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IT Architecture in a disjointed worldWho should drive?
If it’s purely IT, the focus will be on cost; overcoming legacy system challenges; clearing up the latest technology mess; considering whether to use an outsourcing or offshoring model; wanting to scope a new silo system because it’s discrete and easy to make happen. The downside of this approach may be poor data management (due to a lack of business or enterprise data models); legacy systems can become a barrier to any change (and eat up more than their fair share of budget); compliance and regulatory needs may fall by the wayside and heaven forbid if there’s a merger or acquisition as that will really mess things up!
So the Business needs to drive, but there are real barriers (with politics often the biggest). Others include:- the business being unable to communicate exactly what it wants, not having the right business and IT people on the team, lack of business sponsorship, IT not taking the time to understand what’s keeping the business awake at night or a perceived lack of value of IT.
Work backwards
Achieving a near future-proof enterprise architecture is no mean feat. It requires a ‘new town planning’ exercise, starting with the end result, “the required future state of IT”. You’ll need a multi-disciplined team, business focus, and an holistic approach. Defining this future state is the principal challenge.
Do’s
Work with the business and make it easy for them. Keep it simple and make it clear what IT will and won’t do. Embed plans with IT governance, build with competitive advantage and the supply chain in mind, and consider the technical standards to be used. Understand all linkage points, the top level business processes, the business operating model and do create a ‘rich picture’; it paints a thousand words. IT architecture must be approached as a Programme in its own right, with plans for communication, deployment and governance. There should be absolute clarity of roles and responsibilities.
Benefits
The right architecture simplifies and standardises, reduces costs, provides sought-after agility, makes long term quality improvements to the firm, aligns with the business agenda, makes for a more aware business community and moves the perception of IT away from being ‘a cottage industry’. Remember the 80:20 rule, the architecture will never be perfect but you can get very close and that’s good enough.