What Does an Enterprise Architect Do? A Complete Guide

Businesses lean heavily on technology to increase productivity and gain a competitive advantage. 80% of companies said that they use at least one emerging technology for finance and operations, and it has increased their annual revenue by 58%. At the intersection of technology and business strategy lies the domain of the enterprise architect.

The objective of enterprise architecture is to help organizations in their digital transformation by developing an intellectual design for describing an organization's structure and activities.

With the ITIL Foundation certification online courses, you can learn everything about an EA and start your journey to becoming one. Continue reading this article to explore what enterprise architects do and the job roles and responsibilities of an enterprise architect.

Who is an Enterprise Architect?

An enterprise architect is responsible for managing an organization's IT networks and services. It's an enterprise architect's job responsibility to be updated on all the latest trends and innovations. You must know about the latest software, services, and gear that can help your business procedures be more efficient.

Example: Enterprise architects in a health organization utilize emerging technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things to improve diagnoses, treatment, and patient outcomes.

What Does an Enterprise Architect Do?

• Creating and maintaining a company-wide technology and data strategy to meet an organization's aims and objectives.
• Working with employees across the organization to understand their technology and data requirements and building solutions to satisfy those needs.
• Supervising the creation and implementation of technology and data infrastructure, such as hardware, software, and network systems.
• Verify that all technology and data solutions comply with industry best practices, established standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Evaluating the performance of technology and data systems, finding possibilities for improvement, and suggesting and carrying out appropriate modifications.

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Enterprise Architect Roles and Responsibilities

The enterprise architect's roles and responsibilities change at different stages in the organization. Below, we will see what an enterprise architect does at different stages in the organization. 

Entry-Level  

Roles  

At the entry-level, an enterprise architect requires experience with multiple operating systems (Java,.NET, C, C++, and COBOL preferred), and experience in programming languages (zOS, AIX, Linux, and Windows Server are preferred) is an added advantage. These architects must have strong architectural modeling and diagramming skills.

Entry-level architects support senior team members in conducting compliance audits and assessments. They contribute to the creation and implementation of compliance policies and processes. It's also the enterprise architect's job to participate in training programs to better understand compliance needs.

The enterprise architect's job duties include ensuring that the solution can be delivered as defined and within time and budget. They must assess the impact of component changes on proposed architecture and/or business directions as required.

Responsibilities

At this level, enterprise architects' job duties include honestly recognizing, assessing, and selecting IT platforms and solutions that successfully support planned technological transformation. They should be able to analyze the success of member and enterprise-impacting procedures about the business's strategic objectives and vision.

These architects will be part of the delivery team and will be responsible for delivering technology solutions that meet business requirements and generate business value. They also manage and prioritize the design, maintenance, development, and evaluation of all infrastructure projects and sites. They play a key role in ensuring customer focus and satisfaction in the infrastructure, operations, and service center domains.

It is the enterprise architect's duty to measure and track performance to achieve target deliverables and provide architectural support for assigned projects. Directing the overall strategy and architecture related to enterprise systems and technologies.

Mid-Level

Roles

Enterprise architects at the mid-level must have an in-depth understanding of technology, markets, and industries and excellent analytical, problem-solving, leadership, and sales skills. They take on more responsibility for conducting compliance audits and assessments independently. 

As part of the enterprise architect's responsibilities, they teach and guide entry-level employees on compliance matters. They must work with top management to establish strategies for ensuring compliance. They also represent the compliance department at cross-functional meetings and projects.

Responsibilities

These enterprise architects lead and own the architectural aspects of the client engagement. They assess projects from a technical aspect, thereby ensuring that development processes are valid and viable.

These architects work together with an integrated customer and supplier team to deliver cooperatively transformed business and IT services. They must suggest or create structures and tools for processes, applications, and technology to fulfill corporate needs.

Enterprise architects take the initiative and coordinate the creation and implementation of architecture governance frameworks and standards. They must also verify that the architectural governance principles, structures, and standards are consistent and aligned.

Senior-Level

Roles

The enterprise architect leads and owns the architectural aspects of the client engagement. They assess projects from a technical perspective, thereby ensuring that development processes are valid and viable. They must have the ability to work in a complex organization through multiple operations. 

These architects work together with an integrated customer and supplier team to deliver cooperatively transformed business and IT services. The enterprise architect's job duty is to suggest or create structures and tools for processes, applications, and technology to fulfill corporate needs.

They take the initiative and coordinate the creation and implementation of architecture governance frameworks and standards. They must also verify that the architectural governance principles, structures, and standards are consistent and aligned.

Responsibilities

An enterprise architect's job responsibilities include analyzing compliance controls and offering recommendations for improvement. They must lead investigations into compliance issues and take corrective actions.

They analyze new opportunities for the team based on market trends and help design and build new technical, strategic service offerings to address them. These architects guarantee that the technological goals are aligned with the business goals.

The enterprise architect provides technical and administrative advice to all departments and collaborates closely with development teams to ensure compliance. They contribute to system design and architecture and client and project engagements by documenting technical requirements for databases, applications, integration, and infrastructure.

Level	Average Salary (USA $) (Source: leanix.net)
Entry-level Architect	$157,064
Mid-Level Architect	$130,995
Senior-level Architect	$99,375

What Makes a Good Enterprise Architect?

The enterprise architect role description requires the following set of skills to become a successful enterprise architect:

Soft Skills

Leadership

Leadership qualities are crucial for leading your team towards a common objective. This includes smart resource management, team motivation, and the creation of a positive work environment.

Communication

You should be able to communicate complicated technical topics in simple terms to non-technical team members or stakeholders. This capacity to make everyone comprehend ensures that everyone is on the same page, which leads to a more efficient work process.

Adaptability Skills

Plans change, deadlines move, and new difficulties appear out of nowhere. Being adaptive shows, you are ready to change your strategy as needed. It also helps you keep cool in high-pressure situations, making sure you and your team remain focused and productive.

Hard Skills

Proficiency in Programming Languages

Your technical proficiency is built on your knowledge of languages such as Java, C++, Python, and Ruby. Each language has its own set of strengths and applications; thus, knowing numerous languages is beneficial.

Knowledge of Software Architecture Patterns

You should be able to determine whether the pattern matches a specific project requirement. This will help you design scalable and efficient systems.

Data Analysis

Enterprise architects require data analysis abilities to examine complicated data sets, extract important information, and make informed decisions about system design, performance optimization, and resource allocation.

Enterprise Architect Job Requirements

Education

A bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, or a similar discipline is often required for employment as an enterprise architect. Enterprise architects obtain higher education to expand their knowledge and experience. 

A master's degree in any related discipline can help people gain specialized skills in data analytics, cyber security, or project management. 

Certification

Certifications in enterprise architecture can help you demonstrate knowledge in areas such as data, business, security, application, and network design. It also demonstrates how committed you are to professional development and how you want to keep up with IT advancements. You can get your professional certificate through online IT Service Management courses.

Experience

The majority of companies need their EAs to have at least seven years of applicable experience. This means it may take some time to develop the competence required to become a successful EA.

Conclusion

The enterprise architect's job role has never been more important, as businesses rely on technology for development and innovation. The enterprise architecture job duty requires individuals to have a good educational background and several years of experience. 

If becoming an enterprise architect interests you, and if you want to understand what enterprise architects do and the roles and responsibilities of an enterprise architect, KnowledgeHut is the one-stop platform for you. You can obtain the necessary skills and information for a compliance manager by taking the Knowledge Hut ITIL foundation course online.