The simplest definition of enterprise architecture (EA) is that it is strategic planning to ensure that the enterprise can adapt quickly to win.
Everybody knows what architects involved in construction do, but the town planner role is a much better analogy for explaining what EA is. We all know what happens to towns that grow organically without town planners, you end up with shanty towns. They provide large numbers of people around the world with shelter, but you wouldn’t choose to live there. In contrast, well planned and managed towns are generally desirable places to live with all the things that we expect and often take for granted – power, water, sewage systems, refuge collection, emergency services, education etc. Those involved in town planning need to take all these different perspectives and complexity into account ensuring that the town can adapt to change.
In a similar way enterprise architects have to deal with all the different perspective and complexity in an enterprise as part of the strategic planning process. These are:
- Technology – IT hardware, software, networks…
- Information – data standards, taxonomies…
- Business – processes, roles, rules…
All enterprises have an enterprise architecture. However, not all enterprises consider all these viewpoint together when planning and risk creating the enterprise equivalent of a shanty town and failing! It’s the job of the enterprise architect to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
An enterprise architect is the ultimate agent of strategic organisational change from planning through to execution.
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