I previously wrote about my first experiences with the executive Master in Enterprise IT Architecture (MEITA) at Antwerp Management School. I wrote this blog after the opening seminar in Corsendonck where we got an introduction to the course and we were able to mingle with fellow students. Since then, we have completed the first module, Business & IT Strategy and Leadership.
Tthis contribution has been published before on Ronald Bas’ LinkedIn pulse, picture from dilbert.com.
As implied by the name of the module and the attached Dilbert cartoon, strategy is a key issue in this module. The strategy of both business and IT organizations is the starting point for enterprise architecture, which is why this forms the very first module of the executive master course.
"Let’s just say that IT departments do not have the best reputation within these organizations..."
The basic module is all about enabling the appropriate governance of business ̶ IT alignment, which subsequently generates better value from IT investments. Sounds logical, right? However, several studies prove that, in practice, organizations have problems implementing appropriate governance. Let’s just say that IT departments do not have the best reputation within these organizations...
As the first classes were heavily theory-based, we were also then encouraged to put theory into practice by means of a group assignment. This gave us the opportunity to view governance, alignment and value from IT investments through the case study of a group member’s company. In my case that meant examining DAF. This is a very interesting environment for someone who works mostly in telecoms, not least because of the understanding we gained of the workings of the immense factory where trucks are manufactured. Furthermore, through the various interviews at DAF we gained some interesting insights, which we put together in an advisory report that formed the closing piece of the module.
So, we have now successfully completed the group assignment and with it the module on Business & IT Strategy and Leadership. Thanks to my group mates for the collaboration and to DAF where we carried out our assignment. We are now studying the module in Agile Enterprise Engineering and Architecture at the TU Delft. In short, we will be diving deeper into the world of enterprise architecture … to be continued!
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