Capstera’s Strategic Business Architect is a comprehensive and actionable handbook for elevating the practice of business architecture to become a strategic and transformational endeavor. The Strategic Business Architect Handbook will equip business architecture practitioners with tips, tutorials, and templates to catapult their contribution to the enterprise and consequently enhance their career prospects.

Who is a Business Architect, and how does one become a Strategic Business Architect?

A simple definition of a business architect is a business architecture professional who encapsulates the essence of an enterprise through a series of models and views.   Traditionally, business architecture has been an appendage of the IT department, and there has been some backlash due to the perception that business architects are drawing boxes and arrows, which are ivory tower deliverables without a practical impact. 

A strategic business architect is a business architect who has grown in his/her role and adds value at a strategic level, in addition to contributing to optimizing the operations and IT enabling the business functions. Also, a strategic business architect functions as a transformation catalyst. 

Who is a business architect and who is not?

At the outset, a business architect is not a business analyst. A business architect is not an enterprise architect. A business architect is not a project manager. Or an IT architect. Or a Strategist.  But a strategic business architect incorporates each of these disciplines and follows the tenets to do his/her job in business architecture. 

What do traditional business architects do that is not adding value?

Many business architects focus on artifacts, not outcomes. Old-school business architects concentrate on modeling, not moving the needle.  And the IT-centricity impacts their perspective and thinking at the expense of providing a contextual picture of the business in business terms.  Hence, many in the enterprise deem business architects to be ivory tower modelers, not someone who is in the throes of advancing the enterprise to the next level. (Some of this criticism is true, and others are not. But alas, perception is the reality.)

On the other hand, a strategic business architect is more business-centric and operations-oriented and aims to become the glue that binds different views and viewpoints into coherent and holistic perspectives.

The strategic business architect needs to be more business-centric and produce deliverables that impact enterprise transformation. Who is a strategic business architect? Any business architect who can transcend the IT box and make an impact by bridging the gap between strategy and execution, and aligning business and technology to foster enterprise transformation. 

The Strategic Business Architect needs to play several roles.

Strategic Business Architect is a:

• Strategy Interpreter
• Business Capability Modeler
• Value Stream Mapper
• Alchemist
• Big Picture Thinker
• Gap Minder
• Aligner
• Story Teller

Suppose a business architect rises to become a strategic asset and elevates the practice and value of business architecture to more than boxes and arrows. In that case, he/she can aspire to an accelerated career path, higher compensation, and roles.

What is in the Strategic Business Architect Handbook, and how does it help? 

The Strategic Business Architect Handbook is a practical and hands-on guide for business architecture professionals to elevate their game.  The content-rich handbook provides a perspective on the role of the business architect and the attributes that will help a business architect become strategic. The guide also includes specific steps, activities, deliverables, models, views, and viewpoints to develop during the business architecture journey.  The handbook also includes various templates and samples to spur thinking and jumpstart the process of establishing and growing into the role of a strategic business architect. 

A professional will achieve the following results by following the tips, tutorials, samples, and templates in the Strategic Business Architect handbook. 

• Become a business architect who is considered “Strategic.”
• Help position the role of the business architect and business architecture as a transformation catalyst who helps shepherd the enterprise to the next level. 
• Establish the business architect as a valuable contributor and team member who drives outcomes in conjunction with the rest of the business and technology leadership. 
• Open up additional avenues for intellectual growth and a fast-track career path to many other roles in the enterprise. 

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