THE ULTIMATE TOOL TO MANAGE

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

.

“ Power is nothing without control” (Pirelli)

When we are talking about

Enterprise Architecture…

People are usually puzzled.

Or with moderate enthusiasm.

… because additional efforts will be requested

And habits changes are

rarely welcome.

Enterprise Architecture’s definition gives some clues.

«Enterprise architecture (EA) is the process of translating business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change by creating, communicating, and improving the key principles and models that describe the enterprise’s future state and enable its evolution.» (GARTNER GROUP)

But what is really Enterprise Architecture ?

Information Technology (IT) is no more considered as a set of tools…

If Enterprise is compared to a house, …

IT is rather the house frame and…

Basements, Electricity network, Water network, …

So that Business team can fully enjoy their business life.

When you are perform big changes in your house,

It is better to have a plan of your house.

Enterprise Architecture is the plan of your Enterprise and the IS/IT

supporting it.

Enterprise identity can be summed up with :

Its strategic goals

Its business Processes

Its organization structure

People Skills and know how

IS/IT can be modeled by :

Data

Business Processes and roles

Applications and IS functions

Servers and datacenters

Enterprise Architecture is a repository where all attributes of Enterprise and IS/IT are stored.

“This is consuming a

lot of resources to set up and to run, only for a

plan !”

What is the Value of Enterprise Architecture ?

Secure alignment between IS/IT and

Enterprise Strategies.

First value of Enterprise Architecture

Imagine two teams playing the bush telegraph.

And one team is using a

support to explain the message to

spread.

It is easy to guess who will win the game.

In business world, we unfortunately always play bush telegraph, specially when we are dealing with IS/IT

projects.

It is a difficult game because most of the actors are speaking different languages.

IT language

Business language

Biz Analyst Architect Offer Mgr Customer

And the number of actors involved in the game is big.

Developer

So deliveries are producing

sometimesunexpected outcomes.

Enterprise Architecture is the support of the bush

telegraph game for Enterprise.

Enterprise Architecture aligns IS/IT developments with Business

expectations by…

using a single language understood by all parties : The Business

Processes

Support Long term valuable transformation.

Second value of Enterprise Architecture

Business Teams are usually very ambitious with their requirements

Thus, transformations are

Costing a lot of money

Taking time

Complex And risky

It is safer to reach the targeted goal step by step.

There are two different options to be sure that steps are following the

right direction.

Fist option is to invoke divine power.

Second option is to use a

map.

It is easy to guess what is the best option.

Enterprise Architecture is providing the map to guarantee that steps are going to the right

direction.

Thanks to Enterprise Architecture, each IS/IT evolution (project) is a step towards a shared

target (program) and no more a single initiative.

A long term view is critical to allow IS/IT capability to adapt to further

evolutions.

And this is a question of life or death for IS/IT and the Enterprise.

Identify where optimization can occur.

Third value of Enterprise Architecture

Today, competition between companies is fierce

Every savings or optimizations will procure precious

trumps.

Companies having indicators on the value of their activities have a head

start.

Enterprise architecture is providing these indicators.

ROI of each activities and

Processes

Cost of duplicated Processes and

tools

Complexity

So managers will be able to take decisions thanks to figures and no more based on beliefs.

Support Business Continuity.

Fourth value of Enterprise Architecture

In today’s information age, IS/IT is definitively one of the key assets of the Enterprise.

Data

Business Processes and roles

Applications and IS functions

Servers and datacenters

It is not safe to not protect key assets

But it is too easy to let this asset in the head of some experts.

But when the experts are leaving the company, is it acceptable for the company to loose this asset?

Enterprise architecture describes the knowledge in some experts heads and shares it to the rest of the Enterprise.

CONCLUSION

Indeed Enterprise Architecture is requesting…

Methodology

Additional efforts Changing habits

But which company is able to compete without the trumps provided by Enterprise

Architecture?

Thank you !!!