The role of an Enterprise Architect varies depending on the specific needs, goals, and organizational structure of the company they are working in. Ardoq is a global EA platform brand serving all sorts of enterprises, including public and private. Our platform serves all EA teams, from large teams to one-person efforts, all aiming for successful digital business execution.
Someone whose extensive experience means they have “seen it all” is Gordon Cooper, Ardoq’s Director of Customer Solutions. His vast knowledge means we are always all-ears, so we asked him to give us his quick thoughts on how EA practices differ globally, the image problem he thinks EA has, and how to change it.
1. Why do you think EA has an image problem?
Architects are seen as remote and not engaged with business teams. Enterprise Architects often don’t know how to communicate with their larger audience. They forget that they need to be able to sell what they do. That stigma stays firm if they can’t explain what they do and how that helps other stakeholders and the organization.
74% of business leaders think that EA is competing with other company goals instead of the reality: that they are helping achieve them. This is why, if you ask me, only 10% of companies are satisfied with their EA capabilities.
2. How do we change that image?
First, we need to stop thinking that Enterprise Architecture impedes speed when it is actually an accelerator. Think of Enterprise Architecture as being one degree of separation. Everything in an organization directly relates to an EA team.
Enterprise Architecture is about planning and then designing that plan for execution. So if EA teams have an intelligent design that can be implemented with preferably positive impact, that's how you change that image. Give people the right information to make their life easier.
3. How is Enterprise Architecture in the U.S. different from how it looks in Europe?
There is a strong tradition of a framework approach in Europe. There is a more structured and defined role of the Enterprise Architect.
In the U.S., organizations still struggle with understanding what EA should be or is, so senior leadership tends to make the role into a flexible position. Ultimately, considering the bigger picture is generally more important for EAs in North America. This means acknowledging that EA is business-driven and the role less IT-based. EAs in North America link changes in the business to systems. After all, if you don’t know how the change impacts the rest of the organization, then EA teams struggle.
4. What does an EA platform need to be effective?
The platform has to be able to present digestible information from a perspective that all stakeholders might need. Regardless on who needs the information, they should be able to consume information from the enterprise architecture. The platform must give them a perspective on the enterprise that matters to them and that helps them.
If you can do that, the rest is irrelevant.
Naturally, however, if you can do that, it means that the platform is data-driven, so that multiple data sources and data points are integrated into a dynamic repository. It also means the platform is automated, so nothing has to be diagrammed manually. And it has to be collaborative! Collaboration takes “see something, say something” to a whole new level, especially regarding risk and security, since security problems and remediation can be crowdsourced. If a platform is collaborative and ready for mass consumption, valuable information is much easier to place in the hands of relevant stakeholders.
If a platform is collaborative and ready for mass consumption, valuable information is much easier to place in the hands of relevant stakeholders.
-Gordon Cooper, Director of Customer Solutions
5. What is your top advice to EA teams?
For any team, my advice is to get to know what the business strategy is. When you know what your company does, you can retrofit the IT to the business. By doing this, you retain funding for larger strategic EA projects.
Especially for those in the U.S., I have seen the need to prove EA’s worth internally. If you don't understand what your company does, then you can’t show how you can design IT systems that support the business.
Thank you, Gordon, for your time and for sharing your insights with us.
