What's holding back organizations from achieving effective change? A recent IBM study shows more than two-thirds of CEOs are implementing extensive innovations to their business models. And CIOs are hastening to deliver solutions to support this accelerated change agenda. But for many organizations, strategic planning and execution of resulting projects are hampered by the lack of a shared view of the current business and IT landscape -- the enterprise architecture.

Management needs the big picture. They need a view that combines strategy, business architecture, information systems and technology domains. This is crucial for quickly analyzing the impact of proposed changes and prioritizing projects that drive the most value to the business.

Align IT investments with business goals. Creating a platform for business-IT stakeholder collaboration is essential. Effective enterprise architecture supports strategy, analysis and planning by providing stakeholders a blueprint of the current state of the business and IT landscape as well as the desired future state.

Manage complexity to achieve transformation. Today’s applications, systems and platforms have complex interdependencies that make it challenging to enhance IT capability. An enterprise architecture strategy is essential to achieving successful, lasting transformations -- such as major SOA initiatives and package application implementation -- and managing the inherent risks of technology-enabled business transformation.

Enterprise architecture solutions can:

• Help management analyze, plan and execute change faster and with better insight.
• Get IT and business stakeholders collaborating for better alignment around requirements.
• Create enterprise blueprints as a roadmap for exploiting IT architectural building blocks and achieving business transformation.
• Attain improved compliance and more predictable project outcomes.
• Improve IT contribution to business returns with improved integrity and agility.

Recommended solutions for enterprise architecture

• Enterprise architecture management
• Managing enterprise architecture with Rational System Architect
• Enterprise modernization and enterprise architecture
• Service-oriented architecture (SOA)
• Architecture frameworks - DoDAF, TOGAF, MODAF, NAF
• Application modernization and rationalization

Additional services and education

• Enterprise architecture training and certification
• Business and technology integration strategy
• IT strategy and architecture services
• Business application modernization
• Service-oriented architecture professional services

Feature

• IBM EA Blog
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  IBM positioned in the Leaders Quadrant - Gartner Inc.'s 2011 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools

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  Smarter business planning and transformation.