August 21, 2010 at 17:50What is the role of a business architect in a company?
- Transfer
Recently, the reference to the role of "Enterprise Architect" has often come across . I decided to delve into the topic and stumbled upon a slightly chaotic, but rather interesting discussion at the round table, what exactly is or who is “Enterprise Architect”. Perhaps our colleagues in the workshop look a little one-sidedly at the role of "Enterprise Architect" solely from the IT side, but the discussion is useful in any case.
The round table discussion, moderated by Dana Gardner , chief analyst at Interarbor Solutions, began with the statement:
“The need for business architects is more acute than ever, but at the same time, attempts to turn business architecture into a profession do not necessarily lead to growth trust in such specialists and their adoption, at least for now.
Roundtable participants, Jeanne Ross , Director and Lead Researcher, MIT Center for Information Systems Research, Dave Hornford, Chief Specialist in Business Architecture at Integritas Solutions and Chairman of The Open Group Architecture Forum, and Len Feskens, Vice President, Skills Development The Open Group, helped to formulate the following:
- How to make the transformation of IT from a mysterious excellence in developed and structured science and how the business architects a unique opportunity to anticipate the concept of business architecture and affect t kim way to business agility.
According to Len Feskens, business architecture is now, from the point of view of the mass consciousness, in the same positions that nowadays are full-fledged professions like medicine or law 200-300 years ago. There is not only certification, but the very body of this science is characterized, first of all, by a very private nature of knowledge:
- We are now at about the same stage as there were lawyers in their time, the demand for which was based on secret knowledge and procedures known only to themselves and because of the ignorance of which your hands shook when you thought about the trial. Or here are doctors who say: "Contact our clinic, because only we understand the treatment of this particular disease."
Both Ross and Hornford agree that the stakes are very high right now. An IT strategy is becoming increasingly important, and a well-designed architecture would have a positive effect on a company's ability to play in the market.
Ross also noted:
“The role of the architect is to ensure a holistic vision ... Thus, the architect will have to coordinate the current aspects of the organization, anticipate or create new ones, and this activity is not just technology ... this is art - the ability to foresee the development of the organization in the long run ... for us it seems to be more innovative than anything else.
Based on the foregoing, Hornford suggested that successful business architecture should focus on business value. In his opinion, different organizations can differently understand the value of a business:
- Everything should be based on what goals a particular business has set for itself. How do they see him, what is his mission? Those who do business should have a clear idea of what will happen at the final stage, what is the transformation of the business and how “digital assets” - in fact, IT assets - can create the conditions for achieving the goals. All this is necessary in order for the business to develop more efficiently than competitors do.
From this point of view, the fundamental requirement for a company’s business architect is the ability to be a leader without actually having anything:
- If you do not have leadership skills, then the rest will have little effect ... If you do not run a business and are not ready to take the risk of being a leader, transformations will be impossible. One of the barriers to the development of the profession of an architect is the lack of readiness of the carriers of this profession for leadership risks.
In continuation of the discussion about the problem of the future value of business architects, Feskens said:
- Ultimately, the influence of a business architect comes from his ability to formulate the high potential value of architecture as a whole, as well as for a particular architect in a particular situation ... This is one of the main problems with faced by business architects who come from a technical environment. They can talk about the features and functions, but forget to voice the benefits.
The following is required of the architect: to ensure that their activities and the architecture they create meets the requirements and goals; An architect's approach to solving problems at the architectural level means that flexibility and cost reduction are not, in fact, short-term requirements. They are, first of all, an important component of the business architecture itself as needs.
Ross cautioned that the potential value of a business is far from always immediately apparent — usually in the long run:
- It may take time for a natural transition to a new structure to take place after the architect has voiced the benefits of a certain information technology. In fact, perhaps, in many organizations this happens: the transition did not happen because they were going to become more flexible - it happened because they voiced their intention to work better and better every day.
Gardner drew the line under the discussion as follows:
- If we return to the very essence of what is required of the architect, it will be an understanding of the value of the business and how this value is communicated to our customers.
