Learn, Strategize and Socialize

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Submitted by AG on Mon, 2009-07-27 22:29

While uncertainty in near term economic conditions continues, there appears to be a light on the horizon. With the likely recovery of business activity in the next few quarters, now is the time to seize the initiative on smart technology investment.

With that in mind, it is time to consider making some investments in education, team building, strategy setting, and vendor research. This fall, Gartner offers events in both Europe and the US that can help drive strategy and decision-making for your enterprise. The Gartner Enterprise Architecture Summit are scheduled for September 14th and 15th in London and October 7th through 9th in Orlando, Florida.

Gartner Summits are focusing this fall on key EA and IT strategy challenges that will help you move your enterprise forward. According to show materials, areas of focus include:

  • Linking EA and business strategies
  • Clearly defining the information, technical and solution architecture needed
  • Creating EA roadmaps and migration plans
  • Strategies for containing costs and gaining efficiencies
  • Measuring business value and being able to communicate it
  • Implementing best practices for application and technology portfolio management
  • Exploiting EA for the IT organization: managing IT processes, information and applications

I’ve been to at least a dozen Gartner EA Summits over the past 10 years, and I have been consistently pleased with the quality of learning and collaboration. I’d definitely recommend registering early and using your early bird status to make an analyst consultation reservation once that opens. I love using the event as an opportunity to talk with the Gartner analysts in a one on one meeting, learning about specific findings and getting them up to speed on progress with my ventures.

According to Gartner, the Summit offers tracks focused on three critical aspects every enterprise architect should understand and master, which include: the essential role the enterprise architect plays within the organization, how to drive EA programs effectively to maximize revenues and manage infrastructure efficiently to optimize cost, and how to create and sustain innovation within the enterprise to fully exploit EA at every business opportunity.

I’ve also been a big fan of participating in the birds of a feather networking activities, the evening programs, and the informal get-togethers that surround the main event. Be sure to check in with the vendors who are sponsoring the event in advance to see what kinds of special networking activities they might have planned that you can attend. Sometimes these are the best venues to learn, make connections, and bring back insight that can radically change your business.

More information and registration for these Gartner events can be found here:

London: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=778115

Orlando: http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=849312 (Early Bird registration still available through mid August)

 

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