Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Business Architect
A Business Architect is a professional who is responsible for designing and optimizing the structure and operations of a business or organization. They develop and implement strategies that align with the company's objectives and goals, measure performance against goals, and identify opportunities for performance improvement. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Business Architects.
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Main Responsibilities of Business Architect
The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Business Architect:
Accelerate
Accelerate our customer's success through digital transformation within functional domains.
Adopt
Adopt a standardized development lifecycle methodology for all enhancements.
Advise
Advise and track new developments as part of our 3-5 year strategic roadmap.
Advocate
Advocate customers' product feature priorities internally within Salesforce.
Align
Align risk and control processes into day to day responsibilities to monitor and mitigate risk.
Align strategic goals and objectives with decisions regarding products and services.
Align strategic objectives with decisions concerning products and services.
Analyze
Analyze changes to complete impact assessments.
Analyze current state business processes and develop future state business process models.
Analyze the impacts of sector roadmaps, anticipate all business impacts and propose action plans.
Anticipate
Anticipate and adjust for problems and roadblocks.
Assess
Assess health and maturity of associated enablers.
Assess opportunity cost and trade-offs in delivery schedule of initiatives.
Assist in
Assist in solving complex technical problems.
Break down
Break down work into the process steps.
Build
Build effective relationships with internal / external stakeholders.
Build enduring relationships with business and technology stakeholders.
Build models to validate analysis and hypothesis.
Capture
Capture on-going enhancements to scope of services for existing clients as needed into roadmap.
Catalog
Catalog and organize current and historical architecture artifacts in common accessible repository.
Coach
Coach and develop the team.
Collaborate with
Collaborate effectively with others to achieve goals and to drive results.
Collaborate with Data Strategy to define data requirements necessary for integration.
Collaborate with individuals across the organization to ensure all details are considered.
Collaborate with other team members using agile methods.
Collaborate with other team members using agile methods (eg. Daily stand ups).
Conduct
Conduct an assessment of the project's business architecture, process and performances.
Conduct independent analysis and assessment to resolve strategic issues.
Conduct solutions presentations and obtains customer acceptance to solution design.
Conduct thorough data analysis of data sources.
Connect
Connect the IT project teams to the appropriate business subject matter experts.
Construct
Construct and present basic ROI & TCO calculations.
Contribute to
Contribute to a fair, positive and equitable environment that supports a diverse workforce.
Contribute to development of business architecture methodology guide.
Contribute to solution cost-benefit analyses.
Convert
Convert information to compelling business context and advice.
Create
Create and maintain client facing Product Documentation.
Create and maintain the Business Architecture.
Create an interlocked future state plan by gaining alignment with cross-functional business units.
Define
Define and produce performance indicators for the field.
Define how vendor capabilities will support the capability roadmap and business initiatives.
Define the data shared across the enterprise and the relationships between those data.
Define user permission strategy and role-based access controls for the newly acquired company.
Describe
Describe which people, resources and controls are involved in the processes.
Determine
Determine strategic objectives by understanding current and future business needs.
Develop
Develop and mentor others and invest in continuing your own professional education.
Develop business capability models and capability analysis.
Develop data and quality requirements for enterprise level data models.
Develop domain specific processes working closely with related CoE and business stakeholders.
Develop implementation and change management plans.
Develop other business architects.
Develop practical business solutions, promote consensus, and communicate and execute those solutions.
Develop principles of operation and concept of operations.
Develop python scripts to assist devops with day-to-day monitoring of system and application alerts.
Develop scenarios, product of the business architectures models.
Document
Document and monitor developments in the field's control effectiveness capabilities.
Document and present findings to the NGI Leadership team in a clear and concise manner.
Document current business processes and recommend business flows to be used in the future state.
Document, prioritize and monitor security initiatives.
Document product specifications and prepare business cases to drive development.
Document, score and prioritize gaps and opportunities.
Drive
Drive scope and solutions discussions and develop high-level solution design.
Drive systems-related project execution in direct partnership with IT.
Drive the new product release readiness program for specific Cross Cloud products and features.
Elicit
Elicit and document business requirements, business rules and data sources.
Ensure
Ensure alignment of choices and recommendations with company norms and standards.
Ensure alignment with strategies / objectives and across architecture domains.
Ensure alignment with the three-year strategic planning and the investment plan.
Ensure communication and change management strategies are in place.
Ensure consistency of business solutions with the sector's strategic objectives.
Ensure consistent & engaging Customer Experience throughout the sales cycle.
Ensure consistent & engaging CX throughout the sales cycle.
Ensure initiatives are staying aligned to vision and commitments and progressing well.
Ensure ongoing compliance with all applicable regulatory and policy requirements.
Ensure proposed solutions by Client and Development teams align with State Street's ALPHA strategy.
Ensure readiness of end users impacted by technology changes.
Ensure the consistency and integration of the work being done.
Ensure the development of business cases.
Establish
Establish Membership and manage cadence attendees.
Establish mutually beneficial relationship with Community Cloud product owners and stakeholders.
Establish mutually beneficial relationship with product owners and stakeholders.
Evaluate
Evaluate and present information that will facilitate effective and timely.
Evaluate existing capabilities and document alignment to medium-term strategy.
Evaluate the feasibility of the architecture and technologies related to a business change.
Execute
Execute work to deliver timely, accurate, and efficient service.
Facilitate
Facilitate and contribute to Quarterly Business Reviews.
Facilitate communication across client, Salesforce.com and Traction teams to ensure alignment.
