By allowing an organization to analyze and visualize the entire business and apply business blueprints to both strategic transformation initiatives and ongoing business challenges, business architecture becomes an enabler of critical business strategies. This issue of Cutter IT Journal brings these factors to light through five articles by business architecture practitioners. These articles discuss business architecture in the context of strategic planning, requirements analysis, holistic business analysis, strategic transformation, and organizational transformation.

According to Guest Editor Patrick DeBois, "Only by providing positive results to the business and management can IT reverse its bad reputation and become a reliable partner again. In order to do that, we need to break through blockers in our thought process, and devops invites us to challenge traditional organizational barriers. The days of top-down control are over -- devops is a grass-roots movement similar to other horizontal revolutions, such as Facebook. The role of management is changing: no longer just directive, it is taking a more supportive role, unleashing the power of the people on the floor to achieve awesome results."