Benefits and Why
- Satwinder Singh
- Alan Crosswell
Enterprise Architecture is a relatively new business-phenomenon in large-scale institution. Driven by people who look at change, flexibility, structures and insights within institution. Because, how do these institutions cope with a continuous changing world where systems and processes change faster every day?
Benefits of Enterprise Architecture
A more efficient business operation:
Lower business operation costs
More agile organization
Business capabilities shared across the organization
Lower change management costs
More flexible workforce
Improved business productivity
A more efficient IT operation:
Lower software development, support, and maintenance costs
Increased portability of applications
Improved interoperability and easier system and network management
Improved ability to address critical enterprise-wide issues like security
Easier upgrade and exchange of system components
Better return on existing investment, reduced risk for future investment
Reduced complexity in the business and IT
Why Now?
What would be different today if we had a strong focus on Enterprise Architecture 10 years ago?
We would:
not be saddled with a large number of duplicative and/or poorly-integrated applications;
not have accrued significant technical debt (old hardware, software, applications, data);
have better alignment with the business goals, acting as a strategic partner;
have more modern technologies in place (e.g. mobile);
have enhanced security and reduced risk;
have a consistent funding model;
have service transparency; and,
we would know what applications we have, why we have them, and have a roadmap for their lifecycle.
So why didn’t we do Enterprise Architecture 10 years ago?
You have to know what you don’t know 10 years ago, our organizational maturity was lower, the (relatively new) field of IT management was in general less developed and IT was not as much of a core aspect of business strategy as it has become. Elements of Enterprise Architecture were performed in various silos: solution architectures for individual applications; establishing technology standards and directions such as server consolidation, virtualization, a focus on reduction in duplicative technology platforms such as Java application servers and relational database management systems; converged in-building and datacenter networking; development of IT security and other policies; establishment of a PMO and ITSM practice; business process modeling and analysis; establishing the TAG and the roles of CTO and Director of Technology Enterprise Architecture; and so on.
We’ve since increased our organizational maturity through IT program and service management development to the point where we see the value of Enterprise Architecture capability development as unifying and coordinating these activities across the extended enterprise, especially with respect to understanding that “it’s about the business” and nota bout the latest shiny technology.
Resource
This links provides a good overview