The technology community is rapidly evolving especially with the incorporation of new realms. With that organizations feel it is necessary to adjust their operating methods and techniques to stay current with the ever-changing business challenges.
In simpler terms, businesses are required to perform their core operations through digital transformation. This is what transfers the core processes to software solutions.
The digital transformation transition is complicated, to say the least, and requires close attention to every little detail. This then requires every company to acquire an expert with a particular skill set for balancing the business needs, especially when there are different nuances of technology involved.
We know these experts as ‘a solutions architect’. They are one of the most skilled client-based roles within the IT industry, and the importance is often overlooked or even completely ignored by the companies on either end.
In order for a software solution to operate effectively, scale, and reach the business needs, it is required to have a well-planned architecture that accounts for several technical and customer implications. In short, this means that the long-term success of any IT project is reliant on the input of a solutions architect, who needs to have:
Wide-ranging technical expertise
Business analysis skills
Project management skills, etc.
Now, what does a Solutions Architect do for a company?
They are responsible for developing a comprehensive architecture for a software solution, while also providing a strategic direction for the development process.
The solutions architect also needs to ensure that the new solution works well with the existing enterprise architecture from the technical, business, user, and other perspectives.
To do this, they will work together with every team that is involved in the development process and understand how every product and service work in the architecture. A solutions architect requires the knowledge to oversee a successful delivery of a quality end product to the end-user.
But what does a Solutions Architect do in general?
Having a clear understanding of a client’s project and business needs, the role of a solutions architect is to map out the parts that will constitute the software solution and how they are going to work together.
In summary, a solutions architect’s job begins in the early stages of a project because they are laying out what is to come. Their tasks usually start with choosing the correct technology for the business problem and then taking charge of the architectural concerns to ensure there are more productive and effective outcomes.
They are also responsible for the translation of a project vision to the development team. This plays a pivotal part throughout the entire systems development lifecycle.
Every job title comes with its own set of responsibilities, as a solutions architect you are primarily focused on solution-level decisions and evaluation of their impact on a client’s overall business objectives and their outcomes.
Here are the main responsibilities of a Solutions Architect:
Create and run the process of integrating IT systems for them to meet an organization’s requirements
Conducts a system architecture evaluation and collaborate with project management
Evaluate the project constraints for new alternatives to alleviate risks and perform process re-engineering if required
Update stakeholders on the status of product development and budgets
Notify stakeholders about any issues that may have occurred
Repair technical issues as they arise
Analyze the business impact that certain technical choices may have on a client’s business process
Monitor and guide the development teams
Consistently research new technologies and propose changes to the existing architecture
In order to successfully design, create, and lead the development of a software solution, solutions architects not only need to pursue the above responsibilities, but they need to have a specific set of skills to help them do the job best.
The most important skills needed for a Solutions Architect include:
Excellent Communication
Having the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders, project managers, developers, and software vendors involved with the development process is an extremely important asset for a solutions architect because you’ll be able to listen and understand all the problems and suggestions that may come up.
Project and Resource Management
A solutions architect is not directly related to the project development, it is still important they need to ensure that the resources are being utilized responsibly.
In-depth analysis
Software architecture and systems have the ability to have several details integrated for them to work together. With that, a solutions architect needs to pay close attention to those details, because anything overlooked could be a recipe for disaster and may hinder the development process.
Risk identification and management
A solutions architect must be able to analyze and identify potential short and long-term risks, that may cause technical issues and impede business operations for future projects.
Technical skills
A solutions architect must have a good technical education with hands-on experience in all major areas of the software development process, as well as hardware engineering expertise, for any software projects that rely on hardware.
Overall, a solutions architect is responsible for building and implementing IT systems architecture for a set business requirement. Their role works closely with the project specifics and the pre-existing systems.
We hope this gave you a better insight into the role of a solutions architect, and if you want more information on the topic, reach out to one of our experts at ISU Corp today!
