Brainstorming with a group of people is a powerful technique. Brainstorming creates new ideas, solves problems, motivates and develops teams. Brainstorming motivates because it involves members of a team in bigger management issues, and it gets a team working together. However, brainstorming is not simply a random activity. Brainstorming needs to be structured and it follows brainstorming rules. The brainstorming process is described below, for which you will need a flip-chart or alternative. This is crucial as Brainstorming needs to involve the team, which means that everyone must be able to see what's happening. Brainstorming places a significant burden on the facilitator to manage the process, people's involvement and sensitivities, and then to manage the follow up actions. Use Brainstorming well and you will see excellent results in improving the organization, performance, and developing the team.

N.B. There has been some discussion in recent years - much of it plainly daft - that the term 'brainstorming' might be 'political incorrect' by virtue of possible perceived reference to brain-related health issues. It was suggested by some that the alternative, but less than catchy 'thought-showers' should be used instead, which presumably was not considered to be offensive to raindrops (this is serious…). Happily recent research among relevant groups has dispelled this non-pc notion, and we can continue to use the brainstorming expression without fear of ending up in the law courts…

The process

1. Define and agree the objective.
2. Brainstorm ideas and suggestions having agreed a time limit.
3. Categorise/condense/combine/refine.
4. Assess/analyse effects or results.
5. Prioritise options/rank list as appropriate.
6. Agree action and timescale.
7. Control and monitor follow-up.

In other words:

Plan and agree on the brainstorming aim

Ensure everyone participating in the brainstorm session understands and agrees the aim of the session (eg, to formulate a new job description for a customer services clerk; to formulate a series of new promotional activities for the next trading year; to suggest ways of improving cooperation between the sales and service departments; to identify costs saving opportunities that will not reduce performance or morale, etc). Keep the brainstorming objective simple. Allocate a time limit. This will enable you to keep the random brainstorming activity under control and on track.

Manage the actual brainstorming activity

Brainstorming enables people to suggest ideas at random. Your job as facilitator is to encourage everyone to participate, to dismiss nothing, and to prevent others from pouring scorn on the wilder suggestions (some of the best ideas are initially the daftest ones - added to which people won't participate if their suggestions are criticised). During the random collection of ideas the facilitator must record every suggestion on the flip-chart. Use Blu-Tack or sticky tape to hang the sheets around the walls. At the end of the time limit or when ideas have been exhausted, use different coloured pens to categorise, group, connect and link the random ideas. Condense and refine the ideas by making new headings or lists. You can diplomatically combine or include the weaker ideas within other themes to avoid dismissing or rejecting contributions (remember brainstorming is about team building and motivation too - you don't want it to have the reverse effect on some people). With the group, assess, evaluate and analyse the effects and validity of the ideas or the list. Develop and prioritise the ideas into a more finished list or set of actions or options.

Implement the actions agreed from the brainstorming

Agree what the next actions will be. Agree a timescale, who's responsible. After the session circulate notes, monitor and give feedback. It's crucial to develop a clear and positive outcome, so that people feel their effort and contribution was worthwhile. When people see that their efforts have resulted in action and change, they will be motivated and keen to help again.

Personal brainstorming

For creativity, planning, presentations, decision-making, and organizing your ideas

Personal brainstorming - just by yourself - is very useful for the start of any new project, especially if you can be prone to put things off until tomorrow.

Planning a new venture, a presentation, or any new initiative, is generally much easier if you begin simply by thinking of ideas - in no particular order or structure - and jotting them down on a sheet of paper or in a notebook. Basically this is personal brainstorming, and it can follow the same process as described above for groups, except that it's just you doing it.

Sometimes it's very difficult to begin planning something new - because you don't know where and how to start. Brainstorming is a great way to begin. The method also generates lots of possibilities which you might otherwise miss by getting into detailed structured planning too early.A really useful tool for personal brainstorming - and note-taking generally - is the wonderful Bic 4-colour ballpen.

The pen enables you quickly to switch colours between red, blue, black and green, without having to walk around with a pocket-full of biros.

Using different colours in your creative jottings and written records helps you to make your notes and diagrams clearer, and dramatically increases the ways in which you can develop and refine your ideas and notes on paper. To prove the point, review some previous notes in black or blue ink using a red pen - see how you can organize/connect the content, still keeping it all clear and legible.

This simple pen is therefore a brilliant tool for organizing your thoughts on paper much more clearly and creatively than by being limited to a single colour - especially if you think in visual terms and find diagrams helpful.

