Five areas where EA matters more than ever

The discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) is often criticized for forcing technology choices on business users or producing software analyses no one uses. But the practice of EA is booming today, and architects of any description are hard to find and “incredibly expensive,” says Gartner Research VP Marcus Blosch. Forrester Research has identified more than 20 types of enterprise architecture roles being used by its clients. They range from organizational architects who define business and operating models to projects, platforms, and digital architects. “The list is growing and growing,” says Gordon Barnett, principal analyst at Forrester, “moving away from EA that just looks at applications and infrastructure to be truly enterprise. You need an ecosystem of subject-matter experts. You may not call them architects, but they still do the role of an architect.” Here’s how savvy EA practitioners are helping businesses meet three of today’s most pressing business challenges.