Enterprise Architecture has a key role to play in digital transformation - Ravindra Katti - Founder and Director - Techpartner Alliance

Enterprise Architecture has a key role to play in digital transformation

With the acceleration and the growth of digital transformation efforts and migration to the cloud, the need for best practices in IT architecture has evolved too.  We are well aware that the majority of digital initiatives are not successful despite investing heavily.  One of the main reasons for this failure is continuing with legacy data architecture and databases that prevent the building of new apps and bringing about the much-needed broader innovation.  Outdated practices are a hindrance to agility and increase business risks.  Today, the process of building apps by leveraging data has changed drastically and if the data infrastructure remains the same, then there are many challenges to overcome. 

Modernization of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is fundamental

Legacy architectures are complex and lead to huge maintenance costs.  In the absence of visibility, IT assets are difficult to track leading to a lack of agility that is required to deliver superior quality services.  A long-term digital infrastructure strategy is key to effectively cater to the current IT requirements and also plan for the future.  Digital transformation efforts may not yield the desired results if the (EA) is not included in its strategic planning.  It is EA that provides the organization a competitive edge and substantially brings down the associated risks while enabling scalability too. It is this framework that has the power to bring together complex technologies and the relevant business context to ensure better business outcomes. 

EA - a crucial connection between business and IT

Enterprise Architecture consists of a planned and organized approach to taking control of IT assets and addressing the growing complexities present in the business environment.  Acting as a bridge between business and IT, it delivers important insights and provides a complete picture, thereby eliminating incorrect communication.  By providing a conceptual blueprint, EA is the most accurate way of streamlining the core processes of the business.  It enables the teams to adopt a proactive approach with the right tools and standards to calibrate and automate the processes.  By achieving efficient resource allocation, the organization can enjoy significant cost savings. With improvement in overall product quality and enabling higher speed, faster time-to-market is established, leading to increased ROI, business outcomes, and overall profitability. Furthermore, during organizational change, especially in the period of acquisitions or mergers, EA can help with re-designing within business structures.

The function of the Enterprise Architect is vital

For the implementation of EA, enterprise teams have to be created for each business unit to facilitate the digital transformation process

Enterprise Architect’s role is among the senior ones in the IT teams and is mostly given to experienced technology professionals.  They work towards ensuring the organization achieves its business goals by leveraging the right practices, standards, and technologies.  They focus on the enterprise-level design of the IT department while taking into consideration the business values. They how to manage the complexities of digital transformation initiatives and should be involved in driving this organizational change.  Enterprise Architects help in bringing the IT and business teams together to create a technology roadmap, which enables members to deliver the necessary change. 

Enterprise Information Security Architecture (EISA) – a top priority

Investments in Security and Risk Management measures are growing rapidly across all organizations with the expanding threat landscape.  Building a robust security architecture, which can safeguard the organization’s critical assets from cyber-attacks and data breaches is important.  EISA is a subset of EA with a focus on securing the organization’s data, including its core security principles, procedures, protocols, and tools.  The key aspects include the business context, both the layers – conceptual and logical and relevant solutions. EISA should also be documented to help meet regulatory compliance and standards requirements.

With EA, risk management is established too, as prospective system failures and security breaches are identified. To stay ahead of the curve, organizations have to leverage technology effectively with the support of EA which caters to the entire business landscape.