Enterprise Architects: The Agents of Digital Transformation

Enterprise architects are specialized industry professionals responsible for leading joint business and IT planning in organizations, thereby enabling the success of their digital transformation efforts. Despite their immediate relevance to today's ubiquitous digitalization tendencies, the very presence of enterprise architects, as unique organizational characters, is largely unnoticed in the mainstream discourse and their role undeservingly remains in the shadow. Even though enterprise architects have existed, in some form, since the dawn of business computing, no comprehensive information sources devoted specifically to their profession have been created so far. Whereas the broader phenomenon of enterprise architecture enjoyed significant attention in the industry, the central actors of the respective practices themselves relatively rarely became the subject of discussion, as if their behavior and activities are self-evident.

Based on an extensive study of the work of enterprise architects and the existing topical literature, this book provides the first detailed and systematic description of various aspects of their occupation integrated into a coherent logical picture. In particular, this book offers clear, research-based, conceptually sound and practically actionable answers to the key questions about enterprise architects:

Who are enterprise architects as personalities and what do they do?What knowledge, skills and experience do enterprise architects possess?What kind of instruments do enterprise architects employ?What activities do enterprise architects perform and how do these activities compose their work in organizations?What types and specializations of architects exist and how do they differ?What challenges do enterprise architects face in their job and how can they be overcome?What should one do to become an enterprise architect in the future?

This book is organized in a highly structured, sequential manner and does not require any prior acquaintance with the trade of enterprise architects. The book is intended for a broad audience of people interested in enterprise architects including aspiring and experienced practitioners, architecture managers, academic researchers, lecturers and students in universities.