For example, using different colours enables you to identify and link common items within a random list, or to show patterns and categories, or to over-write notes without making a confusing mess, and generally to generate far more value from your thoughts and ideas. Keeping connected notes and ideas on a single sheet of paper greatly helps the brain to absorb and develop them. Try it - you'll be surprised how much more useful your notes become.

The principle is the same as using different colours of marker pens on a flip-chart. Other manufacturers produce similar pens, but the Bic is reliable, widely available, and very inexpensive.

The usefulness of different colours in written notes is further illustrated (please correct me or expand on this if you know more ) in a wider organizational sense in the UK health industry. Apparently, black is the standard colour; green is used by pharmacy services, red is used after death and for allergies, and blue tends to be avoided due to poorer reprographic qualities (thanks M Belcher). As I say, correct me if this is wrong, and in any event please let me know any other examples of different coloured inks being used to organize or otherwise clarify written communications within corporations, institutions or industries.

Additionally I am informed (thanks T Kalota, Oct 2008) of a useful brainstorming/organizing technique using coloured pens when reviewing a written specification, or potentially any set of notes for a design or plan.

Underline or circle the words according to the following:

This technique was apparently used for clarifying written specifications or notes for a database design, and was termed 'extended relational architecture', advocated by a company of the same name, at one time. (I've been unable to find any further details about the company or this application. If you know more please tell me.)

This method of colour-coding notes (using underlines or circles or boxes) to help clarification/prioritization/organization/etc can itself naturally be extended and adapted, for example:

The colours and categories are not a fixed industry standard. It's an entirely flexible technique. You can use any colours you want, and devise your own coding structures to suit the situation.

In relation to the group brainstorming process above, see also the guidelines for running workshops . Workshops provide good situations for group brainstorming, and brainstorming helps to make workshops more productive, motivational and successful.

To create more structured brainstorming activities which illustrate or address particular themes, methods, media, etc., there is a helpful set of reference points on the team building games section. Unless you have special reasons for omitting control factors, ensure you retain the the essence of the rules above, especially defining the task, stating clear timings, organising participants and materials, and managing the review and follow-up.

Have you ever wondered why some organizations appear to transition to new ways of working after the completion of large projects or programs seamlessly, whilst others struggle and find the experience very disruptive? The answer may well be The Model Office.

A Model Office knits together the people, process, and technology components of a new proposed solution. It iteratively tests it against real scenarios within a simulated work environment to evaluate the usefulness and effectiveness of that solution.

The Model Office engages the key people involved in the solution early in the development process — allowing for feedback as the solution is being developed. It is also a great way to obtain buy-in from all necessary parties, as it allows you to demonstrate the benefits of the solution early in the development process.

A Model Office:

• Unearths and tests assumptions baked into a solution to ensure it delivers the desired customer experience
• Validates that the new solution satisfies functional goals and meets performance and quality targets
• Facilitates early knowledge transfer to business teams — reducing the severity of the learning curve for staff who will use the solution
• Enables the gathering of feedback from a wider audience and adjusts the solution to meet identified needs and mitigate project risk
• Enables early identification of gaps in process, people, and technology
• Facilitates iterative design for the optimal way to fill potential gaps
• Encourages buy-in and develops champions for the new solution — easing the transition through delivery.

The Model Office Process

In order for the Model Office to be a success it is essential to run it with very clear objectives throughout the duration of the project or program. Here is the process which I use:

Phase 1: The Planning Phase

The Model Office Planning Phase occurs at the start of program execution. The objective of this phase is to set-up everything necessary to facilitate the Model Office running throughout the duration of the program. This stage will typically contain the following steps:

• Identify the key participants in the Model Office
• Plan when Model Office sessions will take place. To do this you will need to align the Model Office workshops with key deliverables. If R&D are providing regular releases (for example monthly) then it will make sense to hold the sessions just after these releases are made.
• Ensure an environment is available for use in the Model Office. This refers to ensuring a testing system exists and has enough data in it if necessary to reflect real world use.
• Plan the desired outputs from the Model Office workshops, such as a prioritized list of recommended improvements, and a list of positives and negatives of the new system compared with any existing systems.

Phase 2: Early Stage Model Office

In the early stages of your project or program it is unlikely much will exist by way to deliverables which can be tested. This does not mean you shouldn’t run the Model Office. Using whatever does exist at this stage (wire-frames, rough notes on new business process), Business Scenario Walkthroughs can be performed.

