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Why an Enterprise Architect Can Be an Essential Member of the Boardroom

Jordy Dekker
ValueBlue

Understanding the role of an enterprise architect [EA] can be complex, as it spans business functions, capabilities, processes, roles, physical and organizational structure, data stores and flows, applications, platforms, hardware, and communication. Simply put, an EA is involved with the entire business — not just the IT department.

A derivative of the business vision, an EA develops business and technologies strategies to align IT with the overall business goals and applies the business strategy to an actionable plan to deliver the determined outcomes. In order for an EA to achieve success, the concepts must be understood by everyone versus only the IT department.

How to Claim a Seat at the Boardroom Table

To fully appreciate the value of an EA, it needs to be accepted and clearly understood. An enterprise architect must have passion and determination to earn a seat in boardroom discussion and decision-making. While pitching for an EA representation will require preparation and patience, it will lead to powerful payoffs for all stakeholders.

Here are four ways to ensure an enterprise architect joins the boardroom as an invaluable asset.

1. Tailor each conversation to each stakeholder

Simplify what enterprise architecture is without the jargon. When all participants in a conversation speak a common language, the dialogue is comprehensible, not confusing. Since each stakeholder has the expertise that benefits the boardroom, tailor each conversation to catch their attention.

A marketing expert will understand the advantage of quick time to market, while the head of IT will react to a conversation focused on updates to the IT component lifecycle, and the executive management will be paying attention to lowering cost, increasing agility and decreasing risk. Begin by building relationships by meeting with the executives in meetings and informal settings to spread the value proposition of an EA.

2. Create collaboration across the entire organization

An EA's consultative capabilities can be beneficial to all supporting teams with a strong understanding of the entire organization's landscape, processes and vision. Invite all stakeholders to engage in a collaborative, integrated method by helping teams solve challenges.

For instance, identify which applications to invest or divest in a portfolio to support the CIO, share updated application overviews that handle crucial customer and employee data with the security teams, and share the data and insights required to understand and solve the issue at hand in a function or department. Once allies are present, a buy-in for EA initiatives will begin.

3. Know the data

Data is highly valuable to an enterprise, some even say that data is enterprise currency. All boardroom decisions are data-driven. An EA must identify how the data for specific business requirements are adapted into technical specifications for the board and produce reports on the status of the current application landscape and IT inventory to address critical boardroom assessments and decision-making. This is an opportunity to tie the EA to data reports and business processes during meetings. Use data to emphasize real issues with use cases and diagrams and present options along with results.

By overlaying the EA on top of the business model, boardroom members can clearly see the cost, revenue, risk, and performance metrics to align their decisions with initiatives. Make the enterprise architect the data guru of the boardroom.

4. Executive sponsorship opportunity

Foster executive sponsorship to promote engagement of EA initiatives and impact the strength of an EA strategy including budgets, vendor options, and acquisitions. By understanding the business side and dynamics, the enterprise architect will be able to identify who is open to change and who is not; who has the most influence, and where the fractions are. Prepare from the start to engage executives in purposeful conservations to build unity and to be seen as an ally and supportive consultant.

From business to technology to operations, an EA can prove value in output, timeliness, revenue growth, cost reduction, agility, and scalability for all stakeholders. To achieve this, networking and preparation are necessary for an EA to secure a permanent seat in the boardroom.

Enterprise Architects' Advancing Role

The enterprise architect uses AI, data, and analytics to plan, manage and track business investments while involving every policy, process, and department in an organization to create a collaborative and holistic framework. The role of an EA is integrative with technical expertise, market sector knowledge, and skills with consultative capabilities. The invaluable role of an EA uses data to determine if applications need to be re-hosted, retired, or revised based on current objects and evaluate the wellness of platforms in real-time, using data to determine if initiatives are on track.

Today's enterprise architect is no longer operating in a silo, they need to be seen as a valuable team player who contributes and collaborates across the entire enterprise. Holistic input and varied expertise will benefit the boardroom and enterprise architects effectively represent operations to this council of decision-making, in such a way earning a rightful place at the table. Using a common language will gain the buy-in of the value of the enterprise architecture and will increase the expertise of the board members with the high value of data delivered in a clear manner of its initiatives.

Jordy Dekker is Chief Evangelist at ValueBlue

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Why an Enterprise Architect Can Be an Essential Member of the Boardroom

Jordy Dekker
ValueBlue

Understanding the role of an enterprise architect [EA] can be complex, as it spans business functions, capabilities, processes, roles, physical and organizational structure, data stores and flows, applications, platforms, hardware, and communication. Simply put, an EA is involved with the entire business — not just the IT department.

A derivative of the business vision, an EA develops business and technologies strategies to align IT with the overall business goals and applies the business strategy to an actionable plan to deliver the determined outcomes. In order for an EA to achieve success, the concepts must be understood by everyone versus only the IT department.

How to Claim a Seat at the Boardroom Table

To fully appreciate the value of an EA, it needs to be accepted and clearly understood. An enterprise architect must have passion and determination to earn a seat in boardroom discussion and decision-making. While pitching for an EA representation will require preparation and patience, it will lead to powerful payoffs for all stakeholders.

Here are four ways to ensure an enterprise architect joins the boardroom as an invaluable asset.

1. Tailor each conversation to each stakeholder

Simplify what enterprise architecture is without the jargon. When all participants in a conversation speak a common language, the dialogue is comprehensible, not confusing. Since each stakeholder has the expertise that benefits the boardroom, tailor each conversation to catch their attention.

A marketing expert will understand the advantage of quick time to market, while the head of IT will react to a conversation focused on updates to the IT component lifecycle, and the executive management will be paying attention to lowering cost, increasing agility and decreasing risk. Begin by building relationships by meeting with the executives in meetings and informal settings to spread the value proposition of an EA.

