A frequent ask from GreatIdeaz customers is “Can you help us do a current state analysis of our IT applications, propose a future state, and implementation roadmap?”
The answer is “Yes, of course we can! But is that what you really need first?”
Interestingly, this question confuses a lot of people. It’s one thing to have a current state map of IT applications, data flows, and infrastructure. But why is this the current state? Why did you buy/build that application? Why did you chose to host here? Why does this need to integrate to that using a 24 hour batch ETL? Frequently the answer to these questions is “That’s just the way it is. It just happened that way over the past X years.”
This highlights the fact that the organization is missing a key decision making capability – an Enterprise Architecture. Why is this important?
Without an Enterprise Architecture, IT decision making becomes a tactical process with many inefficiencies and miss-steps. A need arises, an application is bought/built/integrated. Rinse/Repeat. This leads to a fragmented IT landscape that becomes more fragile over time, harder to extend, evolve, and sustain.
A prerequisite for developing a desired future state and to successfully implement a transformation roadmap is a repeatable and structured process for making the best possible decisions. This is why the organization needs to adopt an appropriate Enterprise Architecture to provide guidance criteria for improving the strategic decision making process.
Enterprise Architecture isn’t a one size fits all. It needs to be tailored so that it is appropriate to the organization based on the current state starting point and understanding the future business needs. It forms the foundation that allows the organization to make good decisions. This is why it is critical that the organization internalize it rather than outsource it to a third-party.
Enterprise Architecture is something that many organizations need help to develop. GreatIdeaz provides training and mentorship programs to our customers to help them adopt an appropriate Enterprise Architecture based on the latest industry best practices, tools, and technologies. The objective of this training is to ensure that the customer’s own employees have the tools they need to determine an appropriate future state and then to successfully implement a business transformation.
When an organization has internalized a well-developed Enterprise Architecture it is more likely to have an reliable strategic decision making process. This enables the organization to maximizes the value of IT over time whilst minimizing risk. The organization can then safely outsource tactical elements of IT to third-parties as required – ensuring the delivered solutions fit within the standards and processes outlined in the Enterprise Architecture.
At GreatIdeaz, we’ve amassed a lot of knowledge and experience regarding Enterprise Architecture over many decades. This information is freely available in our trellispark academy and forms the core of our training program examples. We also provide a modern implementation of the latest thinking in Data Agnostic Services that you can download for free at GreatIdeaz.com. Our trellispark product demonstrates how to use the latest Microsoft .NET Blazor/WASM framework to implement components of an IT framework that could empower your IT team.