Ever wondered what an EA does? Ever wondered what value an EA adds? To the salespeople out there, ever asked the question “Why should I take an EA into an account review?”. If you want some answers to these questions, read on……..
An Enterprise Architect (EA) is responsible for designing and implementing an organisation’s enterprise-wide technology strategy and architecture. EAs have a holistic view of the organisation and work to align business goals and processes with technology capabilities. They bridge the gap between business and IT by understanding the strategic objectives of the organisation and translating them into technology solutions that support those objectives. They tend to end up becoming the trusted advisor for the client.
The primary role of an Enterprise Architect is to create and maintain an architectural framework that guides the development, deployment, and management of IT systems within an organisation. This framework typically includes the organisation’s current and target state architectures, technology standards, best practices, and guidelines for designing and implementing IT solutions.
Enterprise Architects collaborate with various stakeholders, including business leaders, IT teams, and vendors, to understand their needs and requirements. They analyse business processes, assess technology trends, evaluate emerging technologies, and consider the organisation’s long-term goals to develop an architecture that optimizes IT investments and supports business growth.
Value
The value of an Enterprise Architect (EA) lies in their ability to align business strategy with technological capabilities, ensuring that an organisation’s IT infrastructure supports its goals and objectives. Here are several key contributions and benefits provided by an Enterprise Architect:
- Strategy Alignment: Understanding the organisation’s strategic objectives and translating them into a technology roadmap that aligns IT initiatives with business goals.
- Architecture Design: Creating and maintaining the enterprise-wide architecture framework, including defining the structure, components, and relationships between IT systems and applications.
- Technology Evaluation: Assessing new and emerging technologies, conducting feasibility studies, and making recommendations on their adoption to improve business processes and achieve strategic objectives.
- Standards and Governance: Establishing technology standards, guidelines, and governance processes to ensure compliance, interoperability, and security across the organisation’s IT landscape.
- Risk Management: Identifying and managing risks associated with IT systems, data security, compliance, and ensuring the continuity of critical business operations.
- Collaboration and Communication: Facilitating communication and collaboration between business stakeholders and IT teams, ensuring a common understanding of business needs and technical requirements.
- Change Management: Supporting organisational change initiatives by providing guidance and support during technology implementations, upgrades, and migrations.
- Continuous Improvement: Monitoring the effectiveness and efficiency of IT systems, identifying opportunities for improvement, and recommending changes to optimize business processes and technology investments.
Summary
All in all, an Enterprise Architect has the ability to align technology with business strategy, optimize IT investments, manage risks, improve business processes, and facilitate effective collaboration. By providing a holistic and strategic perspective, EAs enable organisations to leverage technology as a driver for business success and competitive advantage.
As the trusted advisor, an EA will often see opportunities that may lie beneath the surface because of the holistic view they have of the client’s organisation and the ongoing conversations that should be taking place regularly. So, to all you salespeople out there, get the EAs into your account reviews and see what doors (or cans of worms!) could be opened!
