change resources based on new market trends will suffer from poor operational readiness. To garner maximum outcomes from business initiatives, value realization is crucial.

How can teams support the realization of value in their investments?

An impactful organizational and governance structure sets the foundation for the effective coordination of stakeholders to align their common business goals. The realization of goals is the first step in making efforts toward success. How these goals are managed largely depends on how well the business vision is in sync with the investment, and both have a huge impact on the outcome. A clear direction on measurable achievements, how each stakeholder executes their assigned tasks, and appropriate and timely steps in the case of a deviation define the realization of the goal for any project.

These key elements come together to boost the capabilities of business infrastructure to lead the team effectively by making correct and timely decisions. A performance management system then leverages these elements to measure and monitor investment outcomes.

Within an organization, the focus must be on the efficiency with which services are delivered. Being productive with available resources enables teams to pursue initiatives that add value. The effectiveness of these services is measured at the business level, where the focus is on user experience. At the strategic level, the priority must be identifying and adapting to changing business needs based on market trends. It measures how sensibly the growth opportunities have been leveraged.

Companies run on data and statistics to calculate potential outcomes that can be compared with past achievements. However, when goals are set based on that data, without any measurable figures, the business operations won’t have a clear direction or management. This is the kind of compromised infrastructure that can lead to devastating results.

Adapting to unique models, tools, and strategies requires a hands-on grasp of each and every IT solution. A fast-paced, complex business transformation requires the proper guidance and management aid that comes from EA.

In general, there is a lack of awareness about EA benefits realization. The value this offers to organizations and the ease of transformation that follows are huge contributions. Developing an EA value realization model using the EA conversion process, the EA use process, and the EA competitive process can help realize the benefits. It will lead to the identification of factors that could influence the value realization process, too.

EA value realization model

The EA value realization model eliminates the perception that EA funding will always prove to be profitable no matter how an EA initiative is handled. Organizational performance is a huge factor that influences the overall process. It sheds light on the complex relationship between EA and organizational performance. Furthermore, assessing the organizational conditions that facilitate EA business value realization can be accomplished using this model.

A number of elements within an organizational structure have a strong impact on the effectiveness of the conversion process, such as the faith of management within the system, effective communication, EA goals, vision, and governance. The way EA assets are represented and integrated with the existing practices has a major influence on how these assets are utilized.

To better understand the process of EA value creation, we are separating it into interrelated categories and smaller, more manageable pieces. This research puts us on the right path but is simply a stepping stone toward a more extensive exploration. More specific and in-depth research is required to learn about EA funding, activity details in the EA conversion process, issues, and the interactions between the conversion factors.

With the study of EA outcomes and value, not only will teams be less likely to experience a massive failure, but the risks and potential outcomes will be easier to anticipate. Keeping track of all of the actions taken by decision-makers based on the project plan and holding them accountable is an effective way to move forward. That way, all missed milestones will be clearly reflected in the action plan.

Value realization management

The urgent need for efficient value realization management is often understated when it comes to the program structures of most businesses. Value mapping is an absolutely essential step, and it offers a simple, convenient, and powerful infrastructure for result-oriented management. The following steps make the process adaptable for teams:

1. Involve stakeholders in each and every aspect of the business development process. It makes them feel empowered enough to be motivated. Apart from that, they can be held accountable for the vision. Stakeholders’ commitment should be taken into consideration as potential savings drivers and socialized objectives. Involving stakeholders is one vital way to ensure extraordinary business outcomes. Moreover, a value map is an essential part of the contracting process.
2. Align and link the value map with the project plan prior to the beginning of the process. Without proper collaboration on business goals and the value map, the realization of value is unlikely. Value realization proceedings go on for a set period and increase the chances that every stakeholder will be satisfied with the project. Toward the end, a team gathers to analyze whether the transformation was worth all of the effort and to determine whether the company achieved a valuable outcome.

