Enterprise Architecture is Key to driving Digital Strategy, says Gartner

According to Gartner's 2013 CEO & Senior Executive Survey , it has been revealed that CIOs are increasingly looking to enterprise architecture (EA) to help drive their digital strategy. Fifty-two per cent of respondents of the survey said their organizations have a digital strategy. Analysts believe that digital technologies (what Gartner terms the Nexus of Forces  mobile, social media, big data and analytics and the Internet of Things) create new opportunities for innovative business models.
 
Senior business executives are challenging CIOs and their IT organizations to be at the front of digital strategy, identifying innovative new business models and technologies, and getting more business value out of each technology investment. Enterprise architects can provide unique capabilities to help CIOs develop a new agenda for 'hunting and harvesting' in a digital world, said Marcus Blosch, Research Vice-President, Gartner.
 
CIOs must extend IT's performance profile beyond tending, to hunting and harvesting for digital value. For enterprise architects, particularly those who sit within the IT organization, this is a great opportunity to move EA into a more strategic role. Business-outcome driven EA is integral to achieving each of these areas to provide insight and support decision making. The EA team currently has the opportunity to become more strategic by aligning itself to support the CIO and the organization, added Blosch.
 
Blosch further said that organizations are looking to grow and improve efficiency of their operations, creating new demands on CIOs and EA.