EA Adds A Fourth Pillar To IT Value Management

Maximizing IT's contribution to business results requires reliable governance structures combined with mature processes for evaluating investment options and making prudent decisions. But if the evaluation of initiatives vying for funding is too narrow, the result will be sub-optimized value — projects narrowly scoped and benefits, costs, and risks too narrowly evaluated. The antidote is to elevate the enterprise architecture (EA) process as a tenet of business change and technology management, and make it part of the enterprise value framework that governs IT investments. Making EA a pillar of the enterprise IT value framework means that EA shapes the structure of the IT portfolio and provides guidance to the value governance and investment management processes.