Failure can have varied causes depending on multiple factors, but the most common reason could be the inability of the team to adapt to new technologies in a timely manner. If the business requirements and development delivery are poles apart, the results are most likely going to be catastrophic. The constant evolution of business ideologies and market trends makes it hard for most organizations to catch up, which leads to them no longer being relevant.

Incremental updates and changes in products and services should be part of the investment cycle for the continued management of business benefits. If the initiative turns out as expected, it’s a win-win for all parties; however, for partial success, the plan can be revised with the changes based on data.

Role of enterprise architects in the transformation process

Being the biggest stakeholders of an IT landscape, enterprise architects have insight into all aspects of the business. Hence, they play a major role in the transformation process. The ability to anticipate and predict the possible outcome of implementation is essential for tailoring the decision-making process. EA recognizes the true value of the IT landscape that leads to a business’s success or failure. Business trends and customer behavior constantly change, and based on these innovations, the everyday operations, customer experiences, and direction in which the business grows also change. Enterprise architects can analyze and assess the impact that these changes have on any business in the long run to improve the transformation process.

Let’s go through a few important roles EA plays when it comes to a business transformation process:

Figure 2.2 – The role of EA in business transformation

Extraordinary customer experiences

Today is a modern age of digital innovation, where the customer is the ultimate decision-maker. EA can help organizations analyze the path customers take to interact with them, what they find interesting, and where they abandon their contact. Mapping the customer journey is one of the most common methods by which to see an organization from the customer’s perspective. Designing a strategy that will engage customers and lead them to make a purchase can only be done by being intrigued with their journey. Customer experience can be improved by redesigning the strategy, enabling new services based on customers’ choices, and adopting modern technology to communicate with customers. Automation is a key element to ensure a better customer experience. Technology can help organizations meet customer needs in a much more convenient and hassle-free manner. Enterprise architects within a company can come up with a plan to take things to a new level by helping people with an adaptability mindset about innovation. Their business understanding and analysis of the data can be leveraged to speed up the process of business transformation.

Improved agility to speed up time-to-market

Agile processes lead to an effective flow of work and smooth internal and external operations. Not only does this lead to a productive work culture, but it provides more time for the decision-makers to indulge in more important matters such as strategy, innovation, and growth.

Based on that, a major chunk of the managerial lot of leading companies aims to change or expand their agile processes in technology and process improvements in the near future. The less time a company spends on marketing new products, the greater the window they have for coming up with ideal customer-focused initiatives based on data and analytics. It’s a critical step in today’s nonstop, ever-evolving digital world.

No matter how efficient and customer-centric their approaches are, organization leaders need to be alert at all times to become aware of and consider the organization’s responses to modern trends. The changes in the industry are almost instant, and sometimes, they might take leaders by surprise; however, those who can predict changes and adapt their strategy accordingly will be equipped to handle these matters brilliantly.

Modern industry leaders who plan for the future have based their processes on agile development, as it is the only practical and powerful way to increase delivery speed. Above all, the agile methodologies of operating businesses offer great flexibility in how a company responds to fast-paced changes and how each and every stakeholder embraces the transformation. Enterprise architects set the foundation for these changes by offering a strategic view, operational guidelines, and functional methods to development teams that work in silos. Often, these teams adapt to and rely on their own best practices and capabilities to lead the way for the ongoing evolution of the industry.

Investing in advanced technologies

The EA plays a primary role in facilitating a seamless process to assess the need and adoption of new technologies. Organizations that embrace transformation by adapting to new, sophisticated, and progressive models are likely to do better than those who do not, and they are likely to win on the competitive front, too.

By leveraging a successful digital transition, companies that aim for a leadership role within their industry go for disruptive technologies, such as IoT and machine learning techniques. Adapting to modern tools and techniques plays a vital role in ensuring an organization retains resourceful employees with diverse sets of skills.

With constantly evolving digital devices, software, and trends, companies must continuously evaluate opportunities to work smarter, not harder. It’s the only way for an organization to create and maintain a competitive advantage over other industry leaders, as the impact of emerging technologies on businesses can create massive opportunities. Leveraging next-generation tools and technologies can offer organizations an advantage when considering future strategies, too. Technology can improve more than products and services – it can enhance an organization.

