DigiTech Magazine - US CIO2020 - Fall 2015 | Page 31
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CUSTOMER & EXPERIENCE
DEMOGRAPHICS
BUSINESS
CUSTOMER
PROFILES
CUSTOMER JOURNEYS
& EXPERIENCES
STRUCTURE
DATA
PROCESS
BLUEPRINTS
SKILLS
SOLUTIONS & APPS
INFRASTRUCTURE
& NETWORKS
The move to digital & agile poses
a challenge to traditional IT
architecture teams, who govern what
IT departments do and how they
work through defining IT rules and
guidelines. The principles these rules
enforce, such as technology stability
and uniformity, are a lot less relevant
as cloud and agile increasingly; reduce
the cost and time required to deliver
technology solutions, and significantly
improve interoperability.
The rise in shadow IT and the
increasing focus of the business’
attention on ‘the age of the customer’
illustrate that businesses want to take
advantage of these trends and will find
ways around the IT rulebook. Rather
than redefining the rulebook to close
these loopholes, architects should
instead focus on embracing new
technology and the potential it brings.
DATA DEFINITIONS
Where the business previously needed
architects to steer long, expensive
IT projects to make sure they were
successful, they now need them
to dynamically match up business
processes, organization and data to
ensure the business is ready and able
to adapt to the fast pace of technology
change.
Architects should look to shift their
focus, concentrating on business
outputs first. This can be done
by moving from a bottom up,
infrastructure driven model, to a top
down, customer & business driven
model. In the future architects should
be seen as the experts, who are able to
quickly analyze the impact of business
ideas and changes in customer
behaviours to uncover the impacts on
the business and design solutions to
make sure this is a success.
DATA MODELLING
& PLANNING
INSIGHTS &
ANALYTICS
The diagram above illustrates how
architects can refocus on customer
outcomes; using their architect
skillset and working with the business
to assess: customer needs, the
impact on teams and people, process
implications and underpinning data
that is required, before looking at what
tech solutions are available. To make
this future vision a reality will require
flexibility on the part of architects and
the business, but architects should
make the first move; throwing away
the ‘IT rulebook’ and embedding
themselves within the business areas.
This will enable them to developing
strong relationships with stakeholders
and start working with them to unleash
the potential of technology change.
For more information talk to Jonathan:
[email protected]
CIO Magazine Fall 2015 Issue
31