If you’re considering enhancing your company’s data strategy, you might have heard the term ‘Enterprise Architecture’ thrown about. But what is Enterprise Data Architecture, how does it work, and is it the right fit for your company’s needs?
In this guide, our data architects demystify Enterprise Architecture, from its advantages to who needs it and even some examples of how we’ve used it in the past, allowing you to clearly judge if it’s the approach for you.
What Is Enterprise Architecture?
Enterprise Architecture focuses on the ‘big picture’. How things align to the overall strategic goals of your business, rather than focusing on the individual elements. The other side of the coin that focuses on specific project delivery would be Solution Architecture. Enterprise Architecture and Solution Architecture go hand in hand and efforts in foundational Enterprise Architecture work will pay dividends in ensuring that individual solutions are aligned to the bigger picture and deliver on your business’ goals.
What Does an Enterprise Architect Do?
An enterprise architect looks at your business in its entirety, including your existing data and processes, workers, customers and customer base, product and service offerings, and, above all, your short and long-term goals.
The architect then defines a set of capabilities, standards and roadmaps aligned to your business goals, including all the data solutions you’ll need to implement. This could involve a new or optimised data platform, AI tools, system synchronisation, etc. The result? A much smoother path from where your company is to where it wants to be with data whilst also considering the people and process changes required along the way.
Who Benefits From Enterprise Data Architecture?
If you have a complex business landscape with a number of moving parts, adopting an enterprise architecture approach can ensure that each part continues to work in harmony. This means that large businesses will almost always require enterprise architecture.
Mid-sized businesses often underestimate their need for an enterprise approach. Still, if your company has a lot of staff or multiple departments, enterprise architecture is likely the approach you’ll need to keep everything and everyone coordinated.
Even smaller businesses can benefit from aspects of enterprise architecture, the key is choosing the parts that help you achieve your goals in a strategic manner without becoming encumbered by a complex framework.
Pros and Cons of Enterprise Architecture
When you opt for an Enterprise Architecture approach, you ensure that your deliverables align with your overall business strategy, avoid conflicting technologies, and define aligned patterns and guiderails.
If your business is experiencing multiple changes at once, Enterprise Architecture can synchronise these changes so that they work in complete harmony. Whilst Enterprise Architecture can get you a long way on the journey, when it comes to considering implementation, Solution Architecture takes over the baton. A successful Enterprise Architecture phase will ensure that the Solutions Architect has everything they need to design a solution that conforms to wider enterprise standards as well as making sure that there is alignment to overarching business goals.
Common Concerns with Enterprise Data Architecture
Enterprise Architecture is a large-scale undertaking that touches every corner of your business, so it’s natural to have concerns, which we’re happy to unpack.
You may want to solve an issue straight away with a single tool, but Enterprise Architecture is the missing step required to understand what tool you need and how it will integrate into your existing landscape. To quote our Principal Data Architect, Matt Peckham: “Buying a “thing” over a capability may seem easier, but it’s far less effective.”
You may be concerned about the length of time Enterprise Architecture takes and desire an agile delivery approach, where parts of a solution are delivered in chunks. At the same time, upfront thinking and planning is still needed. As Peckham states: “Don’t think of Enterprise Architecture as a blocker but as an enabler for ensuring your end business value is delivered”.
Businesses also struggle to implement Enterprise Architecture when they are very operationally focused and react to operational demand. Moving to proactivity is a significant cultural challenge for businesses that operate this way. Concurrently, understanding longer term plans, as achieved with Enterprise Architecture, helps with reacting to the immediate by allowing you to learn from challenges and implement processes for future issues.
How Does Enterprise Architecture Respond to a Quickly Changing Tech Market?
As new technologies like AI constantly emerge, it’s understandable to wonder how Enterprise Architecture will adapt. Well, fear not – Enterprise Architecture holds strong against changing tech tides.
In the words of Principal Data Architect Matt Strong, “Tech may change, but the approach to defining what technology you need doesn’t”.
How Has Oakland Successfully Used an Enterprise Architecture Framework?
At Oakland, we have utilised Enterprise Architecture to revolutionise many of our client’s approaches to their data. Sometimes this has leaned on existing frameworks such as The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) whilst on other occasions we have employed a more light-weight and pragmatic approach.
Elvie needed to expand its initial data platform by adding product data. However, we knew this would be limited in value without understanding the big picture of how the business would use the data in question.
To correct this, we used an Enterprise Data Model to distil the business into main points of activity, allowing us to make sense of the data within the business’s structure. This resulted in a data platform that seamlessly aligned with what Elvie needed, maximising the benefit of the product data.
In our work with Yorkshire Water, we dealt with a complex multi year, multi discipline, multi partner business transformation. Through a data strategy workshop we were able to understand their needs and overall business goal. We initially began with a quick win strategy to tackle their bio resource modelling before taking an Enterprise Architecture approach to align the new platforms with planned and preexisting platforms. This cohesion gave Yorkshire Water a more joined-up, single view of their customers.
Why Choose Oakland’s Enterprise Architecture Services?
As a use-case-driven data agency, Oakland is committed to minimising the barriers to Enterprise Architecture. We begin with the basics, delivering only what you need without unnecessary additions.
Furthermore, our Enterprise Architects get stuck right in—no planning away in an ivory tower for us! We embed ourselves right into your team, working as closely with you as possible to truly get to know not only your wants and needs but also your pain points. Through this approach, we craft an Enterprise Architecture Framework that fits your business like a glove.
Interested in how an Enterprise Data Architecture Framework can benefit your business? Contact Oakland today and we’ll be happy to arrange a consultation.
