Developments in Practice XXIX: The Emerging Role of the Enterprise Business Architect

Abstract

This paper recognizes the need for process-based transformation in today’s organizations and argues for the establishment of a new organizational role—the enterprise business architect (EBA) —capable of leading enterprise- wide as opposed to a functional change. The paper first reviews the nature of business processes with respect to their three main constituencies: customers, employees, and technology. Next, a description of the EBA role including duties, skills, responsibilities, and overall mandate is presented. Based on this, various career development strategies are suggested for prospective EBAs and an argument is made for the appropriate organizational positioning for this new role. The paper concludes with a challenge to IT to step up to this new opportunity to reshape organizations.