Enterprise Architecture to Achieve Information Technology Flexibility and Enterprise Agility

Enterprise Architecture(Ea)

Enterprise architecture is a framework that allows organizational leaders to govern all aspects of an organization and effectively integrate business and IT functions (Simon et al., 2013). Dube and Dixit (2011) described EA as a set of functions and service systems that provide frameworks, standards, and guidelines to align enterprise and project-specific goals. Guerreiro, Gaaloul, and Franke (2016) indicated that a need exists for enterprises to continually adapt to ever-changing requirements of the environment, and that EA is a discipline driving the transformation of enterprises and is engineered using appropriate enterprise models. Anderson (2017) emphasized the importance of innovation as a means of sustainability of the global enterprise. Bellman and Griesi (2015) defined EA as a conceptual blueprint that outlines the structure and operation of an organization and added that an EA intends to determine how an organization can most effectively achieve its current and future objectives. In contrast, organizations that do not have EA, represent corporate tribes, which are loosely coupled, differentiated groups within the enterprise whose membership may overlap (Duaber, Fink, & Yolles, 2012).