Focus on
Focus on growing revenue, optimizing costs, and mitigating risks.
Generate
Generate "Scope Statements" document and initiate workflow for approval.
Give
Give input to customers' target architecture, phasing, roadmap and transition architecture.
Help
Help configure messages in splunk for equity trading and alerting purposes.
Help define data integration approach between Salesforce platform and other business applications.
Help determine business priorities and best sequence for execution of business / group strategy.
Help develop roadmaps and clearly coordinate the execution of strategic initiatives.
Help identify solutions to business needs.
Identify
Identify and promote synergies within the business sector and with other sectors.
Identify emerging issues and trends to inform decision-making.
Identify and escalate risks and issues.
Identify data delinquencies that can be mitigated through process improvements.
Identify opportunities for performance improvement.
Identify risks associated with the architecture and technologies, and recommend risk mitigation.
Identify role gaps that new processes can create.
Identify the current and future-state business processes.
Improve
Improve governance policies and practices.
Interpret
Interpret and contextualize strategy for operational needs with Enterprise and Solution Architects.
Lead
Lead Community Ambassador program to scale expertise across the business.
Lead discovery, analysis, and design workshops to drive architecture design decisions.
Lead the Ambassador program to scale expertise across the business.
Lead workshops and discovery sessions to gather necessary information.
Leverage
Leverage OpEx Framework to outline the process with pain points / Arch views / Data for Analytics.
Maintain
Maintain and support the development of business architecture repositories.
Manage
Manage and communicate with remote developers during non-traditional business hours.
Manage the ongoing sustainment model for the capabilities owned.
Manage the Software Development Lifecycle and Agile Software development practices.
Measure
Measure and document business results achieved through solution implementation.
Measure and provide updates on business architecture developments.
Measure performance against goals.
Monitor
Monitor and develop best practices in your field of expertise.
Optimize
Optimize, refactor, and or re-engineer business processes.
Optimize the architecture practice and accompany managers and teams in developing overall strategies.
Partner
Partner with IT architecture team in developing an IT framework that aligns with the business plan.
Partner with the sales team in account planning activities.
Perform
Perform analysis and problem-solving to derive valued outcomes.
Perform Business and Architectural Assessments and roadmaps.
Perform other duties as necessary.
Perform systematic quality checks on data models.
Plan
Plan and execute testing, including functional, integration and user acceptance testing.
Predict
Predict data model issues while supporting development of new systems through use of conceptual data.
Prepare
Prepare user documentation and training documentation as necessary.
Present
Present compelling Salesforce visions while supporting relationships with customers and partners.
Produce
Produce business architecture models to assist in decision making.
Provide
Provide architecture leadership and oversight for transformational enterprise impacting initiatives.
Provide a smooth handoff of new solutions to operations teams, including Production Services.
Provide business architecture input to strategic projects.
Provide first-level review of vulnerability assessments.
Provide guidance during frequent interactions with the working group and business leads.
Provide input into training and review communications for new releases.
Provide input on implementation status and changes to risks, estimates or schedule.
Provide insight for talent development and mentoring to key high potential individuals.
Provide key design insights related to plan sponsor eligibility and historical & takeover files.
Provide leadership in establishing the organization's business position.
Provide specialized consulting, analytical and technical support.
Provide the expected business value.
Provide timely account or issue executive summary status reporting both to customers and management.
Provide timely and accurate input to the business architecture workplan.
Provide timely and meaningful status on modeling tool, repository and associated tasks.
Recommend
Recommend and implement solutions based on analysis of issues and implications for the business.
Recommend the best segmentation and sequencing strategy for the deliverable.
Research
Research emerging architecture trends to determine their relevancy and fit for the organization.
Research emerging technology to develop business solutions that align with enterprise-wide solutions.
Review
Review the program for effectiveness, consider industry trends and recommend enhancements.
Secure
Secure approval of completed Architecture artifacts as required by the project governance process.
Support
Support administration, logistics, and communication activities for business architecture governance.
Support Enterprise Change Management activities around process evolution.
Support teams through program and service design engagements.
Support the business transformation architecture activities.
Support the technical construct of attribution reporting for global consistency.
Support the vision, road map and content for architectural planning.
Translate
Translate business questions into actionable data insights.
Understand
Understand and can build models when necessary but not fully dependent upon them for solutioning.
Understand data migration processing.
Understand the latest industry trends and align it with product strategy.
Update
Update process models and relevant documentation for distribution and discussion.
Use
Use current state artifacts to identify and analyze pain points and opportunities.
Use sophisticated analytical thought to exercise judgement and identify solutions.
Use the language of business leaders and join the conversation that is taking place.
Use these factors as project guidelines while ensuring they remain consistent.
Work
Work closely with vendor and technology partners to deliver solutions that meet requirements.
Work effectively at all levels of the organization to influence and move toward consensus.
Work with diverse stakeholder groups and negotiate an agreement.
Work with the customer to amend and approve changes as necessary.
Work with the extended team on resourcing data cleansing and data migration validation.
Most In-demand Hard Skills
The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Business Architect:
Business Context
Business Architecture
Business Analysis
Togaf
Financial Services
Implementation
Retail
SQL
ERP
Financial Services Industry
Information Systems
Integration
Babok
CRM
Design
Most In-demand Soft Skills
The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Business Architect:
Written and oral communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Presentation
Analytical ability
Problem-solving attitude
Leadership
Work independently with little direction
Self-starter
Collaborative
Negotiation
Facilitation
Team player
Organizational capacity
Customer focused
Empathy
