Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBusinessArchitect/~3/3qRVlpq-V30/
Starting a business architecture practice is definitely hard work, but building a sustainable practice is even harder. The data I am seeing is that 60% of business architecture initiatives are failing. The biggest challenge in moving from startup to sustainable practice is that the enablers for starting and propelling a startup forward are not the same enablers that will successfully sustain it over time. Here are the major startup enablers:
Executive sponsorship – The Holy Grail for business architecture startups is executive sponsorship. Though difficult to get, executive sponsorship can quickly move a business architecture program forward with funding and influence. It doesn’t have to be the CEO. We frequently see CIOs, COOs, CFOs, and LOB managers sponsor business architecture initiatives. Sometimes the focus is better strategy execution but often it is targeting a specific problem.
Burning platform – When organizations have a burning strategic issue that needs serious attention, business architects have an excellent opportunity to promote their craft as a viable method to understand and resolve the problem. The problem is clear, the urgency is high, and the solution is evasive – otherwise it wouldn’t be burning. Helping resolve a highly visible and painful problem provides business architects a quick way to demonstrate their value.
Exploiting inefficiencies – The most common approach used by enterprise architects moving into business architecture is finding efficiency gains largely in the IT application and project portfolios. This is one of the most seductive startup methods because finding cost savings is a well understood approach, CIOs and other IT leaders are constantly challenged to reduce IT’s cost, and in most companies inefficiencies are easy to find. On the other hand, the value proposition for this method has a short half-life.
Business-IT alignment – Really a form of executive sponsorship, business-IT alignment is seen often enough that it deserves its own category. In many, if not most, companies the CIO and business leaders alike are frustrated with the lack of alignment between business needs and IT’s ability to deliver. I am seeing numerous instances of IT-business relationship managers (both in IT and business) transform their role to that of business architect.
The challenge with all of these models is that they are “investor” focused and often have a declining value proposition. The more work business architecture does, the more difficult it becomes to produce the returns the investors expect.
The bottom line:_________________________________________________________________
Business architects should see startup enablers for what they are – a quick way to jumpstart the business architecture practice but not a sustainable ongoing model. To move beyond startup mode to a thriving and sustainable practice, business architects need to 1.) shift from “investor” support to “customer” support, and 2) develop a growing portfolio of products and services that can be applied broadly across the organization to a wide variety of problems.
