BENEFITS OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

Enterprise Architecture is not an option since the enterprise should not grow randomly by adding bits and pieces now and then. It has to be designed methodically.

A) The company's body conceived through EA principles and practices is likely to be more efficient, effective, manageable, flexible and integrated. Also, it is probably much more aligned with business purpose, mission, vision, values, business model, business activities, products and services, .. A company, as a socio-technical system, has a better design and will create more value while requiring a smaller cost and is more likely to offer a greater quality. Its longevity tends to be increased.

B) But we can also define EA as set of information artefacts representing the company. They are useful as well:

1. EA creates a common view about the body of the company. This facilitates the communication.
2. EA contributes to the quality of the work environment. By bringing clarity, EA reduces the uncertainty and people can work more effectively together.
3. As EA is a cross-domain initiative, it breaks down functional barriers and brings people together promoting mutual understanding and collaboration.
4. EA helps to eliminate and to avoid sub-optimisation, waste and redundancy. It contributes to maintain a maximum of simplicity.
5. EA allows to increases the compliancy, coherence and harmonisation and integration of different company cultures.
6. EA promotes a climate of consolidation, continuous improvement and continuous business evolution.
7. EA facilitates the business-IT alignment and a more optimal usage of IT.
8. EA helps to identify and invest in adaptations that really matters to the company.
9. EA allows the formulation of strategies that matches the capabilities of the company and make strategies more actionable by facilitating the adaptation of the enterprise to the strategy.
10. If a company is about to introduce a change, this may have an impact on its organisation, processes, systems and so on. The EA allows identifying all the impacted areas and the smaller changes that are required.
11. Since EA provides a more clear insight in the internals of the company, it facilitates all management activities: performance and capability management, gap analysis, impact analysis, conception of costing models, ..
12. EA contributes to a more efficient and effective use of resources.
13. EA maximizes the opportunities for exploitation of corporate information assets.
14. EA contribute to maximising the longevity of components.
15. EA promotes reuse, servicing and collaboration of components.
16. EA shortens the delay of development and implementation of changes (shorter time-to-market).
17. EA contributes to decreases risks and undesired effects and increase the capability to deal with adverse events.
18. As the enterprise is better organised, fewer problems pop up and effort can be oriented towards improvement and growth.
19. A higher quality of work environment and resources are essential to innovation.
20. Basically, EA helps to deliver cost effective results (business value generation).