Briefings Direct

Welcome to a special sponsored podcast discussion coming from The Open Group’s 23rd Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference in Toronto. This podcast, part of a series from the July 20, 2009 event, centers on the fast-changing role and expanding impact of enterprise architecture (EA). The enterprise architect role is in flux, especially as we consider the heightening interest in cloud computing. The down economy has also focused IT spending to seek out faster, better, and cheaper means to acquire and manage IT functions and business processes. As service components and use shift in their origins and delivery models, the task of meeting or exceeding business requirements based on these services becomes all the more complicated. The new services era calls for powerful architects who can define, govern, and adjust all of the necessary ingredients that they must creatively support and improve upon during a lifecycle over many years. Yet who or what will step into this gulf between the traditional means of IT and the new cloud ecology of services? The architect's role, still a work in progress at many enterprises, may well become the key office where the buck stops in this era. What then should be the role and therefore the new opportunity for enterprise architects? Here to help us lead the way in understanding that complex and dynamic issue, we're joined by our panel, Tim Westbrock, managing director of EAdirections; Sandy Kemsley, an independent IT analyst and architect; and John Gotze, international president for the Association of Enterprise Architects. The discussion is moderated by BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner. View a full transcript of the discussion at http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/2009/08/cloud-pushes-enterprise-architects.html. Download a transcript at http://interarborsolutions.books.officelive.com/Documents/EAScope.pdf. Sponsor: The Open Group.