The title of this post, translated loosely from Greek to English, means “Know Thyself”. It’s an ancient aphorism that has been referenced by many Greek philosophers including Haraclitus and Socrates. But, it’s generally attributed to Pythagoras, of the mathematical equation fame. Mythologically, its origins are traced back to the Greek and Roman god Apollo. In fact, a gold inscription of those two letters appear above the entrance to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, among other places.
Gnothi Seauton is generally good advice. But, in today’s tough economic times, it is great advice for businesses looking to get a realistic grasp on the big picture in order to make more effective business decisions. During a recession, enterprises need a clear view of the IT resources and infrastructure in their organization, as well as the business processes that call on those resources. Enterprise Architecture (EA) does just that, by allowing organizations to standardize technology and business processes within departments and across the enterprise, eliminating silos and creating greater efficiency.
Beyond reducing redundancy in systems and creating overall enterprise efficiency, EA can also foster greater communication and interaction among business units. Imagine you just spent 10 grueling hours researching information for a big project. Now, imagine learning that much of the information you were seeking was available among the files of one of the other departments in your organization. Sounds frustrating, right? Pretty soon you would have about as much hair as the aforementioned Socrates.
EA software can help in a recession by identifying duplicate or underutilized resources, optimize the value chain and, given the usual increase in M&A activity during tough economic times, quickly integrate assets and assimilate staff.
More to come on the topic of enterprise architecture and modeling in future posts. In the meantime, you can read an example, or several examples, about how companies are using EA in practice.
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