Breaking Down the Boundaries

Enterprise architects, unite. The Open Group, a non-profit, vendor- and technology-neutral consortium, this week formed The Association of Open Group Enterprise Architects.

Its goal is to advance the profession, including offering global third-party certification for practitioners. The Open Group says 750 of some 4,000 individuals who have achieved certifications for its TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture Framework) or ITAC (IT Architect Certification) programs have already signed up for membership in the new association.

TOGAF, which is The Open Group’s free architecture development framework, has been downloaded by 80% of global 500 businesses, according to the association. Individuals must pass a test to be certified on the framework.

ITAC certification, which requires candidates to submit a detailed resume of their experience and skills in enterprise architecture and be interviewed in person by certified architects, was introduced last year. It has been adopted in organizations including IBM and EDS, the association says.

Organizations often have their own certification programs in the area of enterprise architecture, but The Open Group believes third-party accreditation will be good for individuals in the profession, and also good for businesses.

“You know when you are recruiting that if you look for someone who is certified, you give yourself a little extra comfort in their level of experience, qualification, and background,” says Steve Nunn, COO of The Open Group.

A Vision of 'Boundaryless Information Flow'

Nunn says that the position of enterprise architect is becoming increasingly important in most organizations, but not everyone who aspires to the title is really prepared with the skill set and qualifications.

Enterprise architecture, he says, is a vital component of realizing the vision of “boundaryless information flow” across systems. Delivering on that vision is particularly critical as businesses open up their systems to partners and customers, creating a need for interoperability in a secure, reliable and timely way.

“We need the overall city planner view of enterprise architecture,” Nunn says. “The real skill and need is for someone or a set of people to be able to take this overall view of what is required when building an IT system, rather than just build a system in a silo or for a particular opportunity.”

They have to take notice not only of what functionality is required, but how open and what level of interoperability the organization must strive for.

“It’s a particular breed of person that can really develop what we think of as enterprise architecture,” he says.

It requires someone who has not only the technical skill set but the ability to understand the business drivers for their organization and be able to communicate tangible benefits of the architecture to the business team.

Today, enterprise architects tend to be senior-level IT people, particularly those with the influence to help get business buy-in to taking an architectural approach to efforts, which may cost more upfront but should deliver better results at the end.

But Nunn thinks organizations should be developing their more junior talent in this direction from the get-go. He doesn’t expect it to be difficult to get these younger people interested in the field of enterprise architecture.

“There’s a buzz about it,” he says. “There’s almost going to be the opposite problem” — that is, choosing from among them the candidates who have the skills to excel.