Compliance with data privacy regulations

The digital world runs on data that has been collected directly or indirectly in the course of everyday business. Organizations leveraging opportunities with data while complying with regulations is essential for running smooth and legal operations.

In today’s modern digital world, data is undoubtedly an organization’s most valuable asset. The importance of its potential cannot be underestimated, as it can facilitate seamless operations and surface new opportunities, too. It allows companies to take advantage of emerging technologies that can accelerate the process of digital transformation and improve customer experience on a wider scale. While establishing the importance of data, it is crucial to consider regulatory compliance requirements and data governance aspects.

Cyber security incidents are on the rise, and they put any kind of data at continuous risk of being stolen, lost, or used for illegal purposes. To address these issues, governments around the world have justifiably imposed restrictive regulations to protect individuals’ data privacy and security. As a result, every organization must plan its IT roadmaps and build its strategies around these regulations to protect the individual’s identity.

EA works toward improving each and every aspect of the business; however, there are certain areas that top the list. The business strategy that is focused on enhancing the customer service and technological capabilities of the organization delivers the best outcomes. Let’s go through each of these factors and determine their importance, their role in the operational workflow, and the possible outcomes they facilitate.

Improving customer experience, digitizing processes, and achieving operational excellence

Customer experience is tightly interwoven with digital capabilities. Companies with a state-of-the-art, modern setup and streamlined IT infrastructure are likely to offer a better customer experience.

Consumers face an overwhelming number of options when it comes to products and services and the platforms where they can purchase them. A company’s digital experience must be extraordinary to engage and win over a visitor. The relationship with the customer doesn’t end when they make a purchase; customers remain in an organization’s database.

Companies can use data to inform and entertain customers on topics related to their products of interest. Keeping customers engaged after a sale by leveraging digital capabilities to offer communications, such as email newsletters, online surveys, and product review opportunities, can enhance customer experiences and improve sales. It’s important to always be mindful that an unhappy customer can easily damage a company’s reputation through social media and can conveniently switch to another provider.

Customer experience is the highest priority when building a business strategy, but operational excellence, implementation, the execution of initiatives, and increased productivity are the next priorities. In cases where an employee is managing a complex query, dealing with a frustrated customer, or handling a large returned order, having the tools and processes to take the best approach can make or break a brand’s reputation.

Mapping the current IT environment to create a better future strategy

Every company has technology applications that departments rely on to maintain smooth day-to-day operations. Every aspect of an organization is dependent on network technology, so creating a comprehensive inventory of applications is one important way to assess capabilities and plan for future strategic initiatives. Multiple frameworks and tools can be used to assess, maintain, and analyze this inventory, while considering factors including application life cycles, costs, deployments, exchange flows, and impacts on the business.

IT specialists and other stakeholders must be able to access this data and understand it for better decision-making. One way to support better decisions is to design the inventory to be as comprehensive as possible, including roles, processes, locations, business capabilities, vendors, and other key factors.

Operational gaps can be filled using these inventory maps that reflect the business capabilities of the organization. This is the data used by enterprise architects to conduct objective and subjective analyses via automated questionnaires for stakeholders, who provide information to help assess the value, technical efficiency, and business fit of the applications they use. By the end of these analyzing exercises, enterprise architects are able to list all the applications that are consuming an organization’s resources and rank them according to their importance and value, consolidating scores and cross-referencing KPIs. The result helps determine which resources have been the most fruitful in the past, what should be included in the future strategy, and how the IT team should approach applications that are in use.

Digital transformation works hand-in-hand with innovation, so for organizations that are lagging behind, it is the best way to catch up. Often, there is a conflict between industry leaders when it comes to IT systems and strategic business initiatives. Every company has its unique objectives, so each plan must also be unique. Too often, organizations fail to understand the impact of changes on the project scope, time, or budget, especially in agile environments. The resources that the team leverages to reach the ultimate goals should be well aligned with the business strategy. If not, the teams will not be able to respond to the needs that require innovation.

