In the 21st century, every company is a technology company. Innovations in artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other advanced technologies have enabled companies to do things previously unimaginable when it comes to customer experiences, business growth, and revenue. 

All of that comes at a cost, of course. New technologies, system upgrades, and keeping track of it all comes with a high price tag. So, after all that money has been spent across a variety of departments and roles, why would business leaders fail to have enterprise architecture (EA) roadmaps? 

While often overlooked, EA roadmaps are essential. Not only do they deliver the path for successful transitions between technologies or processes, but they also communicate the business process changes that are required for stable and successful companies. Ultimately, these roadmaps don’t just define where you are in your current state, but where you’re going in your future. 

With the right set of tools, architects can create extremely valuable roadmaps. Acting as a collaborative force across the business, EA can turn technology strategy into a reality. A well-designed tool provides a visual of the people, applications, infrastructure, projects, and responsibilities behind the go-to-market process. Architects can then filter the information to target specific strategic issues or questions, providing a customized and responsive overview for the company. Helping the business understand what’s in its tech stack and who can access what tools will build a clearer understanding of its trajectory. 

Each technology strategy needs a customized implementation approach. Before starting, however, don’t forget about the change management that comes with implementing any new technology strategy. People, processes, and technology are the heartbeat of every organization and focusing just on the latter will doom your project to fail. 

With that in mind, here are three ways EA roadmaps help drive the technology implementation process. 

Reveal Business Application Landscapes

A new tech implementation will likely impact the other apps and tools in your tech stack, so you must know what’s in the stack in order to assess the impact and build a clear understanding of your starting point. If leaders lack insight into your application and infrastructure portfolio, they should probably start with a good architecture tool. An EA tool enables them to have a full understanding of their toolbox and a complete overview of all assets. 

An EA tool should give decision-makers an understanding of what they have in their tech ecosystems, how they can leverage their assets, and what challenges they may face in undergoing that process. EA gives the context of why and how well a tool satisfies a business need. By using EA, business leaders have a current snapshot of how well applications are serving business needs and the ability to drive future business outcomes.

EA is also critical for data flows and integrations, especially as organizations become more complex and require greater software management. Take, for example, the way data flows from one application to another with Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and IT Lifecycle Management (ITLM). Using these tools enables you to better control your applications with reliable data and understand your application landscape.

Even before the need for data management and analysis, EA is a tool for leveraging IT power. Those companies that choose an EA partner are investing in both their current technology stack and the betterment of their business overall. By linking software tools with their ROI for organizations, EA has a breadth of benefits for leaders looking to actualize potential.

Visualize Dependencies and Overlaps 

Full understanding of all the connections between applications when you’re moving them is critical. It helps you assess the impact on other connected applications and the business areas affected through these applications and determine the effort required to move the connections accordingly, making software transitions and M&A activity a cost-effective practice, rather than a high-risk, high-loss endeavor.

Whether you are modernizing an application, reducing spend, or managing a post-acquisition or merger, understanding the dependencies and overlaps are what dictate a successful or costly change process. Truly navigating these transformations requires decision-makers to be able to understand not only the technical complexity of integrations and data flows, but the business context and performance of the change in question. A strong EA team and tooling can give strategic decision-makers that 30,000-foot view of overlap and untapped opportunity, while still drilling down to ensure that the cost-benefit analysis is grounded with all dependencies on the table.

When your strategy includes working with applications, you can map dependencies between different applications and the application’s infrastructure. With this overview, you have a picture of the applications, know where dependencies are, and understand the effect of changing or phasing out applications. In addition, you can see if change initiatives overlap to make execution difficult.  

A dependency map helps visualize the dependencies. A thorough analysis and good visuals will help you understand: 

• What people, processes, or technology are necessary to deliver a specific capability for the business
• Dependencies, opportunities, and constraints
• Which application integrations would need replacement if an application is phased out
• Which infrastructure components can be phased out together with the application

Assess Business Transformation Initiatives with Cost Maps

Cost is a considerable factor when assessing the benefits of a change. And when we speak of cost, it’s not simply the dollars involved – it’s the impact on the business. If application and implementation costs ran the organization $150,000, it may not feel like much spend. But what’s the benefit of the change? And can you track what roles or processes have been altered? If you’re not assessing the overall cost of ownership – which includes your people and processes – you’ve missed the boat. The cost of change can be quite high without all the insights, so knowing the ground-level details of enterprise changes will better aid how technology is implemented and used by a business. 

Unfortunately, cost/benefit isn’t a black-and-white number. You’d also need to consider the non-monetary benefits of the change. Perhaps it saves time or gives a value that is not evident in terms of numbers.  Modern EA should be able to provide context to cost and impact by aligning your strategy with execution. By capturing not only what you achieve strategically but also how you plan to do so, you are able to calculate a truer cost of action or inaction. Being able to combine this with the more structured financial metrics gives EAs and decision-makers a better roadmap to discuss the tradeoffs and guide the business towards successful transformation and strategy realization.

Being able to clearly map an application’s cost will allow you to understand:

• Current cost of infrastructure and applications 
• The cost structure and its impact on capabilities and organizational units that use the applications

We’ve talked about roadmaps here and they are essential; however, once those roadmaps are in place, there is one more essential component that goes part and parcel with them. With roadmaps, leaders are asking all team members, from application and software specialists to the C-suite, to provide real-time updates on how they work, which in turn democratizes all businesses processes and makes the information easily accessible across the company. By maintaining a continuously updated current-state architecture roadmap, EA provides a comprehensive, enterprise-wide picture of projected business at all times. If an EA practice can connect teams to their respective application processes in the context of their skill-sets or capabilities, leaders will be able to better utilize the talent they currently have and ensure that their most valuable people are not a bottleneck, but instead working on bringing strategy to life.

Whatever a company’s strategy, there will always be essential tools along the way that are needed to realize that vision. Data-driven roadmaps will show leaders how to develop their long-term strategy, while adding technology into their enterprise infrastructure, allowing processes to be built for a successful implementation.