The purpose of these BSW’s is to walkthrough the business processes even though the software or hardware doesn’t yet exist to test the planned business processes to ensure they are workable. Because no software or hardware exists participants should be asked to role play, using props or just pieces of paper rather than real systems.

Phase 3: Mid Stage Model Office

This stage starts when the first real deliverable is available to test. In this stage, in addition to performing Business Scenario Walkthroughs we start carrying out Business Simulations. Business Simulations involve using the delivered systems to perform real world tasks to simulate as much as possible the tasks which will happen once the systems are handed over to the Operations team. As much as possible we are trying to simulate the entire business process end-to-end.

At this mid-stage it is probable that only a fraction of the final systems will be available. However, in addition to the systems delivered at this stage, new wire-frames or designs will be available for those parts of systems being delivered next, and we should continue to perform Business Scenario Walkthroughs on these items.

Phase 4: Late Stage Model Office

The late stage model office starts when we no longer need to perform Business Scenario Walkthroughs and can solely rely on performing Business Simulations. The purpose of this phase is twofold:

• To sign-off all systems delivered as acceptable for Operations
• For the participants of the Model Office to go out into the organization and train and prepare their colleagues to use the new systems which are coming.

It is a good idea to prepare the final sign-off criteria for Operations, and training plans towards the end of the mid-stage Model Office. Final sign-off means that everyone is confident that the systems being transitioned to the Operations team are fit for purpose and the necessary people know how to use them.

Conclusion

The Model Office is a great way to ensure that systems developed during the project or program transition to operational use smoothly. It is also a great way to gain buy in from those people who will ultimately use the system, as it gets them involved early, adapts the systems based on their feedback, and ultimately gets them to sign-off the systems and processes as fit for purpose.

The Scamper tool was developed by Matthew Luckie of the WAND group at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) to facilitate large-scale measurements over the Internet, as for now Scamper is the prober deployed in CAIDA's Macroscopic Topology Project. It performs various types of measurement, including traceroutes with UDP, ICMP, or TCP probes, to large numbers of destination addresses. The load generated by Scamper can be limited to a given number of packets. Recent versions also include code to perform "ping" measurements, Path MTU discovery, as well as the Paris Traceroute mechanism.

Scamper's source code is distributed as Free Software, under the GNU General Public License. And latest announcement and distribution info can be found at:

Scamper

Like its predecessor skitter, scamper is a tool that actively probes the Internet in order to analyze topology and performance. Unlike skitter, scamper supports both IPv6 and IPv4 probing. In addition, scamper supports the well-known ping and traceroute techniques, as well as Paris and MDA tracerout…

CAIDA: Center for Applied Internet Data AnalysisCAIDA

Scamper package

Scamper was included in Debian distribution starting from Jessie, therefore, you can easily install the package through apt-get install command and no need to build by yourself. I include the various version from Debian release here so you can get a clear picture of what version shall you install based on your Debian-based installation.

Package scamper

* jessie (oldoldstable) (admin): parallel Internet measurement utility
  - 20140122-1: amd64 armel armhf i386
* stretch (oldstable) (admin): parallel Internet measurement utility
  - 20161113-1: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel ppc64el s390x
* buster (stable) (admin): parallel Internet measurement utility
  - 20181219-1: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips mips64el mipsel ppc64el s390x
* bullseye (testing) (admin): parallel Internet measurement utility
  - 20191102-1: amd64 arm64 armel armhf i386 mips64el mipsel ppc64el s390x
* sid (unstable) (admin): parallel Internet measurement utility
  - 20191102-1: alpha amd64 arm64 armel armhf hppa i386 m68k mips64el mipsel ppc64 ppc64el riscv64 s390x sh4 sparc64 x32
  - 20181219-1 [debports]: powerpcspe

Before you start to use Scamper

I know most of people don't like to read manpage even me, it's time-consuming and I just wanna get into it and let the command do the job. Well, that's true and I'd like to

https://manpages.debian.org/buster/scamper/scamper.1.en.html

TL;DR

To use the default traceroute command to trace the path to 192.0.2.1:

scamper -i 192.0.2.1

To infer Path MTU changes in the network and associate them with a traceroute path:

scamper -I "trace -P udp-paris -M 192.0.2.1"

To use paris traceroute with ICMP probes, using 3 probes per hop, sending all probes, writing to a specified warts file:

scamper -O warts -o file.warts -I "trace -P icmp-paris -q 3 -Q 192.0.2.1"

