Enterprise architecture development never stops and is accelerating as cloud becomes a significant alternative to traditional on-premise and data center approaches. Many IT teams are choosing cloud solutions to replace existing investments and implement new applications. This is causing a wholesale re-evaluation of enterprise architecture, with cloud as the dominant future deployment paradigm. 

I have worked with hundreds of IT teams on iterating their enterprise architecture, and it is always the case that architecture, platform, and governance are inextricably linked - a change in any one impacts the others. For teams considering Salesforce or who are already invested, here’s how I discuss the Salesforce platform as it relates to architecture. 

I view Salesforce as the most comprehensive solution to key challenges facing enterprise architecture, namely:

• How to maintain systems, application and data “stability, reliability, availability” while incorporating changes that yield improved business AND technical outcomes
• Avoiding high cost, high risk investments and initiatives that lack associated business value to justify them
• Selecting and implementing technologies, tools, and standards that will stand the test of time
• Ensuring continuity of operations in the face of internal and external circumstances

Salesforce is perhaps the most successful cloud-based enterprise application PaaS and SaaS to date. Salesforce and its multiple clouds—Sales, Service, Marketing, Analytics, Communities, AppCloud, and IoT—are distinguished by the fact that they are implemented entirely in the cloud, are customizable to fit customer needs, and yet are able to interoperate seamlessly with (nearly) any existing on-premise enterprise application.

Salesforce can also slot in very nicely as a system of engagement for existing enterprise applications. It becomes the primary application where end users (and customers) engage, while seamlessly drawing upon the data in existing systems of record where the canonical versions of key enterprise data are kept, including customers, accounts, prospects, products, orders, etc. Salesforce assembles a single view of a customer’s enterprise interactions while providing actionable insights into customer behavior.

More recently, Salesforce has emerged as a system of record for CRM-linked data—leads, accounts, contacts, opportunities, cases, and more. That is to say, the holder of the master version of customer information, to which other enterprise systems are synchronized. This reflects the ability for end users (and customers directly) to use CRM to assist with cleansing and keeping enterprise data accurate and complete.

Admittedly, this is high level, but I find myself providing this same knowledge again and again across industries, departments, and levels of management. Real digital transformation requires strategic alignment across the enterprise, which makes understanding the relationship between enterprise architecture and your current (or future) technology platform a top priority. For a deeper look at how the best IT teams use Salesforce, download our report.