enterprise architecture

Jonas Lamis talks with Craig Martin, CTO of Enterprise Architects. Enterprise Architects is an EA strategy and training firm headquartered in Australia. They discus the evolving roles and responsibilities of the enterprise architect. They cover emerging demand for EA strategy, overt and covert EA tactics and the EA operating model. They also discuss certification programs like TOGAF and ITAC certification.

A couple of years back, I was attending Gartner Symposium, and the analyst presenter started talking about Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.  The natives are technology savvy youngsters who have grown up in an always connected, always on world.  Digital Natives find new technologies to be intuitive.  They are at ease in navigating the blogosphere and the social networks.  And they tweet.

Enterprise architecture (EA) can mean different things to different people, depending upon the role and responsibility of the individual within the organization and depending upon the context of the organization (either being a consultancy or an end user). To many it is a framework, while others view it as a collection of rules, or a methodology for defining and designing infrastructure services. However, the common aims are to improve alignment of the IT infrastructure with business goals and to attempt to bring stability to an ever-changing, chaotic, and complex situation.

Did you know that 80 percent of all enterprise architecture (EA) initiatives are not completed because they fail to demonstrate “value added” to current business practices? I recently attended the Troux Directions Federal Users Conference, which made some excellent points on the theme: “How does EA add value?”

When enterprise architecture (EA) works well, it is a tremendous asset to the business units that employ it. EA provides the ability to manage complexity across a number of domains, decrease costs, reduce redundancy, increase revenue, improve processes, and expand business opportunities.1

Brian Burke, an Enterprise Architect with Gartner, has posted an interesting video on YouTube discussing the relationship between EA and the CFO.  He asserts that in the current economic environment, it is critical for EAs and CFOs to work closely together.

And while CFOs are sometimes mystified by the deliberations of EA, there are common areas of interest.  Namely reducing costs, measuring business performance, and driving business growth.