According to Forrester, when times get tough, the tough turn to their enterprise architects to keep projects in synch with the ever-more sensitive constraints of the business.
As Analyst Gene Leganza puts it in a new report (summarized here in ComputerWorld), enterprise architects begin to sweat a bit more when things get tough, because companies tend to put big software projects on the chopping block. “Enterprise architects fear such scrutiny because the strategic focus of enterprise architecture (EA) can make it seem far from a must-have," he says. "But careful planning is more important in uncertain times, and architects can guide execs to the best decisions on where to invest and where to cut.”
But there are ways to head the executioners off at the pass, Leganza observes. One is to "proactively present CIOs them with a prioritized, cost-quantified list of the low-impact items available for cuts, the most important things not to cut, and the most valuable places to invest any remaining available funds."
Another preventative measure is one that is said over and over, but nonetheless critical -- link past and future activities to business goals. "Hot technologies," such as service oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management, “when done right,” can make an organization more flexible and agile.
There you go, SOA and BPM as career savers. Need we say more?
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