Enterprise architecture as strategic differentiator by ruth malan and dana bredemeyer this executive reportexplores the role of enterprise architecture in creating a path to better alignment of it with the business and, more importantly, creating a path to a more effective strategy and successful execution of the strategy. Jan 11, 2012 as a leadin to her open group presentation on how adoption of enterprise architecture ea leads to greater efficiencies and better business agility, ross explains how enterprise architects have helped lead the way to successful business transformations. This seminar focuses on how a lean, yet defined, enterprise architecture can enable wall street firms to compete at everaccelerating paces, and quickly winnow through the plethora of emerging technologies to select and deploy the ones that will enable organizations to scale to meet tomorrow. Creating a foundation for business execution, by jeanne ross, peter weill and david. Enterprise architecture is an enterprise effort, initiative, and impact, said ross. Thats the objective of enterprise architecture as strategy. Article using enterprise architecture to integrate. The architecture at each of the three levels describes the following five. This activity ensures that best practice and expertise in enterprise architecture, including frameworks and development approaches, are considered during the development or refinement of the enterprise architecture policy and supporting documents.
The traditional enterprise architecture is often criticized as being expensive, complex and proprietary. Enterprise architecture as strategy linkedin slideshare. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading enterprise architecture as strategy. Rather than focusing on the process of developing strategy, it focuses on delivery. Enterprise architecture is not just the sum of the technology architecture, applications architecture, and data architecture. Ross l strategic it architecture competency creating a strategic it architecture competency. But yesterdays ivorytower enterprise architecture isnt suited for todays dynamic environment.
Ross, weill, and robertson argue that enterprise architecture is the organizing logic for it and business processes, reflecting the integration and standardization requirements of a firms operating model. The book does not describe technology in detail, but instead offers a bestpractice strategy for companies who want to ensure their business processes and information technology architecture are structured for future. Creating strategic models with enterprise architect. Jun 08, 2010 enterprise architecture as strategy 1. But since it landed on the next desk, i decided to take the bull by the horns. A big focus of the book is on execution and how to build a strong foundation for execution. Does it seem youve formulated a rocksolid strategy, yet your firm still cant get ahead.
Most firms develop it solutions to respond to the firms many business strategies e. Enterprise architect roles and competencies within medium. Business strategy, technology strategy, and enterprise architecture are highly amorphous fields. Multiple theories and definitions regarding business strategy has emerged since the 1960s, but to this day little consensus exists on the meaning or importance of strategy in a business context. By dana gardner, interarbor solutions this briefingsdirect thought leadership interview comes in conjunction with the open group conference this month in san francisco. We would like strategy to drive architecture, for how else can architecture be the implementation of strategy and the route to better alignment between it and the business. Creating a foundation for business execution professor peter weill director center for information. Figure 1 compares the previous value creation approaches with the new value creation approach of ross et al. To develop a synergy between business strategy and it architecture, firms must develop organizational competencies in it architecture. A big focus of the book is on execution and how to build a strong foundation for. And a roadmap to go from our population health strategy to a business and technology solution march 8, 2016 understands the ascension business strategy or part of it and integrates it strategy as an. If you have all the money in the world, youre not forced to make tough decisions. Enterprise architecture as strategic differentiator.
Cisr research has found that firms go through four stages of architecture maturity as they learn to enhance the strategic capabilities of it. Enterprise architect roles and competencies within medium to. The economic value of enterprise architecture and how to. Creating a foundation for business execution, authors jeanne w.
Ross mit center for information systems research it architecture is often assumed to follow business strategy, to align it with the businesss strategic objectives. Ross, peter weill, and if so, construct a solid foundation for business executionan it infrastructure and digitized business processes to automate your companys core capabilities. The importance of enterprise architecture and strategy wall. Mits ross on how enterprise architecture and it more than ever lead to business transformation.
Create an enterprise architecture strategy in 3 steps. Innovation value institute creating it enabled business innovation monday, enterprise architecture as strategy 2 july 2007 innovation value institute creating it enabled business innovation, 2 july 2007 enterprise architecture as strategy. This study uses the grounded theory to explore and understand enterprise architect roles and competencies within medium to large scale organizations. It is critical for organizations to adopt measures that help to ensure. My colleague, danny cohen recommended it as one of the best books on enterprise strategy and i agree. Mits ross on how enterprise architecture and it more than. Creating a foundation for business execution 1st ed. It architecture is often assumed to follow business strategy, to align it with the businesss strategic objectives. Enterprise architecture is the organizing logic for business processes and it infrastructure, reflecting the integration and standardization requirements of the firms operating model. Make tough decisions about which processes you must execute well, then implement the it. One of the reasons for that characterization is that in the traditional enterprise devices, such as servers, storage, lan switches, firewalls and load balancers are dedicated to a single service or application.
