Fundamentals of Enterprise Architecture

Preface

Once upon a time, a respected colleague declared that enterprise architecture, as we knew it, was dead. With unprecedented transformations such as cloud and artificial intelligence, it did appear that enterprise architecture in its original form was too archaic to add value. How could a function formalized in the 1980s hope to not only keep up with such rapid technological changes, but also to ensure that such changes would lead to positive business outcomes?

Yet having witnessed reboots and resets, and having driven changes to architecture myself, I have come to the conclusion that enterprise architecture, when delivered effectively, is still undoubtedly essential to any organization seeking to deliver technology solutions better, faster, and cheaper.

Enterprise architecture aligns business’s strategies, processes, and technologies to achieve business goals. As if that weren’t enough, enterprise architecture also defines the structure and operation of an organization’s technology. Enterprise architecture establishes architecture principles and practices to guide organizations through the business, information, process, and technology changes necessary to execute their strategies, and ensures that systems and processes are efficient, effective, and cohesive while allowing scalability and flexibility in changing business needs.

Organizations that try to fulfill business needs without first defining their enterprise architecture strategy are at risk of experiencing siloed ...