Positioning the role of the enterprise architect: An independent study in a mobile telecommunications organisation

Advances in technology bring some challenges to the organisation, for example within Information Systems (IS), organisations are facing challenges in dealing with the increased complexity posed by digitisation, distributed systems and business processes. Enterprise architecture (EA) was created to deal with these challenges, and the introduction of the EA discipline brought with it a new type of job, the enterprise architect, whose roles need clarity. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of enterprise architects in a mobile telecommunications organisation in South Africa. Following the interpretive epistemology and using the qualitative research approach, a case study was conducted using interviews as the data gathering technique. The research findings on the role of the enterprise architect revealed that the role of the enterprise architect is both managerial and technological in nature.