The widespread acceleration of digital transformation initiatives has led to a resurgence in enterprise architecture (EA) practices.According to Saul Brand, a senior director analyst at Gartner, 76% of clients are starting, restarting, or renewing their EA practices. The reason is that enterprise architecture allows organizations to visualize how their systems and processes work together, an important component of achieving scale in digital transformation.Yet research consistently finds that organizations’ digital transformation initiatives fail. TheMcKinsey Global Survey on digital transformation concluded that less than one-third of organizations’ digital transformations “succeed at improving a company’s performance and sustaining those gains.”And research conducted by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton found that just 10% of organizations succeed in executing their business objectives. These failures are largely attributable to EA placing too much weight on technology and too little on business strategy and objectives.The keys to bridging the gap are business architecture and fusion teams.
What is Business Architecture?
Business architecture defines the structure of an organization, including its governance structure, business information, and business processes. Or, as theObject Management Group defines it, business architecture serves as a “blueprint of the enterprise that provides a common understanding of the organization and is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands.”Business architecture offers. The first is to facilitate change. It does this by connecting business strategy and execution. The second is to simplify complex environments. This is key to achieving automation at scale. Third, business architecture creates shared language and visibility throughout the organization. Those that build business architecture are known as business architects. Business architects play an important role in facilitating continuous improvement, innovation, and business transformation. As such, they are key members of fusion teams.