To avoid such drastic situations, EA provides the right approach for thriving businesses. Getting a clear understanding of the business objectives is the first step toward an efficient business architecture. Enterprise architects evaluate current business capabilities based on their engagement with business teams to map and understand how they can change over a course of time. This exercise helps them determine which capabilities the organization should work on in the coming years and which customer segments need a revised strategy.

Enterprise architects define the course of action for the future while ensuring that the IT infrastructure is in sync with the business capabilities. Mapping the current IT environment and setting the foundation for new IT architecture is how they do that. The map helps make it clear which IT resources are crucial for the business development as the company moves forward and buckles up to meet new challenges.

EA eases the process of collecting, accessing, and understanding the data that helps the governance process. Organizations are represented through data inventories created by enterprise architects, based on semantic models. Essential facts and figures are extracted from company resources and used to map business strategies, processes, and IT infrastructure.

Tying business data with a data dictionary can be automated to create the basis for tracking business data lineage. That way, the architects are enabled to analyze the impact of a potential change that might happen in near future, bearing in mind new industry trends. Streamlining digital transformation efforts prepares an organization for market changes and helps leaders plan accordingly.

New regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data privacy laws, have accelerated companies’ compliance processes. The documentation of GDPR and the impacts on their applications can be streamlined. Letting authorities know that personal data is being processed with all regulations under consideration is essential. GDPR practices have made compliance easier and simpler. With this workflow, data privacy officers (DPOs) can easily document GDPR processing activities by reusing applications created by enterprise architects. Detailed information about business processes and applications is at their disposal to review and analyze, including diagrams, flowcharts, and other detailed properties.

Enterprise architects leading digital transformation

Some may believe enterprise architects are out of touch with the realities on the ground, where day-to-day work gets done. They believe enterprise architects live in a bubble, where they plan on ideal situations and scenarios that are hard to implement in reality. They might even claim that enterprise architects find it difficult to demonstrate the business value that results from EA because they don’t know enough about core business operations.

However, in agile environments that are common among most businesses in today’s modern digital age, enterprise architects are the business partners who drive and facilitate digital business transformation. They anticipate and predict market innovations and customer behavior changes and plan for the future accordingly. By working closely with agile teams, they contribute significantly to digital transformation initiatives to put the company on the right path:

• Enterprise architects not only make strategic recommendations for the most effective business outcomes, but they continue to assess business opportunities throughout the quarter or a set period. They are the ones who keep in touch with emerging technologies and the latest business trends to evaluate the potential long-term impact. Constant changes in the market and relevant industries have an impact on IT systems, and sometimes, this results in the building of an entirely new ecosystem. These changes are anticipated by the enterprise architects. Their role as business partners exhibits and represents the value that is rooted in the collaborative efforts of people, modern processes, appropriate applications, and productive infrastructure.
• Each company, whether it’s on purpose or not, is in a race toward ultimate success. Making valuable investments and spending time, effort, and energy to adapt to and adopt emerging technologies is the best way to stay in the game and compete with other companies.
• According to a Forrester report, 86% of respondents from leading companies believed that technology is the most important factor in driving business strategy. Today, enterprise architects help companies understand and analyze the impact of emerging and strategic technologies. They help determine the value that digital business platforms can deliver in the modern enterprise. They have their eyes out in the market and are in a better position to anticipate new trends and opportunities.
• Enterprise architects are well-equipped to recognize and communicate market trends to decision-makers. They are likely to recommend the adoption of new technologies that are potentially valuable, especially those that are comparatively new or those that could prove to be disruptive in the marketplace. Based on these suggestions, IT leaders begin to brainstorm, analyze, and determine the impact that such technologies could have on the business and figure out whether they will move their company ahead of their competitors or not.
• It’s important to note that an emergent EA design can present a number of challenges, as the development teams are often unaware of broader business goals, technical resources, and business standards. However, agile teams are empowered and well equipped to design the architecture they need for a streamlined technology workflow based on the 11th principle of the Agile Manifesto: “The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.”
• In the past, enterprise architects have been accused of designing “architecture for the sake of architecture.” They were considered detrimental to business growth. The reality is the opposite, and the business world has taken note and recognized their value. Enterprise architects are an organization’s most influential leaders, with the ability to foresee the future and make recommendations based on it. They are responsible for growth initiatives and implementations. They leverage company assets and resources to explore new business opportunities by paying close attention to market trends. The value they bring to their organization is what sets the pace for business success:

