Architecting for Change
Architecting For Change
In today’s business world, “speed” and “change” are the most popular words. There is an unprecedented change and this is driven by developments in digital technologies. Such as social, cloud, analytics, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) are moving with an amazing speed. At this point, “Internet of Things” deserves special attention. Cisco predicts that more than 50 billion “things” will be connected to the internet by 2020. This creates incredible complexity. Companies are struggling to adapt themselves to the new changing environment, because not adapting is not an option. If you’re not the first, your competitor may win. The only way for companies is architecting their future strategies and processes through emerging technology.
IT organizations have to consider more technologies and types of soluitons ever before. Despite the “static” perceptions of “architecture” word, we need an architecture and we build it by architecting the change. There is a shifting paradigm from monolithic applications to smaller components and service modules. Compainies can no longer afford massive, complex multi-year system implementations. New applications should be agile. Modular architectures, next-generation integration techniques, cloud-first, mobile-first mindset are the characteristics of new architecting effort.
Generally “agile” is used for software development but I want to use it for companies too. Because, it is a enterprise-wide issue and they should be agile in order to adapt in changing world. Agility can be broken into 3 levels in this context:
- Business Level
- Process Level
- System Level
At this point, Enterprise Architecture (EA) comes up onto the stage. EA is the best candidate because its scope is the entire enterprise and can impact on all of these areas. In my opinion appliying EA is best in changing environments. Let’s look at one of its definition: “EA is conceptual tool that helps organizations get a deeper understanding of their own structure and of the way they work. It provides a map of the enterprise and it is a “route planner” for business and technology change. Important uses of it are in systematic IT planning/architecting and in enhanced analysis and support for decision-making.”
There is another recommendation coming from Gartner. In “Hype Cycle for Enterprise Architecture 2013” report, Gartner places disruptive forces at the center of the emerging EA mandate:
“Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a discipline for proactively and holistically leading enterprise responses to disruptive forces by identifying and analyzing the execution of change toward desired business vision and outcomes.”
OK, we understand that there is a change and we have to adapt to it but what are the core characteristics of to-be architecture? You will find them below:
- Modular applications including small and reusable components/services
- Platform integration capabilities, API Management, connected applications (IofT)
- Integrated Big Data in applications & business processes
Using your “agile” to outmanoeuvre your competitor sounds good but it is not easy work. In this effort you will face new challenges:
- How can these new technologies fit in legacy/packaged systems?
- How can we change, make flexible add functionality to legacy systems?
Indeed , you may add new concerns but it doesn’t change the fact that you need different approaches for different systems and architecture types. New emerging architecture styles ,Hybrid Architecture, Microservice Arhitecture, should be closely followed in this manner but I want to focus on Gartner’s BiModel IT approach. It is the practice of managing two separate, coherent modes of IT delivery, one focused on stability and the other on agility. Mode 1 is traditional and sequential, emphasizing safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is exploratory and nonlinear, emphasizing agility and speed.
- Mode 1: Legacy systems, proven technology, big up-front investments, classical waterfall processes, long release cycles, “failure is not an option” …
- Mode 2: Modern internet-based systems, latest & greatest technologies, Agile/DevOps process, continuous delivery, “fail fast” …
BiModel IT is one of the approaches that helps you understand that there are two worlds. I beleive that only EA can help you connecting these worlds.
Today, businesses are being forced to adapt the change and not adapting is not an option. I think agility is key and architecture is indispensible for sustained agility. Enterprise Architecture, by leveraging its emergent business architecture capabilities and its traditional technology focus, is aiding businesses to win in this new world.