So, you are an Enterprise Architect. What exactly do you do?
I have in more than one occasion run into people who seem to confuse between an Enterprise Architect and an Enterprise Application Architect.
Wikipedia defines Enterprise Architects as “practitioners of enterprise architecture.” And, the same source has this for “Enterprise Architecture” – “the organizing logic for business processes and IT infrastructure reflecting the integration and standardization requirements of the firm’s operating model.” But, Wikipedia entry on Enterprise Architecture begins with this line “…refers to many things.”
An Enterprise Application Architect on the other hand is an Application architect. Granted that the application they are responsible for might be an ERP or CRM system. Yes, these applications do tend to support multiple business processes and cut across various departments in an organization. However, the focus of an application architect is the present – an implementation or enhancement of the application. And, their involvement in this is very detailed.
The focus of an Enterprise Architect is the future and their task is to roadmap the present to the future. Their involvement in specific project initiatives is likely to be limited to consultations rather than daily involvement in the details. I have come across Enterprise Architects and companies who tend to talk more about their current state, how they went about documenting it rather than on the future state and how they plan to get there. Knowing where you are is important to create a roadmap to bridge the current with the future. However, to dwell on the current state is to lose an opportunity to make the future state a reality.
