Why You Need an Enterprise Architecture Assessment

Many companies experience challenges from time to time within the areas of projects, people, and technology. These challenges can include operational IT inefficiencies, inaccurate project estimates, unsuitable staffing allocations, or delays due to sub-optimal business processes.  While many of these are typically one-off situations that can be addressed directly, an organization that routinely experiences these challenges may lack a solid Enterprise Architecture (EA). The absence of an EA can adversely impact a company’s ability to accomplish its goals and outcomes successfully and optimally.  

RevGen defines Enterprise Architecture as a holistic view of the enterprise that identifies how technology (foundational systems and data) enables a company’s people and business processes to achieve strategic objectives through timely and informed context-based decisions.   

Why is Enterprise Architecture Important? 

When an organization lacks an Enterprise Architecture, it lacks visibility into its current technical environment and is unable to optimize or identify where efficiencies and cost savings can be achieved.   

An Enterprise Architecture can help a company:  

• Execute business strategies clearly and efficiently 
• Improve the quality of operational processes 
• Prioritize resources and govern expenses
• Identify disruptive technologies sooner 
• Facilitate innovation 

An EA becomes more important when an organization desires to address operational inefficiencies or looks to perform a digital transformation. Without this big picture clarity into systems, processes, and roles, project execution and transformations may become delayed, miss expectations, or outright fail. So, why not go through an EA Assessment to see where you stand?    

Benefits Obtained Through an EA Assessment 

An EA Assessment offers tremendous benefit by enabling a more complete understanding of the technology gaps and operational inefficiencies that may be barriers to consistent and successful operations.   

What can you expect out of an EA Assessment? 

Once an EA Assessment is completed you can expect key insights, through tangible artifacts, for shoring up your EA to best support upcoming projects or transformation initiatives.  These tangible artifacts help with planning and offer actionable steps to achieve your business objectives. These artifacts often include: 

• Business Capability Map – Captured view of current and future organizational capabilities and digital investments 
• Value Streams – Identified value delivery mechanisms that drive your most fundamental end-to-end processes
• Roadmaps – Prioritized projects focusing on cost/benefit and the right order of implementation
• Project Plans – Defined projects with objectives, expected outcomes, identified risks, and essential requirements
• Solution Designs – Designed implementation plans that include application, data, and infrastructure architectural details 

Why it’s critical to understand your EA 

Your Enterprise Architecture is the critical foundation from which your people and processes are enabled. A holistic view of your organization can increase the chances of success for your operational projects and digital transformation efforts making them more effective and reducing risk. RevGen’s Digital Enablement practice is here to help take you through an Enterprise Architecture assessment that provides a critical view of your organization.