Figure 2.3 – The enterprise architect’s role in digital transformation

Taking the first step is almost always the hardest part in any field of life, whether that step is to establish a brand-new business, enroll in an online course, or build a new house. The beginning is the toughest phase. The same is true with EA.

Steps for getting it right the first time – core foundation

Companies that are new to EA can find it both complicated and overwhelming. Some might not be able to comprehend the impact that transformation will have on business outcomes.

Setting up the right foundation for the overall success of EA can also be a challenging task. And what happens once the initial planning phase is over? What is the next phase? Setting up the right strategy, making a plan, and then sticking to it will ensure the best outcomes.

Here is a step-by-step process to see how all of this works, starting with communication.

Get every stakeholder’s input on matters that may or may not have an impact on the transformation. Establishing a clear understanding of the real purpose and motives behind EA is one of the most essential steps in the whole process. If the team is not aligned on the importance and value of EA for business productivity, the process might not offer the most effective results. Collecting the data of all the company resources that the teams utilize for their day-to-day business affairs can help evaluate the impact.

Once the strategic steps are nearly done on paper, sharing them across functional areas to ensure everyone is on the same page is absolutely essential. That way, every stakeholder can communicate their concerns, identify any loopholes, and address issues that can be fixed before the process begins. It makes sense to begin with practical matters and get started with the actions to bring about the actual transformation.

Here are essential steps for building the right core foundation for the first time to ensure a successful EA:

• Evaluate any current foundation driving execution

Often, companies stick to outdated methods of articulating business strategies and then aligning IT. These processes have worked great in the past, but today, with so many innovations and digital advancements, companies might discover that IT is a bottleneck rather than a strategic asset. Generally, any new initiative in a company takes around 2 years to operationalize. Employees need time and space to get used to a new system to establish a strong understanding of the updated way of running operations. To implement a new system to support a strategic initiative, teams can give it at least a couple of years before evaluating the potential outcome. The problem with this infrastructure is that while the company spends time getting used to it, there can be many new advancements in the industry.

Top IT and business management buy-in is ideal for an efficient management EA initiative. The business functions and processes must be described using relevant artifacts and should be in line with the scope. In other words, business and IT must be on the same page to define the scope of the EA. To ensure the maximum productivity of EA, the content needs to have certain characteristics that are well in sync with modern industry trends.

• Evaluate the operating model

Every initiative needs a blueprint to define the direction that a particular project is going to take. For the team to follow guidelines and align to a plan, there must be proper documentation to put them on track. When it comes to the digital business world, this guideline is called an operating model. It is known to be the first layer in the foundation for execution in EA. This comprehensive model defines the business process of standardization and explains the need for an integration that enhances the value for a particular set of customers or other target audiences.

Put simply, the operating model is a stepping stone of the business strategy as it indicates how the process takes its course, the ultimate goal, and the value that will be created, delivered, and captured by the business units at the end of it. Enterprise architects are capable of analyzing the business processes, system linkages, and data to support every aspect of the business model. There are certain elements in the business model that play a significant role in determining the operating model, including customer segments, key activities, resources, and partners.

All of these elements come together to provide a map that helps identify the current potential and capabilities of an organization. This mapping is conducted over a course of time where stakeholders sit together and evaluate the process. Data and characteristics from the business model are provided to facilitate the mapping matrix. This mapping process and criteria work well to evaluate the enterprise’s particular business model and innovation parameters.