2. Create collaboration across the entire organization

An EA's consultative capabilities can be beneficial to all supporting teams with a strong understanding of the entire organization's landscape, processes and vision. Invite all stakeholders to engage in a collaborative, integrated method by helping teams solve challenges.

For instance, identify which applications to invest or divest in a portfolio to support the CIO, share updated application overviews that handle crucial customer and employee data with the security teams, and share the data and insights required to understand and solve the issue at hand in a function or department. Once allies are present, a buy-in for EA initiatives will begin.

3. Know the data

Data is highly valuable to an enterprise, some even say that data is enterprise currency. All boardroom decisions are data-driven. An EA must identify how the data for specific business requirements are adapted into technical specifications for the board and produce reports on the status of the current application landscape and IT inventory to address critical boardroom assessments and decision-making. This is an opportunity to tie the EA to data reports and business processes during meetings. Use data to emphasize real issues with use cases and diagrams and present options along with results.

By overlaying the EA on top of the business model, boardroom members can clearly see the cost, revenue, risk, and performance metrics to align their decisions with initiatives. Make the enterprise architect the data guru of the boardroom.

4. Executive sponsorship opportunity

Foster executive sponsorship to promote engagement of EA initiatives and impact the strength of an EA strategy including budgets, vendor options, and acquisitions. By understanding the business side and dynamics, the enterprise architect will be able to identify who is open to change and who is not; who has the most influence, and where the fractions are. Prepare from the start to engage executives in purposeful conservations to build unity and to be seen as an ally and supportive consultant.

From business to technology to operations, an EA can prove value in output, timeliness, revenue growth, cost reduction, agility, and scalability for all stakeholders. To achieve this, networking and preparation are necessary for an EA to secure a permanent seat in the boardroom.

Enterprise Architects' Advancing Role

The enterprise architect uses AI, data, and analytics to plan, manage and track business investments while involving every policy, process, and department in an organization to create a collaborative and holistic framework. The role of an EA is integrative with technical expertise, market sector knowledge, and skills with consultative capabilities. The invaluable role of an EA uses data to determine if applications need to be re-hosted, retired, or revised based on current objects and evaluate the wellness of platforms in real-time, using data to determine if initiatives are on track.

Today's enterprise architect is no longer operating in a silo, they need to be seen as a valuable team player who contributes and collaborates across the entire enterprise. Holistic input and varied expertise will benefit the boardroom and enterprise architects effectively represent operations to this council of decision-making, in such a way earning a rightful place at the table. Using a common language will gain the buy-in of the value of the enterprise architecture and will increase the expertise of the board members with the high value of data delivered in a clear manner of its initiatives.

Jordy Dekker is Chief Evangelist at ValueBlue

Hot Topics

The Latest

64% of enterprise networking teams use internally developed software or scripts for network automation, but 61% of those teams spend six or more hours per week debugging and maintaining them, according to From Scripts to Platforms: Why Homegrown Tools Dominate Network Automation and How Vendors Can Help, my latest EMA report ...

Cloud computing has transformed how we build and scale software, but it has also quietly introduced one of the most persistent challenges in modern IT: cost visibility and control ... So why, after more than a decade of cloud adoption, are cloud costs still spiraling out of control? The answer lies not in tooling but in culture ...

CEOs are committed to advancing AI solutions across their organization even as they face challenges from accelerating technology adoption, according to the IBM CEO Study. The survey revealed that executive respondents expect the growth rate of AI investments to more than double in the next two years, and 61% confirm they are actively adopting AI agents today and preparing to implement them at scale ...

Image
IBM

 

A major architectural shift is underway across enterprise networks, according to a new global study from Cisco. As AI assistants, agents, and data-driven workloads reshape how work gets done, they're creating faster, more dynamic, more latency-sensitive, and more complex network traffic. Combined with the ubiquity of connected devices, 24/7 uptime demands, and intensifying security threats, these shifts are driving infrastructure to adapt and evolve ...

Image
Cisco

The development of banking apps was supposed to provide users with convenience, control and piece of mind. However, for thousands of Halifax customers recently, a major mobile outage caused the exact opposite, leaving customers unable to check balances, or pay bills, sparking widespread frustration. This wasn't an isolated incident ... So why are these failures still happening? ...

Cyber threats are growing more sophisticated every day, and at their forefront are zero-day vulnerabilities. These elusive security gaps are exploited before a fix becomes available, making them among the most dangerous threats in today's digital landscape ... This guide will explore what these vulnerabilities are, how they work, why they pose such a significant threat, and how modern organizations can stay protected ...

The prevention of data center outages continues to be a strategic priority for data center owners and operators. Infrastructure equipment has improved, but the complexity of modern architectures and evolving external threats presents new risks that operators must actively manage, according to the Data Center Outage Analysis 2025 from Uptime Institute ...

As observability engineers, we navigate a sea of telemetry daily. We instrument our applications, configure collectors, and build dashboards, all in pursuit of understanding our complex distributed systems. Yet, amidst this flood of data, a critical question often remains unspoken, or at best, answered by gut feeling: "Is our telemetry actually good?" ... We're inviting you to participate in shaping a foundational element for better observability: the Instrumentation Score ...

We're inching ever closer toward a long-held goal: technology infrastructure that is so automated that it can protect itself. But as IT leaders aggressively employ automation across our enterprises, we need to continuously reassess what AI is ready to manage autonomously and what can not yet be trusted to algorithms ...

Much like a traditional factory turns raw materials into finished products, the AI factory turns vast datasets into actionable business outcomes through advanced models, inferences, and automation. From the earliest data inputs to the final token output, this process must be reliable, repeatable, and scalable. That requires industrializing the way AI is developed, deployed, and managed ...