Just like an office building needs an architect to design a blueprint that encompasses every aspect of that building, every company needs a business architect to ensure operations, systems, and technology all fit with the strategic vision of the company. Business Architecture is what an organization does and how they do it. It’s a business discipline that focuses on a variety of areas such as strategy, governance, operational capabilities, organizational design, data, and metrics.
A business architect focuses on each of these elements as they design the overall business architecture. They are responsible for bringing forward business solutions and leading the execution of the plan as well. An experienced business architect brings years of experience from a variety of business functions and focuses the culmination of their results on Operational Excellence.
Many organizations believe they can wing business strategy, and I fully believe in creative freedom, but as you scale it’s going to be very important to build operational efficiency at the foundational level instead of taking a defensive approach. It may seem overwhelming at first to tackle everything, (which is where a business architect shines), but don’t feel like you need to do it all at once: pick an area with the most challenges and manual processes in your business, and target that one first. The benefit of doing this is repeatability and accountability. Ultimately, this allows you to focus on value-added activities with your team and customers instead of daily operational bottlenecks.
- Business Strategy focuses on business planning from vision through executing those tactical activities. This is the foundation of your business, you are, and how you want to grow.
- Governance provides a mechanism for accountability and autonomy across different areas of your business including processes sustainable practices, and operating procedures.
- People drive your culture, deliver your product or service, and champion evolution in your business.
- Projects are the internal and external activities delivering value with a return on investment (ROI). This encompasses your company’s operational and customer/client projects.
- Control is a state where you sustain, measure, and incrementally improve the operational excellence model.
Why would I hire a consulting firm to offer business architecture services?
Most organizations do not have the talent or diverse experience to evolve their business. They do a great job operationally but struggle to pivot, optimize, and/or grow. At 5P the way we provide business solutions for our clients include:
Business Process Design (BPD) – We deep dive into current state, understand future state, and design what that will look like. We then develop gaps between the two and define the activities that need to get done to move you into the future state. Business Architects have the skills to facilitate these activities in a collaborative team session focusing on results. Moving from conversation to actionable activities will get you to the future state quickly. We do this with whiteboarding sessions (in-person & virtual) and wireframing techniques.
Fractional CIO (vCIO) – vCIOs are part-time augmented resources in our business that help bridge the gap between Information Technology and the business, which aids in the delivery of aligned goals and metrics through infrastructure and applications.
Business Intelligence (BI) – BI is the practice of taking data and transforming it into insights for strategic decisions and tactical activities. This ranges from how you manage the data, transform the data, and build reporting so the data shows up in a way a business user can dynamically see trends and make actionable decisions.
A Business Architect can bring a fresh set of eyes to your business. They are professionals who have worked with many different types of organizations and bring frameworks to help you meet your business strategy and goals through solutions.
Let 5P partner with you to bring forward the business solutions you need to reach your overall goals. Reach out today to learn more and we’d be happy to schedule a free consultation.
Y’vonne Ormond – CEO, 5P Consulting
760-652-9127
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Originally published August 7th, 2020.