Week 7 - Using EA to Support a Palette of Business Strategy Approaches

In this week I have read about how EA to support of the Business Strategy Approaches. Enterprise architecture (EA) drives organizational change and transformation and the delivery of business outcomes. But what change and transformation means, and the outcomes being driven, will be different for each organization. Enterprise architecture has a range of tools, models and techniques to suit almost every situation. As organizations pursue different business strategies and outcomes — and often organizations pursue more than one strategy at a time; in different business units, for example — enterprise architecture, including its deliverables and approach, must be tailored to suit the strategy. 

Every organization defines a business strategy based on its environment, its vision for the future and how it views its competitive advantage. From that flow the priorities and business outcomes it pursues. Over the years, there have been many approaches to classifying a business strategy. In this research, we have built on these and our own surveys to identify five common business strategies we see our clients pursue (see Figure 1). Our aim is not to be definitive in categorizing business strategy, but to help enterprise architects think about how to tailor and align their EA practices. We will also identify five different roles EA plays in support of the business strategies.