• Define processes and goals for the EA

Put simply, the primary objective of EA is to create a roadmap or blueprint to put the organization on the right track for a transformation process. A set of valuable information and company data that must be included are IT assets and business processes. Without the background knowledge of the company’s resources, determining a future can be pretty tough.

Enterprise architects are well trained to analyze data from the past and design a strategic plan to exploit the current capabilities of an organization and bring change. Other common goals include promoting team alignment and standardization. The best way to do that is to ensure each and every stakeholder is aligned and the communication between and across the teams is smooth. Ensuring a unified environment across teams and organizations is crucial to this process.

As part of the EA process, an organization’s structure, roles, and responsibilities are outlined. EA models offer an overview of an organization’s structure and provide a long-term perspective. Business processes, including information systems and technologies, are described. New technologies and processes are also adopted.

The enterprise architect is a guiding agent to help an organization plan its goals and work toward achieving them over time. The use of available resources and technology to fulfill these aims is also directed in the guidelines. The following is a list of the general goals of any EA:

• Effectiveness

Setting realistic yet highly motivating goals is what EA is all about. The core foundation establishes a workflow for essential and accurate processes by overseeing each and every aspect of the operations. Often, the blueprint and roadmaps define the guiding principles on how to achieve the ultimate goal and produce the deliverables set out by the business.

• Efficiency

A company has a certain set of resources that are exploited in the most productive way to keep the business operation going. The enterprise architect offers a plan and determines the ability to reuse these resources. By eliminating redundancies, they ensure the best contribution of each employee’s resourcefulness set out in the identified EA framework. Business process modeling and workflow mapping can produce greater collaboration.

• Agility

Multiple procedures being carried out to achieve a single goal can be a devastating approach. But the enterprise architect specializes in combining legacy technology with modern ones and facilitates the adoption process. In addition, their business model assesses any technology risks with the constant monitoring of metrics and analytics. This explains the need to identify when and how to evolve IT in alignment with business goals.

• Continuity

Consistency is the way to ensure great outcomes. Especially when it comes to big corporate organizations, every plan, strategy, or initiative is an ongoing process that takes years to turn into a fruitful decision. Maintaining mission-critical business operations is crucial for businesses because the risk of teams breaking down or management losing interest in an initiative is quite common. The enterprise architect helps ensure continuity through the standardization of business and IT processes.

Moreover, to meet the business and IT needs of the organization, the EA development process integrates different viewpoints within an organization.

EA management process

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) enables and drives business value using EA. It defines the direction that an organization needs to take for smooth and seamless implementation, strategy building that ensures optimal outcomes, and governance to plan and set the right roadmap for the company’s vision, goals, guidelines, policies, and principles.

The EAM process has multiple roles within an EA:

• It defines the right path for activities related to EA. All of the stakeholders within an organization must take the direction set by EAM.
• It works as a bridge between business strategy and EA when it comes to communication, collaboration, and maintaining the connection.
• It leverages the core values of EA for the process of business transformation.

Furthermore, communications, monitoring, control, and other activities that take place on a recurring basis are managed under the EAM process to ensure the development and deployment of EA support and the delivery business value.

EA governance process

All the information related to the ongoing processes is required to be shared and evaluated across the board. This is where the EA governance process plays a vital role. Through this process, teams identify, manage, audit, and disseminate all of the information needed to manage the EA. Apart from managing and controlling, there are hundreds of processes going on within an organization that must be monitored, such as architecture principles, policies, decisions, recommendations, deliverables, contracts, and agreements. The EA governance process ensures that they are being executed correctly at the appropriate times.

Project engagement process

The relationship between EA and the delivery of projects holds special importance in the EA process, as it provides direction to anticipate business changes. Additionally, new market trends that might emerge based on customer behavior within the next 3- to 5-year period are predicted.

The EA model is the primary source of information that sets the foundation for individual delivery projects. By the end of delivery projects, the solution architecture that has been crafted is linked back to the current EA.

