The Open Group's Architecture Framework of TOGAF is a hugely influential IT systems design framework adopted by Solution Architects and Enterprise Architects around the world. Most systems are designed using the same basic model which broke Business IT into logical layers known as the BATOG model:
- Business
- Applications
- Technology
- Organisation
- Governance
This model has been revised a little, since Organisation and Governance are now assumed to be in place and mature in most businesses, and best addressed via the COBIT 2019 framework. The model has also been updated to include the increasing importance of data to business since that model was first devised.
So now we have BDAT
- Business
- Data
- Applications
- Technology
Notice that in the new model Technology is the last thing on the list. In fact, even in the old model if we move Organisation and Governance it was still last on the list. And so it should be.
When we approach a transformation, especially to the cloud, it is easy to see this as an infrastructure led programme. We want to replace obsolete hardware, reduce datacenter footprints, reduce energy or support costs. What we don't often see is that the business has changed a great deal since that infrastructure was designed and in some cases the applications have changed too! The infrastructure may be viewed as a constraint on the applications, and it probably is, but simply re-hosting it won't really deliver value. Perhaps we could simply put the obsolete system into a container and lift it to the cloud, but if we re-host a 15 year old app this way then the chances are we still get a 15 year old system on a brand new host that is customised to be the same as the old one. It might remove the application constraint but will not meet the evolving needs of the business. Strangely, this is still the most common cloud transformation model - "lift and shift" or workload migration.
Granted, it is unlikely that a business has the time or the funding to completely rewrite its applications either. But there is a middle way, which we call Evolve.
Evolve is a service from Digital Alfa that starts by asking simple questions about a company's IT services including:
- What is it for? - The business need.
- What does it do? - How does it meet the business need?
- How robust is it? - Could it put business at risk?
- How easy is it to maintain? - Could it impact business volumes?
- Are people with the right skills available to look after it? - Is it costing more than it's value?
We then combine that information with a broad and deep analysis of a company's software portfolio. We can identify unused applications and unused components, obsolete components, open source licenses exposures, and unmanaged security flaws. We can create dashboards that provide indications of the cloud readiness of a software portfolio and even look at how to make the application more environmentally friendly.
More than that we can work with businesses to decide if there is more value that can be drawn from the data the software records.
Last, but not least, since we know the Business need, the potential value of the data, and what we need to do with the application stack to make it ready to move and help the business derive that value the time has come to apply the technology.
Better, faster and cheaper than another failed lift and shift. Click here to learn more
Why technology should not be the first thing we think of when we start a transformation journey