Microsoft Architecture in times of economic challenges
Despite the economic slump, businesses that continue to invest and innovate will have significant competitive advantage both during and after it. Furthermore, organizations that look past the immediate challenges and toward the opportunities that the economic condition presents will have longevity and sustainability well after it.
“With the pace of innovation heating up, any enterprise that fails to replace 10 percent of its revenue stream annually is likely to be out of business within five years.”
The Economist magazine, 2003
IT will be at the center of this innovation; it is a key enabler for companies. IT decision makers such as Microsoft Architects will find themselves in high demand, and their expertise is one that will be used to its full extent. A Microsoft Architect poses the technical know-how to make complex and holistic decisions that affect unsurmounted dollars for an organization.
IT has become less of a function of strategic value to companies—no longer a necessary evil or cost center, but a real differentiating factor in the business of a company. Architects who have an understanding of forces will provide inherent alignment with the goals and objectives of a company.
Forces can be grouped into three high-level groups. These groups include the following:
External—Forces that are outside the organization forces and cannot be controlled
Business—Purely business-related forces that can be derived from the inside or outside
Internal—Forces that originate from the specific culture and operating model of a company
CIOs, COOs, and IT architects will take into consideration these forces, as they drive technology decisions, initiatives, projects, and purchasing. Understanding these forces will enable architects to snap to the business priorities and imperatives with more ease and less uncertainty. The following figure shows more detail on the industry forces and their effect on companies.
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The role of a Microsoft architect is a unique one. Microsoft Architects are some of the more unbiased technology decision makers, and they have a holistic view of solutions in an enterprise. Their skill sets will be used now more than ever in a faltering economy.
We find that the cutting of budgets for IT does not correlate directly to IT not being important. It does show the need to streamline and improve IT. So, in essence, it means more IT activities. For Florida Software Engineers Architects, it means a realignment of architectural priorities.
Florida Software Engineers Architects engage in mission-critical, high–return-on-investment (ROI), low–total-cost-of-ownership (TCO) activities. For further information, regard our Microsoft Centric lessons learned from
Erik M. Zeterberg
Chief Executive Officer
Florida Software Engineers, LLC
