Most organizations still consider enterprise architecture primarily as a department that supports technology instead of seeing it as the essential backbone for business development, according to a survey of enterprise architects conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group on behalf of MEGA International. For their part, enterprise architects remain optimistic about the evolution of their job and its relevance in organizations.

The survey included 300 enterprise architecture professionals in Europe (50 percent) and the United States (50 percent), and provides information on:

• The challenges faced by organizations in terms of enterprise architecture
• The impact of enterprise architecture on business
• The current and future priorities of the organizations and the means they intend to implement to achieve their objectives

According to the study results, 44 percent of companies have a vision of enterprise architecture centred on IT compared to 26 percent centred on business. Only 18 percent of architects surveyed say they are systematically consulted on company development projects.

However, internal collaborations with enterprise architects mainly concern the security, R&D, and application development departments, areas in which the added value of enterprise architecture no longer needs to be proven.

In particular, the security department recognizes 77 percent of the high added value of EA associated with risk and compliance management (GRC). Similarly, organizations that consider enterprise architecture primarily as technological support recognize 46 percent of its undeniable value in data governance (collection, use, modification, prioritization, security, and confidentiality) as well as for its efficiency in IT cost management.

Main Challenges Faced By Enterprise Architects

Furthermore, 80 percent of enterprise architects surveyed say their company still suffers from too many manual processes and 79 percent of them report they have difficulty collaborating across their entire organization.

When the main purpose of enterprise architecture is to support the company's businesses and their transformation, it comes up against difficulties related to collaboration with the businesses and objectives that conflict with IT priorities.

As a result, for a large majority of respondents, projects take longer to set up (77 percent) and incur higher costs (78 percent) than expected. Yet, despite projects deemed difficult, long, and expensive, the architects are satisfied. Additionally, 7 out of 10 respondents believe that their EA teams add value in the key areas they have identified.

Enterprise Architecture: Increasing Investments

Seventy percent of organizations report that their investments in enterprise architecture have increased (by 15.7 percent on average) and 97 percent of them are planning several significant investments in the next two years.

The main motivations for these investments are to facilitate information, improve business processes, and for cloud architectures. Automation and reinforcement of artificial intelligence are the two major arguments put forward by respondents for obtaining funding. They will be able to count on major allies to convince their management: CTOs and CIOs.

There is reason to remain optimistic about the future of enterprise architects as a role. The value of the business architect profession is considered positive within organizations with 56 percent of architects who feel recognized internally. For 6 out of 10 architects, the profession offers both an increase in skills and development prospects.

In their strategic role to support business in an increasingly digitized economy, enterprise architects more than ever are the essential link between IT and business, and the leaders of digital transformation for organizations.