Dec

30

The Infosys Enterprise Architecture Survey 2007 Results

Filed Under Enterprise Architecture 

Infosys have published the results of their Enterprise Architecture Survey 2007 which is always an interesting read.

 

The key findings..

  • EA is emerging as a strategic tool at the corporate level, and moving outside the realm of IT
  • EA is becoming more professional through the use of standardized, well-defined processes and tools;
  • EA Governance, in particular its marketing and communications approach, needs to be improved.

 

The survey also shows that the key expectations from EA are business agility, IT-business alignment and portfolio simplification.

EA has gained acceptance as an important tool for corporate decision making. This is apparent from its role in strategic planning and its reporting lines. It is a key component of IT governance.

As EA recognizes its responsibility for objectives outside IT, business architecture becomes more important. However, application and technical architecture still prevail and continue to be key deliverables.

Marketing and communications is crucial when influencing a large organization; incidentally, this is not exactly the strength of many architects. The lack of a structured multi-channel communication strategy results in a serious awareness gap concerning the architecture vision.

The lack of appropriate metrics also makes it difficult to manage the IT assets of the organization as a portfolio. As most organizations do not penalize non-adherence to architecture, the architect’s task becomes a ‘battle against windmills’.

Our findings indicate that EA teams need to change. They need to strengthen their business level capabilities, build a consistent body of knowledge and the best practices of a mature profession, and improve their skills in influencing the organization.

 

Some of the highlights from the research for was the following findings:

 

EA Objectives and Benefits

The primary objective of enterprise architecture is business agility…

"Agility is the objective of the day – not just for IT, but for the entire organization. The most cited objective of EA is flexibility of business and processes to enable the enterprise to stay competitive."

 

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EA Focus Areas

 

"With agility and flexibility being the key objectives of EA, enterprise architects are focusing on service-orientation and integration. Close to 80% of the survey participants listed this area as critical” or “high” in terms of significance."

 

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EA Deliverables

 

"Even though EA teams are engaged in strategic planning efforts, a key expectation is to govern the enterprise technology landscape. Therefore, Enterprise Technology Standards, Technology Roadmaps and IT Strategy continue to be the three most common deliverables of EA teams."

 

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EA Frameworks and Processes

Infosys analysed the adoption of three types of architecture frameworks:

  • Generic Enterprise Architecture Frameworks, such as TOGAF, Zachman, FEAF and DODAF
  • Industry frameworks such as eTOM, Acord, SAGA and CIMOSA
  • Generic IT management frameworks such as ITIL and COBIT.

We found that framework adoption has increased significantly; with almost 70% using one or the other framework. Architecture frameworks have been adopted by 55% of the respondents’ organizations and almost all leverage industry standards. This is speedy progress compared to the 16% in our last survey.

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You can download the comprehensive Infosys 2007 Enterprise Architecture Survey here.

 

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