PEX Guide: What is enterprise architecture?
Uncover how enterprise architecture aligns the goals of an organization to its structure and drives operational excellence
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The definition of enterprise architecture
Enterprise architecture (EA) is an analytical discipline that is well-known in the process excellence space. In PEX Network’s How enterprise architecture fosters innovation report, it was defined as providing a clear vision on how information, business and technology flow together, which proves useful for companies embarking on digital transformation projects.
By continuously providing insights that help modernize systems and implement technologies, EA aids business innovation as an integral part of their way of working.
According to Sofiène Kamoun, general director of strategic initiatives at communications company Videotron, EA can be considered the structure necessary to achieve enterprise excellence. He defines enterprise excellence as “the strategic internal clock that ensures holistic enterprise alignment for strategic enablers, facilitating continuous improvement and successful execution of the enterprise value proposition”.
Kamoun notes that it is important to keep in mind the fact that all assets of enterprise excellence, including operational excellence, cannot be effectively achieved without holistic design and realization of influence sources.
The benefits of enterprise architecture
Modernizing IT infrastructure
By breaking down IT silos and providing a holistic view of the systems operating within organizations, EA allows them to highlight weaknesses within these systems and identify areas where legacy systems will need to be modernized.
Tim van Neerbos, lead enterprise architect at Utrecht University, explains that EA can be considered an enabler of hybrid cloud strategies that adds structure to an organizational migration to the cloud. EA achieves this by pinpointing the reasons to move and which parts of the organization should be migrated.
Van Neerbos notes: “EA is looking at the bigger picture in order to steer the organization in the right direction.” According to Neerbos EA enhances an organization’s ability to implement new technologies, such as artificial intelligence or machine learning, with greater ease due to the coalescing of people, processes and technology.
A framework for innovation
One of the major benefits EA offers is a solid framework to drive innovation within an organization. The insights that it provides informs on what applications are in place, what they do and what data is stored in them, which can help break down IT silos. This allows organizations to begin aligning the structure of the organization with its goals.
Then, practitioners can take steps to ensure that the organizational data collected is accurate and tells the full story of how IT systems are interacting. Once organizational structure is aligned with the goals, practitioners become free to innovate and drive toward these goals.
How to achieve successful enterprise architecture
Achieving an EA that is conducive to enterprise excellence is a major task and requires that an organization align on the goals it wishes to achieve. At PEX Live: Enterprise Architecture 2021, Videotron’s Kamoun outlined three essential facets of successful enterprise architecture.
Define the purpose and the means
Unless you have clear, end-to-end alignment on why you are driving this initiative and what exactly you are trying to do, the initiative will fail before it begins.
Vital thinking and behaviors
The EA must be formed around the vital thinking and behaviors of staff. These behaviors will need to be framed in a way that provides clarity over which thoughts and actions are essential and that is conducive to problem solving and value optimization.
End-to-end structural alignment and traceability
Kamoun refers to the various components and dimensions of EA, and notes that for it to be successful, the structure of the organization must be aligned with its goals. Kamoun uses the example of trying to win a race with square wheels on your car, as with processes, the structure of the car must first be optimized before victory can be considered.
Enterprise architecture success stories
Transforming enterprise architecture at Videotron
At PEX Live: Enterprise Architecture 2021, Videotron’s Kamoun shared the story of the company’s EA transformation. Initially, the structure of the EA was an issue, as there was limited ability to scale up initiatives. With the business aiming to accelerate innovation, ramp up digitalization efforts and increase the intensity of customer-centricity, it was clear that a new EA framework was needed.
Selecting the Helix service as the transformation vector, Videotron set about migrating services and products over to this new EA. The starting point for this was the development of a business capability map and a value stream map, with the business defining the organizational capabilities and implementing a focus on adherence to business standards. The business capability map and newly defined standards allowed Videotron to develop the roadmap for transformation for the next three years.
The new roadmap, installed under a fresh EA system, enables clarity and alignment across the organization, as every department was aware of the businesses goals, capabilities and standards. This new architecture forms the basis of analysis and actions taken within the company and provides perspective on the pertinence of the choices that are made in terms of usage and capabilities.
Overhauling legacy infrastructure at Abcam
Abcam, a global producer, distributor and seller of protein research tools are currently undergoing a wave of digital transformation. With the legacy systems the company was operating with deemed insufficient, it was clear that the organizational structure was not aligned with its goals.
The business has set out to replace these systems with target states, or new systems, to ensure the organization’s digital principles were based in Agile, domain-driven design, native could and decoupled services. Ensuring the structure of the organization, including technologies and processes, has been built to handle these changes and upgrades is one of the primary goals of EA.
Where to learn more about enterprise architecture
Report
- How enterprise architecture fosters innovation – Featuring experts from Walgreens Boots Alliance, Utrecht University and Abcam, this report dives into the insights provided by enterprise architects and why they are so critical for companies to keep up with continuous innovation.
Upcoming online event
- PEX Live: Enterprise Architecture 2022 – Taking place on 05 - 06 April 2022 and featuring industry experts from organizations such as DELL Technologies and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, this event will explore the role of the enterprise architect in 2022 offering advice and useful insights.
On-demand online event
- PEX Live: Enterprise Architecture 2021 – This on-demand event assesses the critical role of the enterprise architect following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic and offers insight into the development of an enterprise architecture, featuring experts from the likes of Videotron and the Association of Enterprise Architects.
