Introduction

All businesses, ranging from the ‘one man show’ through to multinationals and governments, can succeed or fail on the back of the decisions that they are constantly on call to deliver. The quality of the decisions that are made has significant influence on the outcomes that the decisions are designed to affect. The very nature of the decisions is affected by the quality, the completeness and the immediacy of the information available to the decision maker. Access to information, to feed into the decision making process, is strongly influenced by how business knowledge is managed.

Knowledge itself, either explicit or tacit, provides a level of understanding to business information which not having can render the information itself less than useful. The ability to leverage tacit knowledge, largely held in the heads of individuals, is a critical yet significantly underutilised asset. Explicit knowledge, codified perhaps into a repository, may be more easily accessed but still requires a means of interpretation. A business can only realistically aspire to reaching its full potential if it is able to establish a business strategy, define a road map describing how the strategy will be realised and have a repeatable process supporting the making of decisions along the way. An Enterprise Architecture provides a structured framework and business methodology by which:

• Relevant business knowledge can be managed;
• Processes can be applied to ensure appropriate information is captured and is properly maintained with a consequential increase in business confidence in its quality.
• Guidelines can be provided to the business community explaining how to apply the contents to specific scenarios.

Its application is relevant to all businesses; not just the large and complex. The capability to make timely, properly informed and focussed decisions, with a high level of confidence that the expected outcome will be realised, permits a business to:

• Identify and explore business opportunities that would otherwise have been closed;
• Respond to change with confidence;
• Perform with a higher level of operational efficiency;
• Better manage the costs of doing business;
• Realise business benefit sooner than they otherwise might;
• Progress the realisation of their business vision.

An Enterprise Architecture provides a business with the opportunity to unlock its full potential. It provides a business with knowledge about:

• Where it is heading;
• Why it is heading there;
• How to get there;
• How to respond to inevitable change and the impact it will impart.

With the provision of appropriate information and the knowledge on how to use it an Enterprise Architecture supports the ability to achieve maximum business benefit and success in their endeavours.

Who should read this book?

This book should be read by

• Decision makers;
• Business and IT strategists;
• Business Analysts;
• Finance Managers;
• Risk Managers;
• Portfolio, Program and Project Managers;
• Architects of all types

What is contained in this book?

This book contains extracts from my Blog ‘ The Knowledge Economy’. It explores my thoughts, observations and experiences on:

• Knowledge and how it impacts a business;
• Enterprise Architecture and the value it can provide;
• Business Performance and
• Business Change

Whilst the ‘Knowledge Economy’ Blog has no specific structure I have attempted to impose a very loose order within this book by at least grouping my writing into themes. Not wishing to ‘over-think’ the content I have maintained the integrity of the Blog and not ‘padded’ sections with additional words so that pagination within chapters worked better.

This book does not need to be read from the sequentially but can be dipped into at any point.

The Knowledge Economy blog can be found at:

www.theknowledgeeconomy.anorien.com