Here’s 3 reasons why Enterprise Architecture saves you thousands

If you’re running a business and you’re find yourself purchasing and subscribing to more and more business technology, you might want read this before you waste thousands of dollars.

Enterprise Architecture: is the practice of analysing, designing, planning and implementing enterprise analysis to successfully execute on business strategies. EA helps businesses structure IT projects and policies to achieve desired business results and to stay on top of industry trends and disruptions using architecture principles and practices, a process also known as enterprise architectural planning. — www.cio.com

As technology becomes an integral part of your business, its important to start viewing it as an investment instead of a cost area (refer to Technology Maturity Spectrum). With any investment it is essential to understand how to get the most ROI out of it. Enterprise Architecture, when done correctly, allows you to ensure your next technology solution aligns with your overall business strategy and can help your business scale or operate more efficiently. Here’s how:

1. Ever purchase or subscribe to a new software and then end-up not using it? One of the biggest reasons is that the software was not a functional fit to existing business capabilities. For example, if you purchase a shiny new Customer Relationship System (CRM) but don’t have any existing sales capabilities or processes ready, you likely won’t be leveraging the benefits of having a CRM. A big step in Enterprise Architecture is to align systems with capabilities to ensure that whatever software is being introduced, that it fits into clearly defined functions and processes. Doing this step can save you the heartache of a wasted technology investment.
2. Ever find out after training your team on a system or investing thousands that the system is not “compatible” with other systems? Sometimes we take for granted the connectivity of technology and believe that once we “Switch On” the system or product, new or existing systems can easily be connected. More often than not, this does not happen. When investing in a new software product, make sure to do the right due diligence in identifying existing APIs (Application Programming Interface) or available integration with other system you may already use. If this step is not taken, you’ll find yourself with an ultimatum to either ditch the system or build expensive custom integrations. As part of the Enterprise Architecture process, these integration dependencies are mapped out to ensure system are interoperable.
3. Ever find yourself consistently looking for new SaaS solution or getting change request after change request? This is often a clear indicator of lack of Technology planning. As part of the EA process, processes and requirements are clearly defined to extremely granular detail to ensure sourced software can deliver on those requirements. EA also helps identify areas of optimisation and ensure that as changes to business requirements occur, technology can quickly adapt. If these EA processes are not adopted, businesses can find themselves with rapidly aging technology that no longer fit their business model or staff — wasting their technology investment.

If you’re interested in improving your technology ROI, consider TOGAF to learn more about Enterprise Architecture and framework that can help your business get the most out of technology.

However, if you want to get started today in setting up your technology try out www.kinetics.dev. We use best practice technology architecture and analytics to ensure that your IT investments are worth it.