The role of business architects in companies is changing over time. If 20 years ago, few people knew what architects were doing, today many companies consider the architecture of the enterprise to be the foundation of its performance. The responsibilities of architects have changed significantly - from technical responsibilities (super-developer) to business architecture and leadership. This profession continues to undergo changes, and still remains a mystery about what course it will take by the end of the day.
The round table discussion, moderated by Dana Gardner , chief analyst at Interarbor Solutions, began with the statement:
“The need for business architects is more acute than ever, but at the same time, attempts to turn business architecture into a profession do not necessarily lead to growth trust in such specialists and their adoption, at least for now.
Roundtable participants, Jeanne Ross , Director and Lead Researcher, MIT Center for Information Systems Research, Dave Hornford, Chief Specialist in Business Architecture at Integritas Solutions and Chairman of The Open Group Architecture Forum, and Len Feskens, Vice President, Skills Development The Open Group, helped to formulate the following:
- How to make the transformation of IT from a mysterious excellence in developed and structured science and how the business architects a unique opportunity to anticipate the concept of business architecture and affect t kim way to business agility.
According to Len Feskens, business architecture is now, from the point of view of the mass consciousness, in the same positions that nowadays are full-fledged professions like medicine or law 200-300 years ago. There is not only certification, but the very body of this science is characterized, first of all, by a very private nature of knowledge:
- We are now at about the same stage as there were lawyers in their time, the demand for which was based on secret knowledge and procedures known only to themselves and because of the ignorance of which your hands shook when you thought about the trial. Or here are doctors who say: "Contact our clinic, because only we understand the treatment of this particular disease."
Both Ross and Hornford agree that the stakes are very high right now. An IT strategy is becoming increasingly important, and a well-designed architecture would have a positive effect on a company's ability to play in the market.
Ross also noted:
“The role of the architect is to ensure a holistic vision ... Thus, the architect will have to coordinate the current aspects of the organization, anticipate or create new ones, and this activity is not just technology ... this is art - the ability to foresee the development of the organization in the long run ... for us it seems to be more innovative than anything else.
Based on the foregoing, Hornford suggested that successful business architecture should focus on business value. In his opinion, different organizations can differently understand the value of a business:
- Everything should be based on what goals a particular business has set for itself. How do they see him, what is his mission? Those who do business should have a clear idea of what will happen at the final stage, what is the transformation of the business and how “digital assets” - in fact, IT assets - can create the conditions for achieving the goals. All this is necessary in order for the business to develop more efficiently than competitors do.
From this point of view, the fundamental requirement for a company’s business architect is the ability to be a leader without actually having anything:
- If you do not have leadership skills, then the rest will have little effect ... If you do not run a business and are not ready to take the risk of being a leader, transformations will be impossible. One of the barriers to the development of the profession of an architect is the lack of readiness of the carriers of this profession for leadership risks.
In continuation of the discussion about the problem of the future value of business architects, Feskens said:
- Ultimately, the influence of a business architect comes from his ability to formulate the high potential value of architecture as a whole, as well as for a particular architect in a particular situation ... This is one of the main problems with faced by business architects who come from a technical environment. They can talk about the features and functions, but forget to voice the benefits.
The following is required of the architect: to ensure that their activities and the architecture they create meets the requirements and goals; An architect's approach to solving problems at the architectural level means that flexibility and cost reduction are not, in fact, short-term requirements. They are, first of all, an important component of the business architecture itself as needs.
Ross cautioned that the potential value of a business is far from always immediately apparent — usually in the long run:
- It may take time for a natural transition to a new structure to take place after the architect has voiced the benefits of a certain information technology. In fact, perhaps, in many organizations this happens: the transition did not happen because they were going to become more flexible - it happened because they voiced their intention to work better and better every day.
Gardner drew the line under the discussion as follows:
- If we return to the very essence of what is required of the architect, it will be an understanding of the value of the business and how this value is communicated to our customers.
The role of business architects in companies is changing over time. If 20 years ago, few people knew what architects were doing, today many companies consider the architecture of the enterprise to be the foundation of its performance. The responsibilities of architects have changed significantly - from technical responsibilities (super-developer) to business architecture and leadership. This profession continues to undergo changes, and still remains a mystery about what course it will take by the end of the day.
