Covalent
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Covalent Solutions Inc.®
Bonding Business to Architecture & Technology
Architecture Matters
Companies (large and small) implement technology routinely without having a comprehensive understanding of the endgame. They make significant changes to their infrastructure because of regulatory issues, competitive pressures or changing market environments, but all too often they do not allocate the time to make certain they are implementing changes which will outlast the pressures that caused the initial change. The result is all too often minimal positive business realization with large expenditures of corporate resource.
Vendors or consulting firms who specialize in particular technologies, systems integration or change initiatives are often engaged to guide businesses through the turbulent waters of change. But vendors always have a bias. Sometimes the bias serves their clients well—while other times the bias only serves the vendor.
Likewise consulting firms will have a bias. Though they may profess to be technologically agnostic, by default most will gravitate to the last technologies and “best practices” from engagements they performed which were similar in nature. Drawing on those past experiences helps the consulting firm drive certain levels of predictability in their own pricing and engagement models. Again, it is not about their client—it is about making certain their firm can deliver services and achieve revenue and margin goals.
Consulting firms and technology vendors employ pre/post sales engineers--their title may vary from firm to firm—but their approach is quite similar. Some will hold the title Analyst, while others will be titled as Systems Engineers or now in many cases Architect. But most are not architects and they demonstrate little understanding or appreciation of architectural practices, methods, models or principles.
No matter the title, most consultants take an Engineering approach to problem solving. And an engineering approach is typically a rather unapologetic application of known technology they either are most familiar with or need to sell. This approach is rarely in the best interest of your business.
An
industry adage is: "What is the
difference between an Architect and an Engineer”
- An Engineer will ask “when do you want it”
- An Architect will ask “how do you intend to use it”
Clearly there is a
difference implied in the two approaches!
Architecture Matters when you consider that rarely will you find any two implementations of any technology that are exactly the same. Companies large and small all have legacy environments that must be taken into account when new technology is introduced, and their business demands vary wildly depending on their own individual approach to their target market/challenges. Competent architects realize that such changes require an analysis of not just the technological infrastructure, but also careful examination of the organization's People, then Process and lastly Technology. Leading with technology is nearly always problematic.
We believe that while technology clearly can be an enabler, it alone should never drive the business nor should it lead your architectural decisions. We believe the inverse is true. Architecture should determine how technology would be used to respond to your business needs and challenges. Architecture should never be an afterthought, it should be the framework from which business imperatives are mapped to technological implementations. In this context an Architectural discussion will map out exactly how your business needs will be responded to by implementing new technologies. And, as technology evolves a well thought out architecture will allow the replacement of components without re-architecting.
Our logo contains the molecular structure of a diamond. We chose this symbol because a diamond's atoms are bonded covalently making a diamond one of the strongest materials on the planet. Enterprise Architecture and the Chemical Structure of a Diamond share a common principle--they are both giant lattice structures extending in three dimensions. To understand and benefit from either you really must decompose them to a less complex state--paying great attention to all the elements--and then reassemble the elements towards a desired outcome.
As our name--and slogan--implies, Covalent Solutions Inc.® has the experience and expertise to assist your firm with everything from the formation of an architectural discussion through vendor and integrator assessment/selection and implementation. We are not affiliated with any industry vendors, consulting firms or integrators. We are an independent consulting firm dedicated to making certain that your Architecture Matters!