In the past few months; since I have started my studies in Pennsylvania State University, I have been asked several times by friends, colleagues and even relatives, what is exactly Enterprise Architecture is all about. And since those questions were asked in casual settings I had to give simple answers but I have felt I have never truly fill their curiosity.
So, I had to find a way to present EA to those who have absolutely no clue about it, in a manner that can make them appreciate its value. And what a better way to do this in our country; than highlighting the pain areas that can only be solved by establishing EA practices.
What I did is that I always started to ask the person in front of me about the strategy adopted in their organization and whether it is really driving execution. This has almost led all of them to talk about conflicts between different business units in their organizations, and how senior management is isolated from the lower operational levels. I usually, then, introduce Enterprise Architecture, only to be asked "That's great, How does it work?!"
In my opinion, Enterprise architecture is such a complex discipline that emerged in response to the highly dynamic environment of today's business. IT no longer plays a support role, as a matter of fact it is currently seen as a differentiating factor that can add substantial value to the business.
Implementing an Enterprise architecture is not a one time event but an ongoing program that forever changes the way the enterprise is doing business. Many enterprise architecture frameworks exist and can be adopted to implement the EA practice in any organization to produce the following:
- An architectural view that describe the current state of the enterprise, its components and their interrelationships.
- An architectural view that describe the desired future state of the enterprise
- An Enterprise architecture management plan that acts a a road map for the transition.
If properly governed and adopted; Enterprise architecture can facilitate and foster complete alignment between business, information and technology in such a way that serves the strategy and allows Organizations to keep up with emerging technologies and digital disruptions.
However, Enterprises are encouraged to adopt an incremental approach to EA and focus on specific desired business outcomes to enjoy fast value realization and avoid a massive failure of the program
What do I admire most about Enterprise Architecture? The holistic view that comes with it !
