Role Of Digital Architect

The pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital transformation, and in the future, it will become inevitable. The post-pandemic world needs more flexible production, greater productivity, and the development of new business models and digital solutions. 

Digital transformation demands specific expertise and a set of practices to align business focus with technology solutions. The new shift in IT bring seismic changes in the role of Architects too. Architect roles have evolved and include ensuring value for money, shaping strategies to lead businesses towards digital excellence, driving innovation, and delivering IT solutions.

Today, with so many organizations pushing for digitalization everywhere, there has never been a more pressing time for the “Solution Architect” to step forward and transition to “Digital Architect” / “Digital Solution Architect” to bring their organization forward. 

Digital Architects / Digital Solution Architects are the Future

Digital Architects will be are in-charge of leading the practice and introducing the overall technical vision for a Digital Transformation solution. They redefine the solution design process and shifts the focus from the problem to experience. They are a vital asset to achieving digital success. 

Digital Architects will lead the Digital Initiatives and teams, both from the business and technology side, and drive change that creates a business opportunity through technology innovation. Digital Architects will:

1.Accelerate Digitization

?Help companies of every sector to integrate and digitalize their business processes. 

2.Translate Digital Transformation Roadmap to Digital Application Solution Plan

Technology planning and road mapping can help business leaders understand the impact of proposed technology portfolio changes on business capabilities. Digital Architect would be tasked to lead digital transformation in the organization through Enterprise Architecture efforts.

Digital architects would be responsible for modeling what is needed to change the operating model, map business capabilities, and align technology to the organization’s strategic goals. Digital architects, with integrated strategic planning solutions, will enable organizations to evaluate the strategic importance of a given technology such as a new application or a cloud-based service.

3.Envision the new user experiences, product & services

Design new user experiences, products & services design – Shape the future of industries by using technology to create new opportunities aligned to Resilient and Sustainable business strategy 

4.Leverage technology to accelerate Digital Transformation

Digital architects work closely with the CIO, business leaders, and other stakeholders and help organizations emphasize emerging technologies that will lead to digital transformation. They assess, identify, and use technology to accelerate Solution development aligned to the Digital Transformation roadmap. 

Digital Architects would own the end-to-end journey – right from ideation, conceptualization, user’s requirements to an executable technical journey.

5.Transform processes and technology to execute digitally inspired strategic goals

6.Hyper Automation – They implement current and future technologies for automation and digitalization to prepare for the next level of their digital transformation journey. 

Digital Architects’ / ‘Digital Solution Architect’ – roles and responsibilities will be different from the current roles of Solution Architect (SA) and Enterprise Architect (EA).  

In the next blog of the series, I will cover the critical skills required by Digital Architects and how the role would be different from Solution Architect and Enterprise Architect.

Summary

Our world is becoming a place where digital transformation is perpetual, and a digital architect has a vital role in this scenario. The role of the Digital Architect is more significant now than ever. I believe that every organization in any industry, be it an enterprise or government, or agency needs a Digital Architect with a domain specialization of that particular enterprise/government.

Digital architects are the future of the IT industry. They will lead the organizations towards their goals by providing the tools and the approaches to manage the complexity of digital transformation.