Taking an agile approach to enterprise architecture

Organisations that have implemented enterprise architecture (EA) effectively have reduced their IT costs by up to 30%, enhanced their ability to respond to changing conditions, improved the confidence of the business in project delivery and are better placed to comply with regulatory requirements.

EA achieves these benefits by providing a framework within which organisations can deliver their strategy. It takes a long-term perspective to gain agreement on how the organisation will work in the future. This enables the organisation to make choices that ensure its processes, structures and systems are continually aligned with the future vision.

With many organisations now looking to re-shape their business strategy and the growing adoption of cloud computing as a new IT service model, it has never been more important for organisations to have an effective EA.

But realising the benefits of EA is tricky, not least as it is often mistakenly seen as a technical, back-office role undertaken by the IT department. More progressive organisations are now taking an integrated approach to both business architecture and technical architecture. 

PA Consulting Group believes that the best approach to EA is an agile one that focuses continually on the practical value that EA will provide. We work with organisations to help them clarify critical questions such as: what benefit will EA deliver to the business; how will I embed improved architecture decision making into the organisation; and how will I engage key stakeholders to make EA real for them?  We do this by:

• leading rapid development of EA visions and plans to gain early buy-in from stakeholders using our EA programme blueprint. For example, we developed a simple and convincing blueprint for a US-based leading global direct seller to engage senior business stakeholders, communicate the vision and articulate the benefits the EA programme would deliver.

• aligning EA with major, in-flight transformation programmes. For example, we built an EA capability to guide the successful delivery of a major modernisation of their welfare management systems for the New York State Office of Temporary & Disability Assistance.

• focusing on business language and user journeys to engage non-IT stakeholders more effectively. For example, we developed business user journeys for a UK regulator to help the organisation understand the change implications of its future architecture.

• delivering early by tailoring our best practice models to each situation. For example, we delivered an enterprise application architecture and roadmap in just four weeks for a large US energy utility.

To find out more about how PA's agile approach to enterprise architecture delivers lasting business value contact us now.