EA compliance process

Compliance with rules, laws, and regulations is assessed against the EA assessment criteria, standards, qualities, service-level agreements, and architecture requirements. This complex yet crucial process is conducted in multiple stages and the tasks that are performed are detailed next.

Strategizing on priority

In today’s constantly evolving digital world, businesses must stay ahead of innovation to keep their place in the race. EA leaders play a vital role in helping organizations catch up with the latest trends. They cannot rely on legacy architectural practices, as they are not relevant today. EA leaders apply their critical capabilities to define a new vision for EA for the companies and how it would be beneficial.

Enterprise architects should focus their time and resources on prioritized elements within the architecture model. Usually, these priorities are based on both the scenarios and practices that are opted for globally. EA offers relevant business value based on current trends related to each business priority:

Figure 2.4 – Key business priorities and EA value

IT engagement model architecture and implementation

The defining principles of an EA model include the mission, goals, objectives, responsibilities, and resources within an organization. Taking everyone along on the journey of transformation is one way to ensure fruitful outcomes.

Creating and sharing engagement models across the board helps all stakeholders understand the scope and ultimate EA objectives. A communication plan, followed by funding details and innovative ideas, is documented in the charter.

Here are a variety of components of engagement models:

• EA ensures collaboration among various teams in an organization. It’s essential to be in touch with the ground realities of business processes. That is why each model comes with an engagement purpose. It defines the reasons for interaction between EA teams and other groups.
• Participants include all stakeholders that are a part of the process, including the EA team and the groups they interact with, to achieve the identified goals.
• Artifacts are extracted from the data based on analytics, and then evaluated or modified by this engagement type to be used as future reference.
• Communication approaches ensure that all participants are on the same page in terms of successes, failures, capabilities, and opportunities. It ensures that this type of engagement is the most effective.
• The timing of an engagement defines the amount of time a certain task will take. It evaluates the total duration of the process related to the engagement purpose.

For a better understanding of these engagement purposes, here are four common categories of EA engagements:

• Engagements solely focused on creating support for EA along with strategy building, portfolio management, and governance.
• Engagements focused on evaluating, recognizing, collecting, and drafting artifacts. These elements are responsible for defining the current situation of EA and how it will look in the future.
• Engagements focused on making an impact on the current workflow to support the EA’s intermediate and future states.
• Engagements that focus on influencing future outcomes and decisions that relate to the EA’s intermediate and future states.

Developing a consistent mindset, strategies, and actions to understand engagement purposes can have additional purposes and approaches, but the major ones have been discussed already.

Testing the core foundation for business agility

Some of the reasons EA is an important element in the enablement of enterprise architecture are outlined next.

Agile teams are focused on value creation

EA allows organizations to reuse their valuable assets across delivery teams. When companies work on innovative projects, it is crucial to maintain the flow of ongoing processes. Therefore, when agile teams have high-quality assets available to reuse, they are able to focus on creating a new valuable solution.

Common guidance enables greater consistency

Roadmaps and blueprints set by enterprise architects are capable of ensuring great outcomes. When teams follow these guidelines, their work results in greater quality. EA facilitates learning about new assets, getting accustomed to new processes, and gaining an understanding of how things operate in a new business environment infrastructure. Moving between teams is convenient and effective because it’s easier for team members to catch up on their progress and share their skills and learnings with other team members.

Agile architecture enables disaggregation

The ability to allocate tasks to the teams with the most relevant and appropriate skill sets is a great talent on its own. When a business solution is based on highly cohesive components, spreading work among smaller teams gets easier. That way, the delivery time is reduced by reducing the risk of organizational complexity.

EA scales the agile methodology

When carried out efficiently across an organization, agile strategies can offer extraordinary outcomes. Companies can experience a smooth workflow paired with a seamless transformation process.

A disciplined, agile approach to EA enables organizations to scale agile strategies across the enterprise. Effective leadership and a defined set of principles play a major role in setting a solid foundation.

