Enterprise Architecture VS Business Architecture.
Around this time 12 months ago Gartner predicted that half of EA Business Architecture initiatives in 2018 would focus on defining and enabling Digital Platform Strategies. While there hasn’t been follow up research to prove whether this prediction has come true, anecdotal evidence would suggest that the real situation is pretty close.
In my last article, I talked about some of the key aspects you must consider when defining a target operating model. In this follow up piece I have delved a little deeper and will look at how TOM initiatives can vary across different types of businesses; from large corporates to start-ups and government organisations.
Many C-Level executives are now facing a situation where the ‘traditional’ aspects of their role are being reshaped, or in some cases undergoing wholesale changes. From a CIO perspective, one of the fundamental challenges being faced is that the business is going direct to vendors to procure technology solutions for their business. A Logicalis survey reported recently that 31% of CIOs were bypassed on numerous occasions in technology purchases and over 90% were bypassed at least some of the time(1).
So how can a CIO maintain their influence in today’s businesses?
A couple of weeks ago I participated in a “Design in Business” course run by Enterprise Architects , co-created with DesignChain and facilitated by the inimitable Helen Palmer.
I had previously undertaken some reading in Design Thinking and started a MOOC on the subject which I didn’t complete, so I wasn’t going in completely blind but I wanted to see how this (concept, framework, method) would assist in my role as a knowledge manager. I think I came out with so much more…
On Tuesday 7th October 2014, I delivered a webinar entitled ‘Re-positioning the Value of the Architecture Practice’. If you missed the opportunity to participate, I have provided a summary of the presentation and the recorded webinar video below.
On Tuesday the 29th of April 2014 I delivered a webinar in conjunction with our US partner IAG Consulting. If you missed the opportunity to participate, I have provided a summary of the presentation and the recorded webinar video below.
I’ve been around a few organisations now where I still see Enterprise Architecture being nothing more than a thing that IT people do. There is a terrible lack of trust between the Business and IT organisation, and we still haven’t gotten any closer to having significant and productive discussions about things that matter to getting business done.
In reading the literature available on Business Architecture it strikes me that most of these mention Business Architecture in the context of the entire organisation or ensuring IT alignment to organisational strategy. While these are true statements, Business Architecture provides a lot more.
You don’t have to look too far these days before you come across a story about the demise of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Some argue that IT consumerisation, cloud and mobile are bringing into question the need for the CIO. With the ability of practically anyone with a credit card to procure IT services some even go as far as to question the need for an internal IT department all together. Those arguments however come under question when one considers more complex challenges such as the management, integration and utilisation of ‘big data’, information management, experience management and, more recently, digital.
Some of you might have caught my webinar last week ‘Sketching a Roadmap for EA in the Age of Digital Disruption’. If you didn’t you can check out the recording and download the slides from Slideshare in this post.