To ping a series of addresses defined in filename, probing each address 10 times:

scamper -c "ping -c 10" filename

Care must be taken with shell quoting when using commands with multiple levels of quoting, such as when giving a probe description with a dealias command. The following sends UDP probes to alternating IP addresses, one second apart, and requires the IP-ID values returned to be strictly in sequence.

scamper -O warts -o ally.warts -I "dealias -O inseq -W 1000 -m ally -p '-P udp -i
192.0.2.1' -p '-P udp -i 192.0.2.4'"

Alternatively, the following accomplishes the same, but without specifying the UDP probe method twice.

scamper -O warts -o ally.warts -I "dealias -O inseq -W 1000 -m ally -p '-P udp'
192.0.2.1 192.0.2.4"

The following command scans 198.51.100.0/28 for a matching alias to 192.0.2.4, but skips 198.51.100.3.

scamper -O warts -o prefixscan.warts -I "dealias -O inseq -W 1000 -m prefixscan -p '-P udp' -x 198.51.100.3 192.0.2.4 198.51.100.0/28"

The following uses UDP probes to enumerate all per-flow load-balanced paths towards 192.0.2.6 to 99% confidence; it varies the source port with each probe.

scamper -I "tracelb -P udp-sport -c 99 192.0.2.6"

Example Output

: root@mamp1[scamper-cvs-20070201]; ./scamper -c trace -p 20 target-list.txt
traceroute from 2001:620:0:11a:213:21ff:feae:19db to 2001:620:0:114:20b:cdff:fe1b:3d1a
 1  2001:620:0:11a::1  0.340 ms
 2  2001:620:0:c02d::2  0.325 ms
 3  2001:620:0:c06d::1  3.181 ms
 4  2001:620:0:c06a::1  3.922 ms
 5  2001:620:0:c03d::1  3.951 ms
 6  2001:620:0:114:20b:cdff:fe1b:3d1a  3.797 ms
traceroute from 130.59.35.78 to 130.59.35.130
 1  130.59.35.77  0.265 ms
 2  130.59.36.194  0.220 ms
 3  130.59.37.77  3.095 ms
 4  130.59.37.65  3.773 ms
 5  130.59.36.209  3.883 ms
 6  130.59.35.130  3.718 ms
traceroute from 130.59.35.78 to 130.59.48.15
 1  130.59.35.77  0.267 ms
 2  130.59.36.194  0.227 ms
 3  130.59.37.77  3.174 ms
 4  130.59.37.65  3.781 ms
 5  130.59.48.15  4.222 ms
traceroute from 2001:620:0:11a:213:21ff:feae:19db to 2001:620:0:113:20b:cdff:fe1b:45ec
 1  2001:620:0:11a::1  0.296 ms
 2  2001:620:0:c02d::2  0.345 ms
 3  2001:620:0:c06d::1  3.156 ms
 4  2001:620:0:c06a::1  3.933 ms
 5  2001:620:0:113:20b:cdff:fe1b:45ec  3.798 ms
traceroute from 130.59.35.78 to 130.59.35.134
 1  130.59.35.77  0.278 ms
 2  130.59.36.194  0.218 ms
 3  130.59.37.77  3.051 ms
 4  130.59.37.65  3.783 ms
 5  130.59.35.134  3.709 ms
[...]

Further reading (Documentation)

The paper Scamper: a Scalable and Extensible Packet Prober for Active Measurement of the Internet describes scamper's motivation and architecture. The cite for the paper is:

M. Luckie. Scamper: a Scalable and Extensible Packet Prober for Active Measurement of the Internet.
Proceedings of the 10th ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement (IMC), Melbourne, Australia, 1-3 Nov 2010, p. 239-245.

Assume you are heavily rely on Terminal interaction, whatever Bash or Zsh, if you wanna a quick switch from the console, you may try this.

Here is an example of using Zsh shell from your Linux distribution:

As the script mentioned, add it into ~/.zprofile, and type:

source ~/.zprofile

Then you can easily set the HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY with one command:

set_http_proxy

Then follow the screen to set up your HTTP Proxy accordingly.

Somehow you need to switch off the proxy, simply use

unset_http_proxy

Last but not least, use kill_http_proxy to remove the stored HTTP Proxy config in your home folder.

