Software Engineering in Practice Track

Running head: ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author note

1ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Case description.........................................................................................................................2
Comparison of EA and EA3 framework....................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................8

2ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE
Introduction
Enterprise Architecture refers to analysis, design, planning as well as implementation
of enterprise analysis so that business strategies can be executed properly. This helps in the
businesses to structure their IT projects as well as the polices so that desired business results
can be achieved. This also ensures that the organizations remain on the top of the industrial
trends and the disruptions by making use of architecture principles and associated practices.
EA framework can into existence as early as in the year 1960s as business technology was
experiencing rapid growth1. The modern EA strategies consider the whole business under
their purview rather than just considering IT. In this paper, the case study of Cisco systems
will be considered and their enterprise architecture capability analyzed to get an idea as how
these are used by businesses. The discussion will also provide a comparison of the EA and
EA3 framework with their advantages and disadvantages.
Case description
It can be said that acquisitions that create value are major challenges for organizations
but enterprise architecture can be made use of for successful acquisition. Cisco’s EA
capability has brought in improvisations in its ability to get value from its acquisitions and
has been behind its acquisition centric strategy of growth. For Cisco, acquisition has been
always an important part of its growth strategy. It was founded in the year 1984 and by the
year 2015, the organization is working with almost 70,000 employees and its revenue is $47
billion. This growth can be attributed to the acquisitions as well as integration of 179 units of
business. The EA capability has a significant contribution to pre-acquisition preparation,
selecting acquisition targets, integration of the acquisitions and lastly post-integration
management.
1 Toppenberg, Gustav, Stefan Henningsson, and Graeme Shanks. "How Cisco Systems used enterprise
architecture capability to sustain acquisition-based growth." MIS Quarterly Executive 14, no. 4 (2015): 151-168.