The Value of Enterprise Architecture

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RMIT Masters in Enterprise Architecture2010/05/12

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Slide 1.Title Page

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Slide 2.Is Enterprise IT is in danger of becoming irrelevant?

“why should business bother withenterprise architecture”•some companies are already “doingwithout” EA•enterprise architecture does notdirectly generate value•put aside arguments on “theimportantce of IT is modern business”•what value does EA bring?•EA is an IT planning function. It’soverhead on an enabler.EA has a proud history, stretching back~30 years, but developments in thetechnology market are making the oldways of doing things irrelevant.A good example of the potential impactis to look at CRM (CustomerRelationship Management) rollouts overthe last few years•Siebel has been the gold standard for along time•Typical engagements are 2-4 years, ~$50 millionIn the last few years we’ve seen theemergence of software-as-a-serviceCRM•Salesforce.com is now considered“best of breed”•Some features are considered marketleading•Salesforce.com crowd sourcing wasused by Barak Obama as part of change.gov•A typical SaaS CRM engagement is 9months, ~$5 millionTo a ﬁrst approximation, the IT servicesindustry will shrink 90%

Analogy:

The role of scribes in the1400s during the emergence of moveable type.•Hand rendering books•Most of the effort was in copying, notoriginal works•Overnight, the invention of moveabletype slash the cost of production~95%•Very similar to IT and SaaS•In 1492, Johannes Trithemius, theAbbot of Sponheim, published

De Laude Scriptorum

(in praise of scribes)•He argued that writing had a higherbeneﬁt than simply copying book, andshould be preserved•His pamphlet was published onmovable type, of course•Despite his and others best efforts,they could not preserve theirprofession•Scribes soon became irrelevant otherthan as a hobbyThere are changes in the IT environmentwhich will have a similar impact on us•How do we keep ourselves relevant?

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