References:

https://dnsprivacy.org/wiki/display/DP
https://github.com/DNSCrypt/dnscrypt-proxy
https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/secure-transports

DNS explained

Domain Name System (DNS) is one of the industry-standard suite of protocols that comprise TCP/IP. Microsoft Windows Server 2003. DNS is implemented using two software components: the DNS server and the DNS client (or resolver). Both components are run as background service applications.

Network resources are identified by numeric IP addresses, but these IP addresses are difficult for network users to remember. The DNS database contains records that map user-friendly alphanumeric names for network resources to the IP address used by those resources for communication. In this way, DNS acts as a mnemonic device, making network resources easier to remember for network users.

The Windows Server 2003 DNS Server and Client services use the DNS protocol that is included in the TCP/IP protocol suite. DNS is part of the application layer of the TCP/IP reference model.

Further reading from: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2003/cc772774(v=ws.10)

Secure transports for DNS

(quote from Google)

Traditional DNS queries and replies are sent over UDP or TCP without encryption, making them subject to surveillance, spoofing, and DNS-based Internet filtering. Responses to clients from public resolvers like Google Public DNS are especially vulnerable to this, as messages may pass through many networks, while messages between recursive resolvers and authoritative name servers often incorporate additional protections.

To address these issues, in 2016 we launched DNS over HTTPS (now called DoH) offering encrypted DNSSEC-validating DNS resolution over HTTPS and QUIC. And in 2019, we added support for the DNS over TLS (DoT) standard used by the Android Private DNS feature.
DoH and DoT enhance privacy and security between clients and resolvers, complementing Google Public DNS validation of DNSSEC to provide end-to-end authenticated DNS for DNSSEC-signed domains. With Google Public DNS, we’re committed to providing fast, private, and secure DNS resolution for both DoH and DoT clients.

When we think of famous architecture, we immediately think of the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, or anything by Frank Lloyd Wright.

But what about famous enterprise architecture?

Google, IBM, and Walmart have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of employees, respectively. But it doesn’t stop at human capital — the technology stack, the information layer, and much more complexity are involved.

Successful companies are not simply built brick by brick. They are skillfully architected.

Startups are known for getting stuck in the early stages and expanding either too fast or too slow. While enterprise architecture is not a quick fix for failing startups, preliminary planning can help provide the tools and roadmap a young company needs to succeed.

In this article, we provide insight into enterprise architecture and how this organizational imperative can lead to the successful execution of your business strategy. Let’s begin by nailing down a definition.

What Is Enterprise Architecture?

Enterprise architecture (EA) is all about designing business infrastructure and organizational structure based on vision, strategic intent, and function.

It started as a means to manage the growing complexity of IT systems but has since grown to include information about the business architecture itself.

Enterprise architecture makes sure there’s a plan and that the metaphorical bricks aren’t laid at random.

Think of it as a bird’s-eye view that shows where the enterprise is moving and the strategy to take it there. This is especially helpful for young companies to develop a process as they’re starting out.

Goals of Enterprise Architecture

The goal of enterprise architecture is to provide the framework, tools, and perspectives to take a startup or business from its current state to its target state.

You may think the target state is the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s more like the structural integrity of the tunnel itself. Achieving the target state is actually a byproduct of a successful enterprise architecture.

Enterprises are complex and dynamic systems subject to variability. The model is always evolving and therefore the EA planning and framework must be iterative and dynamic.

What Are Enterprise Architecture Frameworks For?

Frameworks exist to help businesses effectively implement and track their enterprise architecture planning.

Enterprise architecture can be vague since it’s meant to address an entire organization, rather than individual needs or problems. This is why frameworks are helpful, so businesses can establish processes or evaluate EA against their long-term goals.

There are many framework types, but they have the same goal — to create a standardized approach to EA with a common vocabulary, compliance methods, or recommended tools and software.

Let’s cover some of the popular frameworks and methodologies that come with them.

Enterprise Architecture Frameworks and Methodologies

We’ll cover two of the most popular EA frameworks: Zachman and TOGAF.

Back in the 1980s, John Zachman of IBM noticed how extraordinarily complex information systems were becoming. He knew the company needed a logical framework to handle this growing complexity, so he proposed a plan which became a philosophy for many enterprise architects.

Zachman Framework

The Zachman framework is an ontology, which is simply a set of detailed directions of how everything is connected.

The categories of this framework take various perspectives across the company. It asks five questions of each:

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

The perspectives are organized in a top-down. format It starts with the C-level executive’s perspective, trickles down to the perspectives of management, the enterprise architect, engineers, individual contributors, and finally the end user.

