For the past few years now, I’ve worked in the Health Insurance industry. I remember going to work on one of my first days there, and not being able to get to Google Drive. Not only that, I couldn’t open a Google Doc, or use any of a host of Google tools. It was then I was told that due to security concerns, specifically the protection of Private Health Information (PHI), and HIPAA compliance, we were restricted from any file sharing sites that were hosted in the Cloud.  And it only got worse. As I came to find out later, not only were employees restricted from the Cloud, but none of our applications and products used cloud storage. All our storage was in our own data centers. Coming as I did from a company that embraced the Cloud, this experience felt so backward, and I’ve been doing a slow cynical burn about it ever since.

Having said that, when I first began Bernard Golden’s article on “The Case Against Cloud Computing”, and in particular because of reasons having to do with HIPAA compliance, that burn kept right on going. But thankfully I stuck with the article, and Golden’s real feelings on the topic became clear. Because I quite agree with him. I don’t see “The Cloud” as the risk everyone else seems to. First, imagine trying to recover lost data if one of your own on-site data centers goes down, and you have no redundancy. Or trying to switch users to another data center if both of yours are in the same geographical location. Business continuity concerns are just as great, if not more so. Second, that is why the Cloud industry spends billions of dollars a year on cloud security. Your data is just as secure from thieves in the cloud as it might be in your own local facility.

The key, as indicated by Golden, is to thoughtfully manage risk while not being frightened by new technologies. This is done through risk assessments, deep dive analysis of a potential cloud partner’s capabilities (how do they manage risk on their side), and an understanding of how your organization addresses security challenges today.

Sources:

Golden, B. (2009, January 29). The Case Against Cloud Computing, Part Two [Editorial]. Cio.com. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/article/2431044/cloud-computing/the-case-against-cloud-computing–part-two.html

As I’ve been pursuing this Enterprise Architecture degree, a concern that continues to remain with me is how to implement EA at the speed of business in the 21st century. The traditional approach has been to document the current state of the infrastructure, then document a proposed future state, and put together a plan for moving from one to the other. But as I have considered that approach, the thought keeps coming back to me of how can you ever accomplish anything? By the time you reach the future state, the world and technology and your competitors have moved beyond.

So I appreciated the position taken by Jason Bloomberg in his article “Change As Core Competency: Transforming The Role Of The Enterprise Architect”. In this article, he quotes a previous article of his where he concluded that the business value of frameworks and documentation was “questionable at best” and that the most important consideration for Enterprise Architects should be Business Agility.

This past year, none other than the venerable John Zachman (considered to be the father of EA), along with Ronald Ross and Roger Burlton, released their Business Agility Manifesto. The Manifesto’s Prime Directive states that “All initiatives must demonstrably align with the Management Imperatives”. Among the principles adhered to by the Manifesto are Perpetual Change, Business Solution Agility, and Business Value Creation. This seems to be a direct challenge to the structure and time required by frameworks and current/future states. The goal here is to change our thinking, making it less about silos and methodologies, and more about delivering truly valuable change.

I see this as an important conversation that needs to be had as we continue this educational journey. As EA’s we will need to drive both the conversation and the transformation.

Sources:

Bloomberg, J. (2016, June 16). Change As Core Competency: Transforming The Role Of The Enterprise Architect [Editorial]. Forbes.com. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2016/06/16/change-as-core-competency-transforming-the-role-of-the-enterprise-architect/#4887b471164a

https://busagilitymanifesto.org/

I was very interested to read Gartner’s Analysis of the EA Hype Cycle, especially considering what I’m seeing in my current organization. My company has recently brought on a couple of Enterprise Architects, as well as a Business Architect, which is all well and good. However, there seems to be little support for them, other than keeping them in the IT architecture silo. From my perspective, there is little, if any, coming together of the business and IT on strategy, beyond the Value Stream or Scrum Team. It seems to me, and this is borne out by Gartner’s analysis, that as long as EA is kept in the IT silo, it won’t be able to deliver any significant business value. And if it can’t deliver the business value, EA will hit the trough and remain there.

Another thing I appreciated about the article was the different pieces of User Advice on topics that are considered “On the Rise”, such as Algorithmic Business (“Enterprise architects, chief data officers, and IT leaders must: Engage their business leaders to strategically drive efforts — beyond the current digital business transformation — to build the necessary infrastructure and resources to support algorithmic business.”) and Situationally Adaptive Behavior (” Enterprise architects and chief data officers (CDOs) must: Shift the digital transformation discussion away from business processes and focus instead on adaptive business behavior.”). The challenge with the advice is in how to convince senior leadership to allow EA a seat at the table with the business, and encourage the collaboration required to deliver on the business outcomes.

Sources Cited: Burton, B., Burke, B. and Blosch, M.(2016). Hype Cycle for Enterprise Architecture, 2016. Gartner. July