New Trends Report Details Enterprise Architecture’s Pivotal Role in Organizations’ Digital Transformation Efforts

Info-Tech Research Group, a global IT research and advisory firm, has published its latest research on enterprise architecture, titled  Enterprise Architecture Trends report. This new report details the top five enterprise architecture trends from Info-Tech’s proprietary data and interviews conducted with IT leaders over the past year. With the current need for organizations to accelerate digital transformation activities in order to compete in the digital age, the role of enterprise architecture (EA) has increased in importance to align the business and technology.

Although this accelerated transformation has brought business and technology increasingly closer, according to Info-Tech’s Tech Trends 2022 survey, most organizations still see a significant gap between the business and IT, and more than 70% of organizations surveyed by the firm are revamping their EA programs.

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“Enterprise architecture can be thought of as the glue of the organization,” says Milena Litoiu, Principal Research Director of the Enterprise Architecture practice at Info-Tech Research Group. “EA aligns business goals with all the other aspects of the organization, providing additional effectiveness and efficiencies while also providing guardrails for safety.”

EA’s role in brokering and negotiating overlapping areas can lead to the creation of additional efficiencies at the enterprise level. The following five trends outlined in Info-Tech’s research detail where EA impacts business, creating the critical alignment between business and IT. To compete in an increasingly digital market, these trends should be top of mind for enterprise architects and IT leaders over the coming months:

1. Enterprise Architecture Enabling Business Agility. Business agility is needed more than ever, increasing reliance on enterprise strategies. To achieve nimbleness, organizations must adapt quickly to environmental changes. A plethora of approaches, such as architecture modularity, data integration, AI, and machine learning, are required in addition to other Agile or iterative approaches for the entire organization.
2. Enterprise Architecture–Supported Security. More sophisticated security attacks require increased enterprise coordination and consistency. EA can play a role in identifying security threats and contributing to a security strategy that anticipates, detects, and mitigates risks. Adequate governance needs to be in place, ensuring that security controls are in line with the governance security policies and compliance requirements.

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1. Partnership Between Innovation and Enterprise Architecture. Digitization accelerates business innovation. EA’s role increases synergies at the enterprise level, and innovation may be achieved at every level of the organization, from new business models to rethinking how technology supports the business.
2. Collaborative Enterprise Architecture. Collaborative EA requires new ways of working within the company and new potential relationships with vendors and suppliers. EA encourages collaboration within the domain guilds across different business units and orchestrates cross-domain collaboration at the enterprise level.
3. Enterprise Architecture Tools and Automation. More EA activities are being automated through intelligent tools, allowing organizations to adjust quickly to changes in the environment.

“In an accelerated path to digitization, the increasingly important role of enterprise architecture is one of collaboration across siloes, inside and outside the enterprise, in a configurable way,” explains Litoiu. “This level of collaboration allows for a rapid response to new threats and conditions. By embracing these unprecedented opportunities to scale, organizations can stimulate innovation and amplify their competitive advantage.”

The trends outlined in the report will provide enterprise architects and IT leaders with the knowledge and resources to support executives in digitally transforming the enterprise.

The comprehensive report is now available. Download the complete Enterprise Architecture Trends report to read more about each trend.

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