The conference will focus on how it and enterprise architecture support enterprise transformation. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. But we cannot expect this to be the case if there is a gulf between strategy setting and architecture. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Labor laws represent only one element of a comprehensive workforce compliance initiative. Ea began as a concept for defining standards and methods for implementing information.
Creating a foundation for business execution jeanne w. Enterprise architecture and gather detailed enterprise architecture success scenarios and frameworks. The architecture at each of the three levels describes the following five layers. Make tough decisions about which processes you must execute well, then implement the it systems needed to digitize those processes. Robertson quite a few times, never quite making my mind about it. Enterprise architecture as strategy creating a foundation for business execution jeanne w. The book does not describe technology in detail, but instead offers a bestpractice strategy for companies who want to ensure their business processes and information technology architecture are structured for future growth and agility. Creating a foundation for business execution 97815998394. Architecture and provide a consistent and measurable level of quality it services to the citizens of ohio, when all agencies abide by these architectural principles. The it strategy is not explicitely written as a single document but is instead realised by the content of the future state enteprise architecture. The role of enterprise architecture in the strategic planning. Enterprise architect creating strategic models with enterprise architect series.
Related but distinct concepts that can change the world, ross helped define the term. Consequently, there is a need for narrowing the subject. Six steps for enterprise architecture as strategy j. Article using enterprise architecture to integrate strategic. Ross mit center for information systems research it architecture is often assumed to follow business strategy, to align it with the. Jan 11, 2012 mits ross on how enterprise architecture and it more than ever lead to business transformation. The importance of enterprise architecture and strategy. Ross, peter weill, and david robertson harvard business school press in their preface, ross, weill, and robertson suggest that, until now, research and executive education have failed to make a breakthrough in understanding and improving it architecture. Enterprise architecture as strategy is a book that will be useful to both business managers and information technology managers. Ross studies the use of enterprise architecture as a business strategy in global companies. Creating a foundation for business execution by jeanne ross, peter weill and david robertson.
Jun 17, 2003 it architecture is often assumed to follow business strategy, to align it with the businesss strategic objectives. Leveraging enterprise architecture for success mit sloan. Sep 15, 2015 enterprise architecture in the strategic planning lifecycle ea is often seen as bringing an ivory tower perspective in the adoption of new ideas. Enterprise architecture as strategy ebook by peter weill. Create an enterprise architecture strategy in 3 steps 1.
Enterprise architecture and strategy ea is designed to address this problem. In the zdnet interview, enterprise architecture and enterprise transformation. If so, construct a solid foundation for business executionan it infrastructure and digitized business processes to automate your companys core capabilities. As more companies adopt ea, the demand for enterprise architects to implement and manage such initiatives has been on the rise.
Pdf enterprise architecture as strategy creating a. Increasingly, though, many business strategies depend on specific underlying it capabilities. Enterprise architecture as strategy one of the most difficult aspects of enterprise architecture is gaining the support of senior management. Creating a foundation for business execution kindle edition by ross, jeanne w. Speakers in conference events will also explore the latest in service oriented architecture soa, cloud computing, and security. The issue also refers you to online webcast video courses covering the rapid delivery of enterprise architecture, as well as the selfstudy course. In this way the future state enterprise architecture acts as a bridge between the systems developed, acquired products that are integrated and the implicit it strategy. The need for enterprise architecture can be summed up by two of its main goals aligning the business and its operations with it, and bridging the gap between the organizations current state, and its desired future state. Dec 09, 2011 i browsed the book enterprise architecture as strategy by jeanne w. Most senior managers consider that enterprise architecture is the.
Creating a foundation for business execution professor peter weill director center for information systems. A new strategy for an enterprise network architecture. This article is updated at 6 steps to build a strong foundation for execution one of my new favorite books is, enterprise architecture as strategy, by jeanee w. They believe that ea is not only about supporting the execution of strategy, but should be used as a blueprint for directing strategy. Feb 09, 2011 one of my new favorite books is, enterprise architecture as strategy, by jeanee w. Ross and others published enterprise architecture as strategy creating a foundation for business execution find, read and cite all the research you need on. Ross is the author of enterprise architecture as strategy 3. Yes, architecture constrains and enables strategy see figure 2. In particular, governments need to develop an overall architecture that captures the people, processes. I browsed the book enterprise architecture as strategy by jeanne w. But, in the context of this new, integrated approach to strategic planning, the ea function becomes more integrated within the organization and more focused on clearly defined objectives. May 04, 2017 create an enterprise architecture strategy in 3 steps 1.