Introduction
If you’ve been following the ongoing debates on LinkedIn about Enterprise Architecture (EA), you’ve likely noticed the contrasting perspectives: some view it primarily as a technical discipline, while others argue it’s fundamentally a business-focused role, with technology as just one component.
Regardless of these differing perspectives, it’s hard to deny that as organisations lean into digital transformation, customer centricity, and operational agility, the role of the Enterprise Architect becomes increasingly valuable and business-critical. What’s more, if Enterprise Architects drive tangible business value, rather than simply keeping the IT lights on securely and cost-effectively, everyone sees the value.
But there’s a gap, based on the architecture bodies’ perspectives on what Enterprise Architects bring in the way of business acumen, and a poll on what Enterprise Architect candidates are able to demonstrate.
The Poll That Tells a Story
Back in February, I created a simple poll on LinkedIn and posed a simple question to recruiters and hiring managers:
What is the most challenging competency for Enterprise Architect candidates to demonstrate?
The response was interesting :-
- Stakeholder influence (40%)
- Knowledge about the business (30%)
- Tech stack expertise (25%)
- Knowledge about the customer (5%)
Despite decades of frameworks, training programs, and years of LinkedIn discussions around being business aligned, the biggest struggle isn’t tech stack knowledge, it’s the business aspect of the role.
I didn’t find it surprising that stakeholder influence and business acumen top the challenging competency list, did you?
What the Role Profiles Tell Us
If we turn to the industry’s leading EA frameworks, TOGAF, IASA and frameworks adjacent to EA, BIZBOK, EDGY and others, they paint a consistent picture. Business alignment, stakeholder engagement, and leadership are not peripheral, they’re foundational to an Enterprise Architect’s role.
For example:
- TOGAF emphasises translating business strategy into actionable roadmaps and acting as a liaison between execs and technical teams.
- EDGY champions synthesising customer and user experience with business purpose, highlighting design thinking and cross-functional collaboration.
- BIZBOK frames the EA role as a strategic advisor driving consensus between business and IT.
Across all these frameworks, we see clear expectations: successful EAs must lead with business outcomes, and be able to work in partnership across the organisation, joining up the dots of the operational model. It’s not just IT delivery.
The Disconnect: Why the Gap Exists
So why is there a disconnect between expectations and reality? As I reflect back on my experience in Enterprise Architecture there are many themes, but three main ones would be:-
- Traditional EA career paths lean heavily on technical progression with a peppering of business partnership, meaning EAs can be deep in tech and only touching the surface of the business dynamics.
- Many EAs lack exposure to executive-level early-stage strategy discussions. They may sit on programme boards and steering groups but the day to day and long-term business discussions happen without them in the room.
- Organisations still list far too many IT specialist areas in Enterprise Architecture role profiles and add on the business and stakeholder perspectives, giving the impression that technical expertise matters more than business acumen.
In effect, Enterprise Architects are often technically experienced architects lacking in experience in influencing, leading, and connecting with business stakeholders.
What Enterprise Architects Need to Demonstrate
Talking to recruiters, they all stress that to stand out in today’s EA job market, candidates must go beyond architecture diagrams and cloud migration plans.
They are looking for the experience in the areas that TOGAF, BIZBOK, EDGY and IASA promote.
They are looking for Enterprise Architects to:
- Stakeholder Influence & Communication
- Show how trust has been built with non-technical stakeholders.
- Highlight when strategic direction has been influenced by EA insights, not just when EA knowledge has resulted in better implemented solutions.
- Business Strategy Alignment
- Understand and articulate how EA has supported business objectives and improved satisfaction, revenue, cost or risk metrics.
- Use business language and models, not just technical jargon and complex Visio diagrams.
- Leadership & Mentorship
- Demonstrate membership of cross-functional leadership teams.
- Share how others have benefited from being mentored or guided through complex change.
- Customer & User Empathy
- Highlight increasingly better understanding of the expectation of customers when they are part of the self-serve operating model.
- Show how customer insights informed architectural decisions that led to better satisfaction and growth.
- Innovation within Constraints
- Able to demonstrate visionary thinking with pragmatic technical delivery.
- Reference emerging technologies and how you evaluated them for business value.
Conclusion: Bridging the Gap
So many LinkedIn posts from experienced Enterprise Architects are saying the profession needs a rebranding, from tech steward to business strategist. The poll results and framework research show that the industry isn’t just seeking architects who can design technical systems, they are looking for architects who can lead change, influence outcomes, and align with strategy. Maybe those additional business competencies in the role profiles need to be taken more seriously and recognised as critical in the preparation for that next big role.
I really believe that for aspiring or current EAs, the challenge (and opportunity) is to master the business context, build influence, become the strategic thinker your organisation didn’t even know it needed.
