Casewise Blog ? Navigating the ?Nexus of Change?

Matt Senatore, VP Global Marketing,?Casewise

Gartner?s Nigel Raynor took to the stage at Gartner EA Summit in London last week outlining his views on what the leading analyst firm describes as the ?four forces? which will significantly impact Enterprise Architecture (EA) in the next 40 years.

The four forces, as he describes as the ?Nexus of Change? are:

??Social

??Mobile

??Cloud

??Information

These four forces are the catalysts for significant, fast paced change for Enterprise Architects moving forward.? The underlying theme from the presentation was to take a sensible look from a future user perspective, address some of the challenges enterprises currently face and look at the concept of ?pace layers? in order to prepare for and deliver against this new demand.

Social and mobile

The rapid adoption of consumer-technologies such as smart phones, mobile devices, iPads and tablets, means that a new employee joining an organization in the future will expect social media capabilities and ease-of-use from all technologies they interact with.

Future employees will reasonably expect their employers to supply them with a computing device (either a desktop PC, laptop or a smart phone), but they will also expect to be able to bring their own device into work. In essence, what works for them outside of work should be available inside. Therefore systems will have to work across a number of operating devices, which increasingly means that it will be harder to have standard operational protocols moving forward.

As with social media, future employees will expect to be able to access platforms across multiple devices, for different stages of the working day. Perhaps starting off traveling to work and accessing systems via a mobile phone, then switching to a desk machine in the office, and later, when out at clients, using some form of tablet device.

In addition, ease of set up ? without the need to liaise with IT or manuals to sync with organizations systems ? is going to become the norm. Future employees will expect the ease-of-use that is delivered when interacting with Facebook or Amazon, for example.

Raynor predicts these new users will download apps from an enterprise app store and suggested that the ability to ?rate? the apps should ensure future improvements.

In terms of application development, instead of the traditional PC originated applications with a ?shrink to fit? approach to mobile devices, it was suggested that architects need to focus on mobile device application delivery first and then work out from there.

Raynor even foresees a collaborative approach for application development ? combining input from all stakeholders (the end users, the development and support teams) ? rather than the ?command and control? methodology often used today.? Perhaps this is the best way forward to ensure that IT is truly delivering on the needs of the business?

The cloud

We all know you can no longer think of the walls of your enterprise as the end of the need for application usage.? For some time, organizations have been reaching out beyond these in response to end user demands.

The cloud already targets specific business areas (e.g., CRM, project management) that deliver attractive solutions, on a fee basis. Raynor predicts the cloud will further extend and augment current systems so that a more hybrid environment evolves, which will be more fluid to keep pace with the shifting landscape.

Therefore more lightweight governance will need to be offered in enterprise architecture.

Information

The current buzzword of ?big data? may be a great marketing term but it?s difficult to define what it actually is. However, Raynor predicts, what it will actually do is a bit clearer.

With the mass of information that will become available, organizations will rapidly move away from real-time analytics to predictive and prescriptive analytics. Essentially moving away from reviewing what has happened, to make decisions based on being able to predict what will happen and therefore, be able to act accordingly.

And how do we implement this ?Nexus of Change??

Raynor went on to identify three levels which he called ?Pace Layers? as a strategy to follow when looking to implement this change and used building architecture as an analogy:

• Systems of Record The first layer, likened by Raynor to the foundations of a building, addresses established package applications or legacy homegrown systems that support core transaction processing and manage the organisation?s critical master data ? which won?t need to be changed on a regular basis.

• System of Differentiation Raynor compared this second layer to the walls of a building that can be changed, but not often or without causing significant disruption. These are the applications that are unique and make an organization different. They need to be frequently adapted every one to three years in order to support the evolving business and adapt to customer requirements.

• System of Innovation This top level, addresses the ad hoc applications to handle new business requirements or opportunities. Raynor paralleled this with the interior design of a building, frequently changing requirements to follow latest trends or customer demands. These are typically short life cycle projects of up to 12 months using departmental or external resources and consumer-grade technologies. In the future, these innovative areas could possibly be given a much lighter touch in governance to allow them the agility they?ll demand.

The sanity check

This vision may well be Nirvana but it needs sanity checking says Raynor. Typically an enterprise is built up from an IT perspective with legacy systems, previous tactical purchases and any effects that mergers and acquisitions have had. Overlay this with the current economic picture and the obvious squeeze on all budgets, including that of IT means that a sensible approach to the Nexus of Change will be required.

To illustrate that point, for example:? though it may be very nice that the Accounts department can access their systems through multiple devices ? is it actual business critical? Is there a business case for doing so?

In summary, Raynor conveyed the following main points about the future:

??Enterprise Architects are about to experience fast-paced change

??Strategies need to be built from an end user perspective

??Being realistic in delivery and incorporating pace layers will aid in achieving this

This begs the question, how is your organization planning (and set up) to navigate the ?Nexus of Change??

bachelor finale courtney robertson ben flajnik randy moss randy moss hunger games premiere the bachelor