The Zachman framework is a lightweight model because it can be applied to many types of businesses. However, this framework is more descriptive and less prescriptive.

The TOGAF model, although another metamodel, is more prescriptive in nature.

TOGAF

The core of TOGAF is the Architectural Development Method (ADM). The ADM provides a framework for the architect development cycle.

While it may look complicated, it all boils down to organized teamwork: understanding a common goal, communicating changes, and working together across teams.

TOGAF argues for an “Enterprise Continuum.” This includes internal and external assets like models, descriptions, and patterns that help inform your enterprise architecture. By considering a variety of solutions, you may be able to reuse or iterate on past work, saving time and money.

Simply put, it accounts for the changing business environment and provides guidance for managing evolving architecture.

Some of the other components of TOGAF include:

• Architecture vision
• Migration planning
• Implementation governance
• Architecture change management

This framework is comprehensive for nearly any business in any industry. Although the framework is prescriptive, it does not prescribe the number of iterations needed or the scope of each iteration.

What are Enterprise Architecture Domains?

Enterprise architecture guides your business, information, process, and technology decisions to execute a business strategy.

Just as an enterprise has multiple departments and domains, enterprise architecture itself can be broken down into domains.

Enterprise architects focus on each domain and how they relate to one another to deliver an organization’s strategy.

Types of Enterprise Architecture Domains
There are typically four architecture domains and they are often interconnected:

• Business Architecture
• Applications Architecture
• Information Architecture
• Technology Architecture

Each domain has its own specific protocols or practices. Let’s dive into each more in-depth.

Business Architecture

Business architecture keeps the value chain connected, strong, and able to perform the task at hand. This means delivering value end-to-end in the most efficient way.

A business architect must create a blueprint of the enterprise. This helps provide a common understanding of business goals and align strategies to deliver the intended outcome. One of the most important aspects of business architecture is “a common understanding.”

95% of employees do not fully understand the strategic vision of their company.03 One goal of business architecture is to ensure that all contributors know what they are building towards.

Like the bricklayer’s parable: when asked what they were doing, one replied “laying bricks,” another replied “building a church,” and the third replied “building a house of God.” The first person merely has a job, the second has a career, and the third has a calling.

Paint the picture for your team to understand what they are building and why.

Applications Architecture

The transposition of business logic into a functional application is becoming more prevalent in today’s technologically driven business environment. Building complex applications requires strategic planning as much, if not more so than project management.

One interesting dilemma many businesses face is whether to build or buy a solution. Stephanie Cohen, the chief strategy officer for Goldman Sachs, recalls the moment when they realized building a word processor internally was inefficient and ultimately ineffective.04

Goldman Sachs decided to buy word processing software and focus on building the applications that have the biggest impact on their business.

Understanding what features and tools you must build is the first step. The architecture of the application itself considers programming language, dependencies, database, API, SDK, and many other considerations.

Information Architecture

Enterprise Information Architecture (EIA) is the process and protocol for managing the exchange of information across the company. EIA is used to guide change management, promote data sharing, and reduce business cycle time.

Small and large enterprises can benefit from a successful EIA strategy. With a team of any size, the metaphoric wheel gets recreated more than once to solve some of the same problems across the company.

EIA aims to create an open and collaborative environment where reusability is encouraged.

A well-built and maintained EIA can benefit a company in ways that may go unrecognized. Mergers, acquisitions, and new employees, for example, are able to integrate more smoothly and successfully within the company.

Technology Architecture

This domain describes the software and hardware needed to implement business, data, and application services.

Technology of the enterprise may sometimes enable or disable the enterprise in the execution of its business strategy. Choosing servers, devices, databases, software, and networks should be connected to your overall business architecture policies and goals.

Some of the other domains that must be considered when structuring your EA are:

• Security
• Cloud computing
• Data

If you are managing the EIA, for example, you must understand how to balance internal transparency with security. If you are architecting the application layer, you must choose between spinning up your own servers or using a cloud computing service provider.

Another concern in the modern era of big data is how that data is used and exchanged — especially when sold to third parties. Regulations like GDPR have been enacted to protect users from sharing sensitive personal information unknowingly.

Architect the Future of Your Enterprise

As Benjamin Franklin would say, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”

Enterprise architecture helps startups map out a profitable future by sourcing real-time data and up-to-date analytics.

Operational success depends on the processes that put your business, technological, and informational strategy in place.