November 20158As the debate about the value and definition of Enterprise Architecture (EA) continues, in 2013, Comerica decided to re-explore the topic. Several years ago, the bank started an EA practice that eventually evolved to what we currently define as Solution Architecture, which has a more focused and tactical view and is primarily engaged in supporting the architecture and design needs of specific initiatives and projects.What prompted our IT leadership to re-visit the topic of enterprise architecture was the realization that rapidly evolving and disruptive forces are converging, in a manner that requires not only a new way of looking at how we develop technology strategies, but also how we architect and realize these strategies.The disruptive forces that are shaping our industry and are influencing our choices include: · The rapid acceleration of digital transformation that is occurring in the industry in general, and finance and banking in particular.· The creation of new business designs and models built by blurring the digital and physical worlds via an unprecedented convergence of people, business and things.· The continuous evolution and pervasive nature of regulation and compliance.· The need to effectively deal with the changing landscape of cyber security.· The need to truly balance the investment needs of running the business, growing shareholder value and transforming the way we engage with our customers.· The transition to `always on' brought on by the ubiquity of mobile smart devices; and entrance of non- traditional banking institutions in the financial services markets (Apple, Google, PayPal).Based on these realities, along with our earlier experience in enterprise architecture­which we refer to that as EA 1.0­we are evolving and reframing our definition and usage of enterprise architecture at the bank. As a starting point, we have reached internal consensus about what EA should not be about, and that is, the practice of documenting everything about the enterprise, strict adherence to frameworks, and the indiscriminate enforcement of standards.Instead, we want enterprise architecture to be about facilitating business change and becoming the foundation for executing our business strategy. We want it to enable business strategy and to decrease the cost and time to market of technology solutions. We want it to support our business in the foundational decisions and designs about architecture. Lastly, we want it to be forward looking, becoming that vanguard technology team that facilitates shaping the business strategy. In essence, we want it to see the bank as a living organism­as a complex system­that is constantly evolving, changing and adapting to the ever changing business ecosystem. Our vision for the future with EA is to get to a level at which we can co-create business technology strategies with our clients and business strategies with technology components.The approach we are taking in building the EA practice relies on the following basic principles:· Start small. Avoid requiring huge investments that might one day deliver value.· Build incremental successes in critical business areas rapidly.· Identify top of mind pain points and opportunities for the business that will benefit from the practice of EA.· Prove the EA value by doing; by solving business problems.· Adapt methodologies and frameworks specifically to the bank's culture.Chris VallianatosReframing the Role of Enterprise ArchitectureBy George Surdu, EVP & CTO and Chris Vallianatos, SVP & Chief Architect-IT Strategy & Enterprise Architecture, Comerica BankIn MyOpinion
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