Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

The key? Make tough decisions about which processes you must execute well, then implement the IT systems needed to digitize those processes. Citing numerous companies worldwide, the authors show how constructing the right enterprise architecture enhances profitability and time to market, improves strategy execution, and even lowers IT costs. Though clear, engaging explanation, they demonstrate how to define your operating model—your vision of how your firm will survive and grow—and implement it through your enterprise architecture. Their counterintuitive but vital message: when it comes to executing your strategy, your enterprise architecture may matter far more than your strategy itself.

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Enterprise architecture insights from more than 200 companies

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In much the same way that the classic "The Mythical Man Month" by Frederick P. Brooks (see my review) has repeatedly been sighted across two decades by numerous publications, this work by Ross, Weill, and Robertson has been referenced so many times in industry periodicals over the last couple years that it needs to be read at least once by everyone in the business world involved in this space. A cursory review of the texts currently available on enterprise architecture shows quite simply that this subject is still rather new. And experience has shown that the topic of enterprise architecture itself can at times cause confusion, misunderstanding, and even divisiveness within a firm, with reasons ranging from difficulty of definition to business or IT politics. The authors of this book tackle the subject well, and provide many examples throughout the discussion. In fact, the quantity of text associated with examples far outweighs the overall discussion in a majority of the chapters. Given that the reader audience here is primarily the executive, and especially executives who are unfamiliar with enterprise architecture, it makes sense that this is the case, but for readers who are already rather familiar with enterprise architecture strategy the heavy weight toward examples can be a bit much. Unlike some of the other books available on this subject, the tables and figures dispersed throughout are presented very simply so that anyone following the text can grasp their meaning, although occasionally these are reminiscent of what one might find in Computerworld magazine (especially those involving surveys of CIOs, where the survey sample is very low, leading one to wonder whether the implications drawn truly reflect the industry). According to the authors, this book is "a call to action for those companies that have not yet started on this journey [building a foundation for execution] and a handbook for those who are in the midst of building their foundation", and the following main steps are discussed: defining an operating model, designing and implementing an enterprise architecture, and adopting an IT engagement model. The discussion of the first step is a strong area of the book, in which diversification, coordination, replication, and unification are presented to help the reader decide in which quadrant their company or business unit belongs. According to the authors, assessing one's business in this manner is important since these operating models position companies for different types of growth. In the mind of this reviewer, another strength of this book is a discussion on the stages of enterprise architecture maturity: business silos, standardized technology, optimized core, and business modularity. While the engagement model and level of enterprise architecture maturity can and should evolve in many cases to achieve corporate success, the authors stress that stages should not be skipped due to the high risk involved with such a strategy. The third strength of this book is the discussion on benefits of enterprise architecture. Successful implementation of each stage of an enterprise architecture, the authors demonstrate, generates new or expanded technology and business benefits: reduced IT costs, increased IT responsiveness, improved risk management, increased management satisfaction, and enhanced strategic business outcomes. One of the best quotes included in "Enterprise Architecture as Strategy" is the following, by Doreen Wright, the first corporate CIO of Campbell Soup Co.: "Looking at the IT function is like having the company look at itself in the mirror: Whatever's wrong with the company will show up in the IT function." Another, by Albert Einstein, might already be familiar to you: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." One premise behind enterprise architecture is that business and IT need to work together, and the ability of this book to drive home this concept is what makes it required reading.

Very Pleased	Customer Rating:
Was very please with the text book I bought. I will buy from seller again.

Great Book	Customer Rating:
Our company is big on this book. our IT CIO has distributed several copies of it to several key people in the organisation.

Not readable	Customer Rating:
It was highly prized by a co-worker. Therefore, I assume that it's just not my type of reading: barely dragged myself to the midstream and drowned there. Try to sample it first. Hope that helps.

Well deserved 5 stars	Customer Rating:
The book is really great and deserves 5 stars. I am an Application Architect working for one of the biggest financial companies in the world and we are using this book as a starting point for improving our Enterprise Architecture. I whish this book was thicker or maybe had a second volume.