There is talk of creating a new role in the corporate world; A business architect. This position is becoming more appealing to companies as this new position would be essential to the relations and the connection to IT and the business. A numerous firms are crafting a position that incorporates this concept.
This role is potentially a game changer in businesses and is potentially a very powerful one unfortunately it has no authority as yet to make it happen. This role is a job once ventured into could be satisfactory the only downside being that it would be a career dead end meaning that while you do get a stable career there is no upgrade in position.
The job description of this position while still not clearly defined it can be best explained with an example. For instance, when we analyze the general growth of companies we see that they have a tendency to grow tactically and organically. The firms acquire facilities and technology as the various needs arise this is also true for their staff. This strategy is employed by a lot of different companies when a need arises then the need is met. The main disadvantage with this tactic is that more often than not the company lacks what it needs when it needs it.
In a case where a company has been functioning well until one day they come across a lawsuit and then realize that it is the beginning of a need for legal services. So now the company has to procure legal services and at the same time create a legal department within the firm. In some occasions the time frame between identifying the need and filling it could take up to a couple of years. Their growth plan will inevitably be hampered and thus their growth is not optimized.
A business architect would be tasked with responsibility of inventing a strategy and a continuous plan that would assure that the facilities, technology and people are available in the event the company should require them. They would also be the ones to evolve the plans and with the growth of the business. It would also be expect for them to anticipate and avert strife and take note of alliances so that the best results could come from the decisions made. For the firm it would mean that they pool their resources and maximize on it resources thus reducing expenditure.
This job can be described as a strategist for Ops the position is essential for the success of a company and a big protection from mistakes often made by corporations such as the failure to protect acquired properties. There is no doubt that this position is indeed useful for corporations.
Main Challenge of the business architect role
The major problem that is anticipated is that it will require a set of skills that cuts across the business market and it needs a person with an understanding of the operations, productions and market with a lot of stress on IT. The job is a bridge with hard connections to HR, operations, facilities, corporate strategy, IT, M&A and the CEO.
For the job to be fully effective, the business architect would require the power to stop decisions that they do not deem fit or strategic while at the same time having the ability to push decisions to get thing done prior to their need even before others thought of it.
The kind of authority required for this position is similar to that of the CEO. This job would be excellent for the training of CEOs and could be held by CEO Aids. However appealing that may be, CEOs are not entirely comfortable developing a position that could replace them as is naturally expected but that is not the only problem as this position does indeed require a broad set of skills which don’t exist in depth. An MBA is the closest degree with the required skills but it is also lacking in a lot more so in the field of IT as well as the core concept of strategic design and the coverage of facilities.
The concept being proposed here is not one that can simply be taught. The skill set required in the business architect job capacity is one that should already be available in order to function. The best part about this job is that it would act as a counter measure for questionable decisions a made by an executive but are not questioned by his inferiors. These decisions often do happen and result in firms undergoing problems that would have otherwise been avoided.
The position could also address the problem of being able to position trained and well informed CEO in the position and by doing this ensure that their decisions are smart and strategic and subsequently give them the opportunity to develop the skills of the CEOs. Should this position ever emerge, it would ensure the right people hold the appropriate positions. Finding the people with the authority and right skills is the challenge.
