Page 12-13 - MARCH13

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Many of us have already digested the reality
that Enterprise Architecture is becoming an in-
creasingly important field within the IT realm.
As you have no doubt already gathered, Enter-
prise Architects are finding themselves grabbing
powerful positions within both their company
as well as their IT department(s).
Why is this the case, you ask? Simply put, those
who are in charge of the business aspects of com-
panies are waking up to the true value
of IT itself. Likewise, a great number of
CEOs, managers, and board members
often have some great ideas and direc-
tions their institution can take, but often
have no idea about how to bring them to
fruition. The Enterprise Architect takes
these ideas and combines them with their hard-
won knowledge about both IT systems (perhaps
even the structure of the business in question)
and any perceived risks or inefficiencies in the
so-called “chain of command”.
H owever, many inventive enterprise architects
might still be in the dark when it comes to deter-
mining what it is that they should be focusing on
in terms of innovation and change. Because it is
technology that is driving most businesses these
days, one has to remain on the cutting edge of
what’s hot.
This applies not just to the world of IT, but also
to technology in general—because it’s really hard
for anyone to predict how these things will affect
either the business or consumers. At any rate,
here are a few things to consider if you’re in any
way involved with Enterprise Architecture:
Mobile platforms and applications
There are literally hundreds of statistics and polls
that clearly indicate that the mobile market is
not only extremely dominant right now, but it is
also poised for additional growth. In fact, many
very well-known trends analysts have stated that
they have absolutely no idea where the “top” of
the mobile market is. What does this imply?
For starters, this information clearly
points toward the need for businesses
to jump in and capitalize on all of this
growth.
Not only would companies be able
to find new technological avenues
for connecting with customers, but some might
even discover completely uncharted (yet profita-
ble) territory in which to expand into. Similarly,
we’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of
how certain current and emerging mobile tech-
nologies might be used “internally” (that is to
say, “within” a business) to connect employees
and drive it forward.
Cloud Computing
From one-off cloud services to dedicated infra-
structure packages, cloud computing is (still) one
of the hottest topics in the IT world. Simply put,
there’s an incredible amount of both opportunity
as well as latent potential in the cloud, especially
for open-minded and creative businesses. For
example, we’re seeing cloud services and prod-
ucts springing up for nearly every purpose one
can imagine. By the same token, the increasing
competition in the cloud markets is helping to
drive down the individual prices of products and
services.
This essentially means that
an enterprising business (no
pun intended) can capitalize
on such an opportunity by
identifying individual cloud-
fueled items which can be ap-
plied to both weak and strong
sectors of the organization. The great thing about
cloud computing is its wide-ranging influence
and potential uses. It can be implemented both
inside and outside of a business, to both serve and
attract customers, as well as to efficiently overhaul
internal operations.
Big Data
It could be argued that Big Data is (currently) the
most important area of focus for enterprise archi-
tects. The reasoning behind this is fairly simple—
big data is both a potential problem as well
as source of extracting additional growth/in-
sight.
Let’s clarify, shall we? So we should already
be aware of how big data is created (through
the mass aggregation of gigantic amounts of
user data). In 2012, 2.5 quintillion bytes of
data were created every single day! Need-
less to say, given the fact that new technolo-
gies are being invented all the time which will
allow us to extract additional value from big
data, it only makes sense to look towards in-
vesting in it.
Moreover, depending on how much data your
business (or the institution you are serving) gen-
erates, further investigation of big data might be
absolutely necessary. For instance, being able to
handle data “booms” from a technical standpoint
is admirable, but one has to ask the question at
some point—could big data analysis methods cre-
ate additional profits for my company? It might
be that (through big data analysis of employee
data) you’ll discover several ways of improving
some aspect of your business’ operation(s).
Today’s enterprise architect needs to remain on
the cutting-edge of not only what’s trending, but
also of any emerging approaches to enterprise ar-
chitecture itself. Naturally, this applies to both
those who are currently fulfilling an enterprise
architect role or are considering it as a potential
career choice.
What should the business-minded
Enterprise Architect focus on?
In 2012, 2.5
quintillion bytes
of data were
created every
single day!