Enterprise Architecture For Strategic Management Of Modern It Solutions

"This book provides guidance on how to employ enterprise architecture (EA) in deploying and managing information technology (IT) solutions from the perspectives of pragmatic strategies. It uses sociotechnical theories such as actor-network theory (ANT) and structuration theory (ST) as lenses to examine challenges and complexities of EA"--

The Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) discipline deals with the alignment of business and information systems architectures. While EAM has long been regarded as a discipline for IT managers, this book takes a different stance: It explains how top executives can use EAM to leverage their strategic planning and controlling processes, as well as how it can contribute to their sustainable competitive advantage. Based on the analysis of best practices from eight leading European companies from various industries, the book presents the crucial elements of successful EAM. It outlines what executives need to do in terms of governance, processes, methodologies, and culture in order to bring their management to the next level. Beyond this, the book points out how EAM could develop in the next decade, thus allowing today’s managers to prepare for the future architecture management.

The popularity of enterprise architecture (EA) has increased in the last two decades, in both business and academic domains. Despite the cumulative interest from all sectors, the implementation and practice of EA have been entangled with numerous challenges and complexities. Consequently, some organisations continue to theorise the concept, which has ramifications on practice and return on investment (ROI). This has led to many studies that have been conducted, to understand the complexities impacting the implementation and practice of EA in organisations. Yet, the trajectory of some convolutions remains mystery in many quarters. This attributes to the struggle to articulate the value of EA in many environments. Hence many organisations find it difficult to apply EA for strategic management of modern information technology (IT) solutions. Enterprise Architecture for Strategic Management of Modern IT Solutions provides guidance on how to employ EA in deploying and managing IT solutions from pragmatic and implementable strategies’ perspectives. Until now, implementation and practice of EA have been slow, despite its growing popularity and interest from all sectors. The author employs sociotechnical theories such as actor-network theory (ANT) and structuration theory (ST) as lenses to examine and explain why and how challenges and complexities exist and derail the implementation or practice of EA in organisations. By doing so, this serves to enable practitioners and readers to gain fresh insights on why the challenges exist and how they can be addressed in creating collaborative capabilities for business enhancement, sustainability, and competitiveness. The book provides detailed insights on how to apply EA for organisational purposes, from three main fronts. First, it explains the implications that lack of understanding of EA have on organisational activities and processes. Second, it examines the challenges and complexities that hinder the implementation and practice of EA in organisations. Third, it proposes models and frameworks on how EA can be applied for strategic management of modern IT solutions in organisations. Written for postgraduates, researchers, academics, and professionals in the fields of EA, IT, and information systems, this book provides a valuable resource that will enable and enhance implementation and practice of EA including future studies.

Does it seem you’ve formulated a rock-solid strategy, yet your firm still can’t get ahead? If so, construct a solid foundation for business execution—an IT infrastructure and digitized business processes to automate your company’s core capabilities. In Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution, authors Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David C. Robertson show you how. The key? Make tough decisions about which processes you must execute well, then implement the IT systems needed to digitize those processes. Citing numerous companies worldwide, the authors show how constructing the right enterprise architecture enhances profitability and time to market, improves strategy execution, and even lowers IT costs. Though clear, engaging explanation, they demonstrate how to define your operating model—your vision of how your firm will survive and grow—and implement it through your enterprise architecture. Their counterintuitive but vital message: when it comes to executing your strategy, your enterprise architecture may matter far more than your strategy itself.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of enterprise architecture management with a specific focus on the business aspects. While recent approaches to enterprise architecture management have dealt mainly with aspects of information technology, this book covers all areas of business architecture from business motivation and models to business execution. The book provides examples of how architectural thinking can be applied in these areas, thus combining different perspectives into a consistent whole. In-depth experiences from end-user organizations help readers to understand the abstract concepts of business architecture management and to form blueprints for their own professional approach. Business architecture professionals, researchers, and others working in the field of strategic business management will benefit from this comprehensive volume and its hands-on examples of successful business architecture management practices. ​

Organizations today exist in an environment of unprecedented change. They do so against a backdrop of a global, competitive marketplace, the fast-paced enablement of technology, amplified regulation and accelerating organizational complexity. Many organizations are addressing change in a sub-optimal way and they are operating without a clear view of where their operational risks lie. It is these dynamics that are leading organizations to recognise and embrace Business Architecture. Despite this environment, Business Architecture can be a difficult ’sell’ - it is often perceived to be abstract and lacking in tangible delivery. To succeed, Business Architecture must be pragmatic and, to be sustainable, it must focus on achieving long-term value and, at the same time, recognise the shorter-term tactical needs of the organisation. With these challenges in mind, this book provides a practical guide on how to employ Business Architecture and how to build a balanced proposition that delivers value to a broad range of stakeholders. As the book states, Business Architecture should not be practised in isolation, nor should it be thought of as a one-off process; it needs to be woven into the fabric of the organization. And so the authors illustrate the opportunities for weaving the Business Architecture Practice into this fabric through the various stakeholders and life cycles that exist, both formally and informally, within an organization. Whilst recognizing best practice, this book explores a new, inspirational level of Business Architecture whilst acknowledging that the best way to realize the vision is one step at a time.

Every enterprise architect faces similar problems when designing and governing the enterprise architecture of a medium to large enterprise. Design patterns are a well-established concept in software engineering, used to define universally applicable solution schemes. By applying this approach to enterprise architectures, recurring problems in the design and implementation of enterprise architectures can be solved over all layers, from the business layer to the application and data layer down to the technology layer. Inversini and Perroud describe patterns at the level of enterprise architecture, which they refer to as Enterprise Architecture Patterns. These patterns are motivated by recurring problems originating from both the business and the underlying application, or from data and technology architectures of an enterprise such as identity and access management or integration needs. The Enterprise Architecture Patterns help in planning the technological and organizational landscape of an enterprise and its information technology, and are easily embedded into frameworks such as TOGAF, Zachman or FEA. This book is aimed at enterprise architects, software architects, project leaders, business consultants and everyone concerned with questions of IT and enterprise architecture and provides them with a comprehensive catalogue of ready-to-use patterns as well as an extensive theoretical framework to define their own new patterns.

A critical part of any company's successful strategic planning is the creation of an Enterprise Business Architecture (EBA) with its formal linkages. Strategic research and analysis firms have recognized the importance of an integrated enterprise architecture and they have frequently reported on its increasing value to successful companies. Enterpr