Architecting For Change

In todays business world, speed and change are the most popular words.
There is an unprecedented change and this is driven by developments in digital
technologies. Such as social, cloud, analytics, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) are
moving with an amazing speed. At this point, Internet of Things deserves
special attention. Cisco predicts that more than 50 billion things will be
connected to the internet by 2020. This creates
incredible complexity.
Companies are struggling to adapt themselves to the new changing environment,
because not adapting is not an option. If youre not the first, your competitor may
win. The only way for companies is architecting their future strategies and
processes through emerging technology.
IT organizations have to consider more technologies and types of soluitons ever
before. Despite the static perceptions of architecture word, we need an
architecture and we build it by architecting the change. There is a shifting
paradigm from monolithic applications to smaller components and service
modules. Compainies can no longer afford massive, complex multi-year system
implementations. New applications should be agile. Modular architectures, nextgeneration integration techniques, cloud-first, mobile-first mindset are the
characteristics of new architecting effort.
Generally agile is used for software development but I want to use it for
companies too. Because, it is a enterprise-wide issue and they should be agile in
order to adapt in changing world. Agility can be broken into 3 levels in this
context:

Business Level
Process Level
System Level

At this point, Enterprise Architecture (EA) comes up onto the stage. EA is the best
candidate because its scope is the entire enterprise and can impact on all of
these areas. In my opinion appliying EA is best in changing environments. Lets
look at one of its definition: EA is conceptual tool that helps organizations get a
deeper understanding of their own structure and of the way they work. It
provides a map of the enterprise and it is a route planner for business and
technology change. Important uses of it are in systematic IT planning/architecting
and in enhanced analysis and support for decision-making.
There is another recommendation coming from Gartner. In Hype Cycle for
Enterprise Architecture 2013 report, Gartner places disruptive forces at the
center of the emerging EA mandate:
"Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a discipline for proactively and holistically leading
enterprise responses to disruptive forces by identifying and analyzing the
execution of change toward desired business vision and outcomes."

OK, we understand that there is a change and we have to adapt to it but what are
the core characteristics of to-be architecture? You will find them below:

Modular applications including small and reusable components/services

Platform integration capabilities, API Management, connected applications
(IofT)
Integrated Big Data in applications & business processes

Using your agile to outmanoeuvre your competitor sounds good but it is not
easy work. In this effort you will face new challenges:

How can these new technologies fit in legacy/packaged systems?

How can we change, make flexible add functionality to legacy systems?

Indeed , you may add new concerns but it doesnt change the fact that you need
different approaches for different systems and architecture types. New emerging
architecture styles ,Hybrid Architecture, Microservice Arhitecture, should be
closely followed in this manner but I want to focus on Gartners BiModel IT
approach. It is the practice of managing two separate, coherent modes of IT
delivery, one focused on stability and the other on agility. Mode 1 is traditional
and sequential, emphasizing safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is exploratory and
nonlinear, emphasizing agility and speed.

Mode 1: Legacy systems, proven technology, big up-front investments,

classical waterfall processes, long release cycles, failure is not an
option ...
Mode 2: Modern internet-based systems, latest & greatest technologies,
Agile/DevOps process, continuous delivery, fail fast ...

BiModel IT is one of the approaches that helps you understand that there are two
worlds. I beleive that only EA can help you connecting these worlds.
Today, businesses are being forced to adapt the change and not adapting is not
an option. I think agility is key and architecture is indispensible for sustained
agility. Enterprise Architecture, by leveraging its emergent business architecture
capabilities and its traditional technology focus, is aiding businesses to win in this
new world.
Haydar Arslanca
Twitter: @ArchForChange