Leadership principles and how they relate to enterprise architects

An organization’s culture, ultimate goals, mantra for innovation, team interactions, and what keeps team members focused and motivated all come together to define a company’s discipline. In order to ensure that EA has maximum impact on an organization’s infrastructure, the team must exercise strong organizational discipline to build and leverage a solid foundation for EA success.

Committing and removing barriers

Stakeholders must embrace the discipline of being a valuable asset to the team and a contributor to the operating model. When it comes to the implementation of standard processes, data, and technology, these stakeholders play a vital role.

Not only do employees need to abide by the organization’s regulations, but management must embrace them, too. Rigor in these areas helps pursue strategic opportunities that leverage a company’s foundation by focusing on the opportunities that can make a measurable difference and are a great fit for the business. To build an effective foundation for execution, businesses shouldn’t base their strategies on customer demands and competitor initiatives. Instead, they should take a leading approach and come up with a strategy that is all about identifying opportunities to leverage existing capabilities.

A company needs a driving force to be able to execute the plans it has set for itself. An enterprise architect is at the forefront when it comes to a company’s ability to execute its strategies. Although the roadmap is designed by EA, the need for the attention and dedication of senior management still holds great importance. With multiple board members and decision-makers, having everyone on the same page while taking important steps can be difficult.

When an enterprise architect takes action based solely on what they think is right, it can lead to more harm than good. Therefore, senior management must keep an open mind, let go of ego, and be involved in the articulation of the EA. By taking responsibility for converting an architecture into a foundation for sustainable execution, management can make a big difference by reinforcing governance.

Emphasizing strategic planning

If you’re looking to align your agile resources and get them well in sync with your company guidelines, organizational strategy is a great way to move forward. Often, enterprise architects get stuck with day-to-day matters instead of focusing on strategic planning. To avoid such distractions, communicating all aspects of the process with teams across the board is a powerful approach. Better outcomes can be ensured by working closely with business and IT, drafting roadmaps and target dates, and visualizing the end results.

Being the commander and leading the way

A team performs better when they have a leader who leads by example. An organization needs skilled employees, but the leader is the one who encourages that team to put forward their best work. The commander provides details about the core direction and strategy to their staff with the understanding that things can change.

They offer space for the team to settle down and get used to new developments while maintaining their managing intent. The journey matters, but what most people will remember is the end result. That’s what the goal should be: to deliver on the architect’s intent.

Displaying the value of business architecture

Which is better: telling people how someone solved a problem or showing them the journey they took to solve it? Practical examples – sharing the journey – tends to be more effective. Company leaders must lead by example because actions speak louder than words.

Often, organizations spend most of their time trying to sell the virtues and benefits of business architecture. But too often, in the process, they fail to implement these qualities in their business architecture. Once an EA team gets past introducing business architecture within the organization, the best and the only way to sell it is by fully implementing the plan.

Summary

Market trends and technology are constantly changing, and organizations that don’t evolve with them struggle to stay relevant. Paying close attention to the customer’s behavior and understanding how they approach innovation and technology can offer a lot of insight into upcoming trends. Enterprise architects are the specialists who look into these elements and come up with innovative strategies. They anticipate and predict the changes that might happen in the market based on a variety of factors, and they help organizations to better equip themselves to deal with them.

In the process of this analysis, data evaluation, and strategic operational planning, enterprise architects often come across many challenges. Sometimes, management is not as involved as they could or should be, teams are not well structured, or tasks are not appropriately allocated. In the wake of these challenges, communication and collaboration among different groups can fail.

Redefining and designing the whole organizational structure can be a monumental task, but applying the right strategy and talent to approach each step can help facilitate the process. Some companies might not get it right the first time, which is not unusual. Teams and individuals need space and time to get in sync with one another and to get used to the transformation process. The role of leadership plays an important in EA. Nothing helps more than having a manager who motivates team members and sets the right example through their actions.

The next chapter is about the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. We will explore and shed light on this transformational technology and the guiding rules to ensure positive outcomes when applying it. With EA, cloud capabilities provide the freedom to explore and take risks with technological advancements. Additionally, we’ll address the principles that support the process.