Enterprise architecture is maturing and delivering value to organisations around the world. However, as the demand surges, there`s a chronic shortage of top-class enterprise architects.
These were among the key messages to emerge from the IT Architecture Practitioners Conference being held in Cape Town this week, attended by more than 165 delegates from around the world.
Organisations that have invested in enterprise architecture as a key competency have made themselves more agile and competitive, and more profitable over time, the presenters pointed out.
"The goal of enterprise architecture is boundary-less information flow, where all systems, IT and non-IT, interoperate," said Allen Brown, president and CEO of Open Group, which is hosting the conference in conjunction with Real IRM, Open Group`s local partner.
"Not having boundary-less information flow is causing real corporate pain, resulting in millions in lost business and billions in lost opportunities," he said.
One purpose of such boundary-less information flow is to afford organisations access to information that was not necessarily designed to leave its original domain. It spans all systems: from the "buy space", across all internal systems and processes, and into the "sell space", according to Brown.
Partnerships needed
There is an urgent need for academia to partner with industry to boost the number of enterprise architects entering the market, said Mike Lambert, a fellow of the Open Group and lecturer at the University of Reading.
There is a chronic shortage of top-class enterprise architects.
Mike Lambert, a fellow of the Open Group, lecturer at the University of Reading
"Demand is surging for all types of architects, but the process for developing them is protracted, so there is a chronic shortage of top-class enterprise architects. This is great for architects, who can demand top rates, but not good for business," noted Lambert.
"As an industry, we are developing all the right measures; now we need to deliver the architects. Under normal circumstances, it would take a few generations to develop new enterprise architects, but we don`t have this luxury."
Accordingly, Reading University has formed a partnership with commercial organisations to help fast-track the development of future enterprise architects and Lambert called for similar partnerships locally.
Steve Rasmussen, CTO at Anglo Platinum, presented on the organisation`s successful enterprise architecture initiative. Anglo Platinum has captured its corporate processes in an easily understandable format, which the business owns, he said.
There is a great deal of discipline around the creation of new processes, which need to fit into the overall enterprise architecture, he said.
"Our CEO has bought into the business process model 100%," reported Rasmussen. "However," he cautioned, "it is not a silver bullet for all business requirements, and once begun, it is never completed. It is also impossible to cost-justify enterprise architecture - there is no direct causal link between enterprise architecture and business benefits."
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