Negotiating the Path to Business Architecture/IT Architecture Alignment

by William M. Ulrich

Business architecture enables organizations to deliver a wide range of tactical and strategic business scenarios. Many business scenarios, however, cannot rely solely on the business architecture. At a minimum, project teams must understand the complex relationships between these two continuously shifting architectures for strategic, program, and project planning purposes. Business professionals who ignore the IT architecture will deliver only partial solutions at best. And when IT attempts to deliver complex, business-driven projects without allowing the business architecture to drive the evolution of the IT architecture, projects fall far short of objectives.

In this issue of Cutter IT Journal, we’ll discuss the essential discipline of business architecture/IT architecture alignment. You’ll learn how value analysis -- a key component of business architecture -- can uncover opportunities for IT organizations to provide essential differentiating support capabilities and even standalone, technology-only products and services. And you’ll hear how the dreaded "business-IT gap" has actually been misidentified -- one author claims the gap is in the business itself. Fortunately, business architecture can show a business what its needs really are, leading to IT architectures and solutions that better meet those needs and to close integration between business strategy and IT execution. Join us and discover how to put your organization on a more productive, value-adding path.