What is a Business Architect — and What Makes a Great One?

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You might be in the market for a business architect if — 

Your business is growing rapidly and might be outgrowing your current systems. 

You’re building a business and know you need infrastructure for your incoming team. 

Your business isn’t delivering the results you planned for and there’s no single clear point of failure. 

You’ve hit a wall in your operations and know there has to be a better way.  

There are numerous articles on the first page of google for “What is a business architect” that can give you jargon, history, and more information than I would share in any one sitting (because I care about your time and sanity). 

I’ve written this summary to: 

Answer common questions about what it’s like to work with a business architect. 

Foster discussion and introspection regarding your business’ performance and operations. 

Inspire curiosity in your team about your business’ potential. 

Managers manage, directors direct, and architects design the infrastructure in which professionals thrive. 

Common questions about business architects & infrastructure: 

What actually is business architecture? 

Sometimes referred to as ‘business infrastructure,’ architecture includes all the ways and means in which you do business, including:

  • Operational processes

  • Internally and externally-facing technology [tech stack]

  • Metrics dashboard(s) and tracking

  • Strategic plans

  • Company culture

  • Interdepartmental collaboration

  • Automation and integration

  • Information management

and more, depending on your industry. 

An intentionally designed business architecture pursues strategic priorities by leveraging organizational capabilities and maximizing operational efficiency. 

How can you measure and communicate the value of infrastructure? 

Building a KPI-tracking ecosystem is paramount to the sustainability of a business’s infrastructure. The architect should understand the metrics required for decision making and construct a system to provide that information in real time. 

A well-constructed business infrastructure should show positive results in the areas of: 

  • Operational efficiency

  • Revenue and profitability

  • Talent acquisition and retention

  • Strategic priority achievement

  • Mission and impact sustainability

How these metrics are tracked depends on industry, capacity, and budget. 

Where does the business architect fit into the current team? 

In traditional large corporations, the business architect is a mainstay in the strategic team. They not only create infrastructure but also monitor, calibrate, and strategize further improvements as business functions change. They work closely with C-Suite leadership while also collaborating with director and manager-level team members to plan organizational change. 

In small to mid-sized businesses (including startups), I move freely about the cabin. I’ve found that the most sustainable solutions are generated by those who will ultimately own the results. Leadership is the pinnacle strategic source while management and implementation-level staff have the ground-level read on what’s so and what’s possible.  

Opportunities for discussion and introspection: 

If you’re still on the fence as to whether a business architect could help your organization, reflect on these questions and discuss what comes to mind. 

Sustainability: How sustainable is the workload within the business and on each team member individually? 

Culture: Are my team members empowered to generate and influence change? 

Results: Do our current operations enable us to get the best results from our efforts?  

To spark your curiosity: 

Some of the results from my work as a business architect include —

  • Growth of a three-person consulting business into an eight full-time staff consulting firm with quintupled revenue over 18 months.

  • Reduction of team work hours from a five to a four-day workweek after the implementation of automated operational systems.

  • Improvement of remote team collaboration with centralized institutional knowledge repository.

  • Streamlining of client intake and project kickoff processes to reduce friction and improve client relations in a B2B growth agency.

  • Steady increase in both revenue and profitability with insights from a metrics tracking dashboard.

You could have any business architect — what makes a great one? 

Performing the job description as written has the potential for real results. 

But in my experience, performing the job description as written is only half the effort. This work is more than documented processes, a defined tech stack, and a streamlined strategic plan. 

Business architecture is ultimately about people. Employees, customers, leaders, fans… people who rely on your business for the results you have promised. A great business architect knows these people, asks them for input, and joins them on their journey so their experience is the source of the solution. 

I can’t speak for anyone else, but these are the principles which ground me in my work as a business architect:   

  • Lead with curiosity and listen with humility.

  • Get the people what they need — then get out of their way.

  • If it feels like it shouldn’t be this hard, it probably shouldn’t be.

Let’s explore what’s possible for your business. 

Reach me by email with your name, business, and what brought you to this page in the first place.