- The business typically doesn’t see the value of Enterprise Architecture (EA); ROI metrics don’t work well for EA.
- Within IT, EA is frequently perceived as a roadblock: an unneeded layer of bureaucracy that impedes project execution and kills innovation.
- As EA initiatives are frequently perceived as non-contributing to business value and unsuccessful, they have earned their inglorious distinction. Even mentioning EA may evoke prejudice and resistance.
- As a result, corporate IT is unable to secure ongoing business buy-in and executive support for EA.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Identify business imperatives, high-priority business capabilities and initiatives, and understand what value measures are relevant to them. Choose up to a dozen value measures that interest the business the most and can be improved by EA.
- Rebrand EA to match the high-priority business goals or initiatives. Choose EA processes that will contribute the most to the selected business value measures. Establish EA roles and define responsibilities with a RACI chart. Stay away from traditional EA nomenclature and common EA mistakes.
- Craft plausible value statements linking factual business benefits to outcomes of EA with causal clauses. Collect convincing value proof points to support value statements. 91ÖÆÆ¬³§ an EA marketing plan and pitch EA value contributions at different levels of the enterprise to both business and IT, through various media at every appropriate opportunity, both formally and informally. Create a charter document to obtain official sign-off and secure funding.
Impact and Result
- Establish an EA practice to help your organization enable its strategic business intent and improve effectiveness, efficiency, and agility.
- Use the proposed covert approach to bypass the prejudice and resistance typically evoked by EA initiatives, due to the negative connotation EA has earned with its repetitive failures.
- Focus on what matters to the business and communicate EA’s contribution to business value to gain ongoing business buy-in and executive support for the EA initiative.