Developments in Enterprise Architecture are clues to the directions headed by industries as a whole. Looking equally at the services adopted by large-scale organizations and the authors of their implementation strategies can predict future market positions with surprising accuracy.
Now a boardroom activity, EAs are entrusted to activate the solutions that were once only submitted in writing — and the design tools and methodologies they use to tame disruptive technology is a potent measurement of an enterprise’s potential.
So, without keeping you waiting, let’s see what characterized EA in 2020:
At a glance:
- Business Capability Maps
- Microservices
- Modernized TOGAF
- Cloud Migration
- IT/Reference/Domain/Solutions/Technical/Enterprise Architectures (what's what)
- Technology Obsolescence
- Blockchain
- DevOps
- Certification Programs
- GDPR
1. Business Capability Maps
Technology’s value in enterprises has evolved from supporting business strategies to defining business altogether. Business Capability Mapping — a strategy to fully detail and articulate the capacity, materials, and expertise required by an organization to satisfy core functions — is now a pre-requisite to executing structural changes, big and small. Business Capability Mapping is used to help organizations achieve transparency into their operations, and EAs are frequently solicited just to generate this clarity.
Our coverage:
- The Definitive Guide to Business Capability Maps and Models
- Mapping Overhaul — Remapping Business Capabilities to Model Success
- Discover & Organize Business Capabilities with Enterprise Architecture
Our resources:
- Best Practices to Define Business Capability Maps [Poster]
- The Definitive Guide to Business Capabilities [e-Book]
2. Microservices
Microservices is an implementation approach for Service-Oriented Architectures that are used to build flexible, independently deployable software systems. The speed at which services in a microservices architecture communicate with one another is an object of desire for enterprises worldwide. Connecting them to this better life is typically at the top of an EA’s priority list. As such, scores of cross-industry research on best practices to facilitate a microservices transformation have emerged.
Our coverage:
- Microservices: Their Use, Benefits, and Potential Drawbacks
- The Role of Enterprise Architects in Microservices Adoption
- Microservices: Building a Digital Enterprise
Our resources:
- Microservices – What an Enterprise Architect needs to know [Whitepaper]
- Modernizing IT for a Digital Era with Microservices [Poster]
3. Modernized TOGAF
Today's agile approaches to IT management owe much of their success to the architectural standards set by TOGAF. However, the rush to digitalization in thriving modern businesses requires EAs — both new and old-school — to recognize all best practices to truly integrate networks of information, business, and technology. For this reason, TOGAF has not entirely disappeared but is rather being elevated and dispersed via products like LeanIX’s Enterprise Architecture Management Tool — a SaaS that can modernize the TOGAF framework for digital audiences while preserving its rigorous standards.
Our coverage:
Our resources:
- How to Implement TOGAF With LeanIX [Webinar]
- An agile framework to implement TOGAF with LeanIX [Poster]
4. Getting to the cloud
The pace of enterprises en route to cloud-based ecosystems accelerated even further in 2020 — a migration heavily expedited thanks to the growing consensus among EA communities on transformation best practices. Indeed, successful governance of cloud migration (to Azure or AWS or Google Cloud) has become a critical use case of EA today. “Agility”, “Flexibility”, and “Consumption-Based Pricing” are promises lauded by the technology’s vendors — each one of which executives turn to bespoke Enterprise Architecture Governance programs to make a reality.
Our coverage:
- The Definitive Guide to Cloud Native
- The Definitive Guide to Cloud Adoption
- Traveling to Azure with LeanIX: Why and How
- Steps to a Successful Microsoft Azure Migration
- 6 Things You Need to Know About IT Transformation Into the Cloud
Our resources:
- How Enterprise Architecture Management Paves the Way Into the Cloud [Whitepaper]
- How AMAG Prepares Their SAP Landscape for the Digital Age [Customer Success Story]
- PwC & LeanIX Study 2018 – The state of SAP S/4HANA Transformation [Study]
5. IT Architects: Knowing the differences (Technical, Solution, Information, Reference, Domain)
The modern symbiosis between business and IT has expanded job titles and created a new lexicon of responsibilities within organizations keen to digitally overhaul their workspaces. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the fields of IT Architecture — a discipline underscored by numerous subsets, each beneficial for merging IT/business for their own reasons. It may sound obvious, but actually knowing what someone does is the first step to getting a task accomplished…
Our coverage:
- Enterprise Architect vs. Solution Architect vs. Technical Architect
- Enterprise Architect vs. Domain Architect vs. Developer
- The Path from Developer to Solutions Architect
- Reference Architecture Frameworks: A Consolidation
6. Technology Obsolescence
If one digital asset in an enterprise goes kaput after its service license expires or its source provider calls it quits, so might another. This domino effect is the consequence of Technology Obsolescence — a scary and precisely modern danger that keeps C-level executives up at night. Enterprise Architecture Management — and in particular, its capacity for wide-scale application lifecycle supervision — is an effective remedy against the hidden dangers of antiquated technology. Less graphic designers than digital-waste workers, the cleaning tools have evolved for EAs — as have their combat strategies.
Our coverage:
Our resources:
- Technology Obsolescence: Benefit from integration with Technopedia lifecycle catalog to avoid risks [White Paper]
- Streamlined IT Security Management with LeanIX Survey [White Paper]
7. Blockchain
Is Blockchain still a thing? Though McKinsey recently reported that the technology is precariously stuck in arrested development, enterprises are pre-emptively bolstering IT infrastructures to prepare themselves in the off-chance that cryptocurrency exchanges surpass traditional payments systems. How has EA helped out?
Our coverage:
- Blockchain in the Enterprise
- What to Make of Blockchain as an Enterprise Architect: Part One
- What to Make of Blockchain as an Enterprise Architect: Part Two
Resource
8. DevOps
DevOps (Development + Operations) practices are designed to unify software development and software operations. Employing multidisciplinary teams, the DevOps movement has conquered the IT world by enabling automation, quick software integration and testing, and improving deployment frequency to generate immediate benefits to organizations.
Transforming traditional workspaces into well-oiled DevOps environments is both a logistical and cultural undertaking requiring concerted EA efforts. In the search for the magic formula to seamlessly connect these two worlds, DevOps has produced a litany of misinformation and conflicting approaches. For EAs, securing the right guidance is almost as tough as the mission itself.
Our coverage:
- DevOps Series Part 1: Adding Velocity to IT
- DevOps Series Part 2: Tools For Success
- Top DevOps Tools Used in 2018
Our resources:
9. Certificates
Enterprise architects (unlike blog writers) can’t talk out of their hat when discussing technology. Outfitting IT and business landscapes in intelligent manners requires dedicated research — the types of which must be learned in school. Like, actual school. Whether related to systems thinking, project management skills, IT governance and operation, or hardware and software knowledge, certification programs committed to enriching EA professionals are multiplying.
Our coverage:
10. GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation that the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission use to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union. The main purpose of the GDPR is to provide a set of standardized data protection laws to protect the "Personally Identifiable Information" of EU citizens. A mixed blessing, the discipline of Enterprise Architecture has seen a great proliferation since GDPR came into being. So, how much pressure is being put on EAs to rescue their companies from compliance nightmares?
Our coverage:
