Enterprise Architecture Evolutionat Verizon

Enterprise Architecture Group

Verizon Telecom

Webinar - Presented at Information Management Forum

May 2010

How Did This Happen?

2

Siloed Ecosystem ‘trying’ to meet the business needs

Verizon EA Evolution

• Similar to most large businesses

• Filled with major events that drive the need for enterprise architecture

– Mergers & Spin-offs

– New technology & products

– Expansion of business

• Market conditions and business drivers paving the way for architecture

• Homegrown approaches leading the way to adaptation of accepted practices

3

Verizon Business Units

4

•Federal

•Enterprise

•Wholesale

•Global

•Consumer

•Small Business

•Consumer

•Business

•enterprise

Wireless Telecom

BusinessPartner

Solutions

• Verizon is made up of multiple business units

• All business units have IT groups, business processes, applications and networks to cater to the needs of their focal areas

• Customers view Verizon as a single entity and expect single touch points

• Common products and services across business units

Major EA Impacting Events @ Verizon

5

20021997 2000 2004 2006 20102007

Verizon purchases

Verizon divestiture

to

OneBill for customers

with telecom and wireless

services

All sorts of bundles

launched

Long Distance Service

launched

2002

Interactive Media Guide

launched

Successful businesses thrive with change. Embrace it to manage it

Architecture Team Evolution

6Evolution driven by business demands

Application Architect• System level

responsibility• Focuses on

application and near-neighbors

• Lack of big picture leading to duplications

• high cost of development and low speed to market

• Incoherent processes

Solutions Architect• IT wide design

responsibility and visibility

• end to end design and implementation

• Lack of full business understanding resulting sub optimal solutions

• This model drives strategic systems flow but not strategic business process changes

2000 2010

Enterprise Architect• Business-centric architecture

focused on bottom-line • Close partnership between

the stake holders• Provide business and

technical leadership, driving projects from ideation to launch

• IT input into business requirements and business input into technology strategy

• Improved speed to market and reduced cost

IT

PLM

EA

Ops

Ntwk Mktg

ITIT

IT

IT

OpsPLM Ntwk OpsPLM Ntwk

IT-SA

Mktg Mktg

IT Centric to Business Centric

7

Requirement review sessions

Requirement generation sessions

Ideation discussions

Business short term and long term strategy sessions

2000 2010

Par

tne

rsh

ip

Results So Far

• Reduced costs– Certain aspects of business have seen 30% reduction Y-Y

• Improved speed to market– Overall duration cut down by half in some cases

• High quality deliverables– Delivered right the first time

• Business works with EA team from ideation– All stake holders become part of business process development as well as

systems development

– Holistic solutions that address all aspects of business• IT is as much a stake holder as everyone else

• Reduced number of systems and processes– Duplications avoided upfront

• EA team is sought after for driving change and guidance– Team grew from 4 to 20 people strong

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EA Drivers, Keys to Success, Frameworks and Tools

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Drivers

10

EA

Speed to Market

Business Transformation

Cost ReductionBSS/OSS

Transformation

New products & Technologies

Success Factors

• Executive Sponsorship– Success of the EA efforts is closely tied to executive sponsorship– EA team must be empowered and be seen by others as empowered

• Organizational Positioning– Organizationally EA team needs to be positioned in such a way that its

seen as neutral– Perception matters

• Business and technology awareness– Awareness of current and strategic systems and business processes– Understanding near and long-term business direction– Insight and reach into key aspects of business

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Success Factors

• Partnership, understanding and boundaries– Close partnership with all stake holders– Winwin spiral– Must be seen as problem solvers– Know when to step back

• Process and documentation– Follow a consistent engagement model– Deliver clear documentation– Make the documentation accessible to all stake holders

• Internal knowledge transfer– Make knowledge transfer part of the job– Encourage knowledge sharing within and across the teams

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Success Factors

• Success and failure of the EA team depends heavily on the individual architects and the team leadership

• EA resource common traits– Strong Leadership – Excellent negotiation and diplomatic skills– Balance business and technology needs– Manage newer technologies and related challenges– Ability to zoom-in, zoom-out and sectionalize problems– Confidence driven by knowledge and aptitude– Domain knowledge– Develop and nurture professional relationships– Effectively manage matrix communication and management structures

(must discuss and design on vast scope, with no direct control)– Leverage the team knowledge

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EA through Framework & Tools

• Adaptation of eTOM framework and ITIL practices

• VAST – Verizon Architecture and Strategy Tool

• Homegrown common architecture portals and business case tools

• Application directory covering all systems and most interfaces

• SharePoint and other collaboration tools

• Working towards implementation of proven frameworks

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Business and EA’s Symbiotic Relationship

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Business and systems strategy exercises setting

up 2-3 year plans and architecture guidance

(2-3 Year Plans)

Annual business case planning driven by business

and systems strategy

(Annual)

Quarterly business and IT releases implementing

the changes

(Quarterly)

Metrics and analytics providing the feedback to

drive change

(Monthly)

Avoid Common Pitfalls

• Groupthink – Stakeholders shifting their responsibilities on EA

– Not being active participants

• Ineffective architects

• Too much IT focus

• Becoming a bottleneck

• Entering forced partnerships than mutually beneficial

• Too many detailed items being put under EA purview

• Using EA for political reasons

• Too large to be effective

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Opportunities

• Adopting proven framework

• Managing resources vs. quality balance

• Wider engagement without compromising the depth of engagement

• Encouraging the EA thinking at the application level• Making EA one of the disciplines within the business teams• Developing business architecture views and driving process

changes

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By Design…

18Journey from Chaos to Order: EA Reduces Entropy!