Business Architecture & Software Selection
In the world of business architecture, most methodologies share the common approach of aligning the systems and operational processes to the Business Strategy and business drivers. In the Proact methodology as an example, the framework views are labeled BOST (Business, Operational, Systems, Technology). In selecting software applications, we can use this framework to guide the software selection process.
Business
- Strategy Drivers - are we consolidating companies; pursuing a M&A directive or expanding into new markets? What impact will this have on our current environment?
- Industry – are there specialized solutions for your industry? Are there regulatory considerations? Do you sell products, services or intellectual content and how will these narrow the market for your software solutions? Are your customers consumers, corporations, government entities and who are the market leaders in that software space?
- Global – do you have global requirements including reporting, taxation, language requirements?
Operations
- Channels and Sales – do you have requirements around a multi-channel environment or a specific sales approach and compensation model?
- Business Functions – what functions in the organization are critical to success and will drive the selection to ensure support for critical success factors? What are the data / integration requirements and how will the new applications fit into the data model?
- Pricing and Billing Models – are there key data elements that are required to support your sales model? How will the new applications support / utilize those data elements?
Systems
- Key Platforms – what are the key delivery platform foundations that are critical to your business (mobile, collaboration, portals, B2B / B2C)?
- Existing Applications – are there key applications in use in the enterprise that cannot be changed? How will the new applications integrate with the existing environment and enhance the business operations?
- Scalability – how does the size of your organization, geographies or level of sophistication affect the software choices?
Technology
- Technology Platforms – what are the key platforms in place today and do these need to be evaluated (SaaS, Microsoft, mobile or a specific flavor of technology)
- Integration - pay attention to the user interfaces; underlying set of integration tools and eco-system of partners. You can have the best systems, but if they are not integrated effectively you will not achieve adoption.
