Assignment Task
Introduction
Enterprise architecture is defined as the conceptual blueprint that is responsible for defining the operations and structure of the organization. The EA intends to identify how efficiently a firm can attain its future and current objectives (Niemi 587). The report will provide insight into different concepts of EA through which firm can have leverage into their operations.
Importance of EA in organization
Enterprise architecture comprises the practice of conducting analysis, formulation of plans, designing and eventual execution of the analysis for the organization. EA is responsible for furnishing different departments in a business to acknowledge the business model and articulate business risks and challenges. It has a critical role in coordinating and unifying the departmental processes within the firm and also assists in determining the gap within the business activities through which informed decisions can be formulated. It provides the firm with the blueprint or map of the operations and structure that must be considered by the firm for delivering its organizational operations. The blueprint must comprise information on the business processes and IT assets through which efficient understanding can be created of the organizational functioning. Enterprise architecture provides the organization with a long-term view and a long picture of their operations through which inclined assistance can be provided in the formulation of decision-making. The organization processes and systems can be developed where the emphasis will be made on the formulation of the business strategies and it also provides support for handling the organizational data. It is important to ensure the integration and consistency of the information that is being preserved by the firm.
EA in bridging the gap between technology solutions business solution
Based on the market requirements and environment in which the firm is delivering its services are analysed and they formulate the solution for and
addressing those. EA assists in the promotion of team alignment and standardisation of organizational operations (Van den Berg 135). The business strategies are formulated by the firm to address the external requirements of the marketplace and execution of the technology, the alignment among these is essential for determining that market needs can be addressed. The challenge is to integrate two different domains so that the objectives can be merged and ensure that it is platform independent so that it can be executed on any system irrespective of its configuration. EA acts as the interface between technology and business operations that furnishes a comprehensive picture of the enterprise from the different perspectives of the builder, owner, and designer. The organization can bridge the gap between business aspirations and technology investment by initiating a future-back approach that keeps the workforce, and humans within the centre of the strategy. EA provides the firm with an agility that enables it to ensure that strategies strongly emphasise agile adoption. Enterprise architecture builds the gap by furnishing assistance to growing organizations by merging their IT infrastructure so that translation of strategies can be acquired through clearly defining the processes, technological requirements and procedures (Van de Wetering). It aids in merging the gap between the different organizational concepts. For example, SSO (single sign-on) is a kind of access control for software systems and it can be attained through IP addressing. The whole system can be accessed by users through individual IDs.
EA in the attainment of business objectives and enhancing processes
The gap can be determined by rationalising the information present within the system that enables what needs to be measured and techniques that can be applied to indecision. The architecture that is developed must furnish the firm and individuals with the information through which they can conduct their operations. Here, the architecture will enable them to deliver transparency within the operations that are being conducted and for this, they restrict access to the information based on the responsibilities that have to be conducted by human resources. The applications and processes are standardized which enables firms to attain stability within the operations that are being conducted them. The standard processes are responsible to incline efficiency by minimising the risks that might be encountered while delivering their services. A better infrastructure yields a firm with a successful outcome.
How EA enables to attain the organizational goals
The enterprise architecture is responsible for saving time for IT employees which enables them to attain the optimization of the IT processes and tools which prevents the bigger issues through detection of the causes behind the problem so that these can be detected quickly. The disruptions within the business operations can be handled efficiently without the loss of time and effort of the employees (Dumitriu 933). It aids firm to attain their goals and objectives as per the desired standards.
Importance of identification of industry trends in developing effective EA practices
Enterprise architecture is the solution for addressing the complexities. The complex systems are difficult to be managed and it might lead to a decline the efficiency and errors within the processes conducted by the organization. EA enables to decline of the system complexities through its usage and addresses the market trends through detection and stopping the processes that do not make any significant contribution to the targets. The usage of the information is inclined significantly which poses a serious threat to the firms to analyse the requirements of their potential customers (Aldea). The EA must be developed in such a manner that the market trends can be analysed and must be incorporated within the organizational functioning. The market realities and industry trends must be executed within the architecture so that efficient operations can be conducted. The industrial will allow the firm to ensure that efficient use of resources and cost is made through which they can sustain the competition prevailing within the marketplace through inclined usage of the EA practices.
How EA practitioners remain up-to-date with development in the field
The EA practitioners make use of online resources as the internet enables them to have limitless access to information. The industry analysis can be conducted by the organization to attain the prevailing trends and what is being done by the competitors. It will enable them to amplify their operations by considering the latest knowledge, the market evolution needs to be analysed to attain an understanding of how the firm will deliver their operations to cope with the challenging environment. The knowledge acquired through in-depth analysis of the information enables them to execute or implement it within their existing systems so that a precise outcome can be attained. The EA enables to eradicate the processes which do not add value to the firm and will not provide any relevant benefits such as repetitive processes. The result attained will allow the firm to save the cost and resources needed for the processing of data or conducting operations. High agility is attained through the usage of the EA which implies that analysis can be done and changes can be made within the system quickly as per the industrial standards. The IT processes and strategies can be efficiently adapted to the new models and can be renewed.
Comparison of V or W and T shape employees
V-shaped employees possess an in-depth understanding of one particular area and broad knowledge related to other areas. They are referred to as adjacent knowledge where they do not possess a deep understanding of other areas as compared to core expertise and are shallow (Kotusev 104). The adjacent knowledge is medium-broad and medium-deep which allows V-shaped employees to be agile and versatile that enables them to switch their roles and attain growth beyond their primary responsibilities. They are agile, versatile and can adapt to the changing business requirement rapidly.
T-shaped employees illustrate human resources with breadth and depth of expertise. The vertical bar specified the deep expertise in the skill set or respective area and the horizontal bar depicts the broader knowledge of other skills or areas. These employees possess a strong foundation within a single field but possess knowledge in another field also. The combined expertise enables them efficiently collaborate and communicate with others so that a broader understanding can be developed in the context.
The key difference between V and T-shaped employees is in terms of the level of expertise possessed by them in their core areas (Gong et al.). The V-shaped employees are more effective and versatile as compared to T-shaped employees as they tend to bring in a tailored and holistic approach to problem-solving.
The V-shaped employees are valued within the firm as they enable them to have a multidisciplinary approach to problem-solving so that they can efficiently work in a team with distinct skill sets. The organization can have a mix of both employees as each possesses unique skills and strengths through which organizational goals can be accomplished.
Conclusion
From above it can be concluded that enterprise architecture is defined as the conceptual blueprint that is responsible for defining the operations and structure of the firm. It enables the firm to determine how its future and present requirements can be addressed. It involves practices for analysis, planning, design, and eventual execution of the enterprise analysis. The gap between technology and objectives can be addressed through the effective alignment of the associated objectives. Firms make use of both V and T-shaped employees so that leverage can be attained from the strengths of both of these.