There is a perception amongst many people I speak to that Business Architecture is something for the big business, that it is expensive to do, that only medium and big businesses can get value from it.
The reality is that behind the “Business Architecture” label lies a system used to describe, both in pictures and words:
- what a business does to generate value for its customers
- an understanding of and what “raw materials” (be that goods or information) are used, how the raw materials are transformed, and how the product or the service is sold.
- a map of how information flows into, within, and out of the business.
- a map of business processes used
So when you look at it this way, you really start to wonder how anyone who invests time and money into a business ( be it one of their own or someone else’s ) can say “oh no, this is not for us! that stuff is for the big guys who can afford it”.
How can you “not afford” to understand in detail what it is you are putting your time and money into…
Sometime in the near future I will post some real information about our experience with trying to describe our own business architecture, and about how we applied the knowledge we gained from that excercise to a good use.