Chapter 1
Planning for Enterprise Realignment
In This Chapter
Defining the enterprise
Defining success
Preventing failure
Information technology (IT) is everywhere in the business world, and you’d be hard pressed to find a business larger than a sole proprietorship that does not utilize some type of IT. When an IT decision is made, its effect can be felt throughout the organization. Poor decisions, such as those made without consideration of the impact on other elements of the enterprise, can create both immediate and long-term problems.
In this book you focus on enterprise architecture strategies and mechanisms that support both immediate and long-term (three to five years) planning. These strategies are used successfully in all types of enterprises, including small to mid-sized offices, educational institutions, and global commercial enterprises.
Defining an Enterprise
The enterprise is a fluid term encompassing all technologies and tech-related policies that relate to services provided to clients, partners, and customers during operation of the organization. The more the enterprise interconnects elements, the more it becomes like a living organism — growing to meet emerging opportunities; consuming resources for sustenance; and generating piles of outdated, outmoded, or outright broken equipment that must be disposed of carefully. The enterprise requires planning to control ...
