{"id":1427,"date":"2013-04-05T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T00:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/?p=1427"},"modified":"2022-04-08T09:21:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T14:21:38","slug":"how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Build the Business Case for Enterprise Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Building the investment business case for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planview.com\/products-solutions\/solutions\/technology-application-portfolio-management\/\">Enterprise Architecture<\/a> (EA) requires speaking the language of business and <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/secret-behind-selecting-right-enterprise-architecture-tool-0\/\">delivering quick and ongoing returns<\/a>. That was the advice from Bodhi Choudhuri, director of Enterprise Architecture at <a title=\"American Express\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanexpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Express<\/a>, during Troux\u2019 recent<strong> Building the Business Case for EA<\/strong> webinar.<\/p>\n<p>With EA initiatives facing stiff competition for funding and CIOs facing shorter tenures, EA initiatives must deliver value early and often to continue being funded. Choudhuri explained how American Express\u2019 EA team communicates their value to the business as it evolves from a focus on technical architecture to application architecture and finally to a business architecture.<\/p>\n<p>He acknowledged that quantifying the benefits of EA can be hard because the benefits are often \u201cstaggered\u201d over time as EA artifacts are used first by the delivery staff and then by the business users who in turn create value for outside customers. \u201cIt is sometimes easier\u201d to build a business case, he said, if the EA initiative can be linked to a specific project, or if EA is the only way to accomplish a task such as a gap analysis on an ERP implementation.<\/p>\n<p>Other key recommendations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Speak in terms the business can understand.<\/strong> \u201cWhen you\u2019re a customer and go shopping for a new car, you would not go and ask `what is the strength of the steel?\u2019\u201d he said \u201cRather, you would ask `Does this car have a five star crash safety rating?\u2019 EA \u201cis no different,\u201d said Choudhuri. \u201cWe need to be able to articulate the value of EA in a language that our customers understand.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Set and report on metrics that helps communicate the value of EA.<\/strong> While value metrics will change as business priorities shift, he said, \u201cone metric everyone can relate to is standardization.\u201d That was a major objective for American Express because the use of non-standard technology raises both procurement and ongoing maintenance costs. \u201cWe\u2019re also spending a lot of time with regards to our application portfolio, to make sure we have the best mix of applications and the right capabilities,\u201d he said. That requires metrics for \u201cwhether or not we have the right support for the right applications.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Explain not only what should be done, but why it should be done.<\/strong> That helps delivery organizations better understand the value of EA, said Choudhuri. While cost cutting is always important, explaining how EA can solve \u201chot button\u201d issues like redirecting spending from maintenance to strategic projects, or reducing risk, can really make the business case<em>. <\/em>Choudhuri, as a matter of fact, defines &#8220;the ROI of EA&#8221; by how it <em>reduces<\/em> risk,<em> optimizes <\/em>the environment, and <em>improves <\/em>time to market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t police &#8211; enable. <\/strong>To deliver the quick EA returns the business demands, Choudhuri recommends to \u201ccollaborate and share knowledge with delivery groups and business users&#8221;. He also recommends looking for opportunities to \u201cturn on the lights\u201d by showing opportunities for improvement and growth the business would not otherwise have seen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Meet your commitments. <\/strong>&#8220;We were very cautious about setting expectations, and when we set an expectation, we do everything in our power to meet those goals,\u201d he said. \u201cAs you continue doing that, slowly but surely you build up the rapport with your stakeholders so they continue to support you.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Learn what the business needs. <\/strong>When asked how to overcome resistance to EA, Choudhuri said \u201cresistance seems a little too harsh. I\u2019d probably state it as relevance\u2026the relevance to those organizations that are perhaps not aware of why they need to change or how they need to change. You need to know what are their pain points,\u201d he said and how the EA effort will ease them. \u201cIf you can do that, your job is half done.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cSlowly but surely, the boundary between business and technology is blurring, and (IT) is starting to be seen\u201d as a business function that adds value, said Choudhuri. He predicted EA will give his C-level executives \u201ca tremendous power to predict the future, and then be able to articulate proper plans on how we are going to achieve that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Building the investment business case for Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires speaking the language of business and delivering quick and ongoing returns. That was the advice from Bodhi Choudhuri, director of Enterprise Architecture at American Express, during Troux\u2019 recent Building the Business Case for EA webinar. With EA initiatives facing stiff competition for funding and CIOs&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":1430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":2,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enterprise-architecture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Business Case for Enterprise Architecture - Blog | Planview<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how building the business case for Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires speaking the language of business and delivering quick and ongoing returns.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Build the Business Case for Enterprise Architecture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how building the business case for Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires speaking the language of business and delivering quick and ongoing returns.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planview Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Planview-Inc\/89422974772\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-05T00:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T14:21:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/how-to-build-the-business-case-750x400.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Troux by Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Planview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Troux by Planview\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Troux by Planview\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/16cab2f3a574f40bde41e5ecd393383a\"},\"headline\":\"How to Build the Business Case for Enterprise Architecture\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-05T00:00:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T14:21:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\"},\"wordCount\":687,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/how-to-build-the-business-case-750x400.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Enterprise Architecture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-build-business-case-enterprise-architecture\/\",\"name\":\"Business Case for Enterprise Architecture - 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