Q2: Why was it important to standardize so much of the architecture? what are the advantages and disadvantages of a standard EA for American Express?

2. What, in y opinion, is the difference hetween a decentralized architecture and a centralized architecture? What is an ample of a business decision that would be affected by the choice of the architecture? m your personal experience, what is an example of software as a service? Or BYC hardwane 4. Each of the following and software. State which you companies would benefit from either software-defined architecture or conventional, owned each of the following fictitious firms (plus the IRS) to adopt and explain why sells indastrial paper shredders. Its business has remained steady for two decades and it has a is a fast-growing six-year old firm that has relied on three to five key wholesale customers for its entire is an old, stable plastics manufacturing firm that has kept its sales steady in the face of competitors as would advise a. StableCo is a firm that strong and diverse customer Isase two of the years, sales declined sharply However, the list cf key customers changes every year, and during an active research and development team that uses advanced software to analyze large amounts of data to casino monitors each slot machine continuously for early detection of malfunctions such as win- provides call center services to pharmacies. Phone calls are routed to the company after hours and messages the result of new compounds. Once or twice a week, office personnel complain of the network becoming very slow e. CallPerfect r. At the IRS, tax forms - At LittlePeople, In nings or losses trending beyond their are delivered to the pharmacy manager the next morning center routes calls to agents who answer taxpayers' quest weather ure available online for citizens to complete and file with the IRS electronically by April 15. A call available Inc., a day care center, parents are called using software on the administrator's computer when there is a The school has averaged 120 families for many years, CASE STUDYErprise Architecture at American Express gn IT and the business. EA xpress, enterprise architecture (EA) at American Express was the framework the organization used to ali provided a common language for leaders to use to collaboratea architects were the change agents who streamlined processes practices. and designed ways to more effectively do business using Ir E American Express was named an InfoWorld/Forrester Enterprise Architecture Award recipient for its EA payment methods using mobile devices, the EA guided their progress. E As American Express leaders considered new were forcing the payments industry to review their practices and significantly transform the way environment introduced additional complexity with the addition of new delivery chan- E Mobile business was done. The new business payments E time-to-market of payment products and services. American Express's business strategy for its based on services running payments products focused on delivering a "consistent, global, integrated customer experience on a common application platform. e architectures and road maps for standardized applications across the to create and manage the common application uded a road map of initiatives s, and the commitments IT and the businesses To achieve this goal, the EA team created referenc E firm. This team then worked with multiple business solution delivery teams architecture and create strategies that facilitated each business's objectives. Each strategy incl that included a set of actions, the metrics to evaluate the success of these adt made to make it of the applications, and architecture architecture, and capabilities for the business. happen. The road map was American Express's way to standardize language, tools, life cycle manage E and governance processes. The elements of the road map included technology, reference E were to extend the road maps to cover the maturing of SOA and to develop new taxonomy to increasingly align IT with the needs of the business. As new technologies reference architectures and a new emerged and new ways of doing business over social tools created opportunities for new payment products and services, American Express expected to continually evolve its EA. Discussion Questions What are the key components of the architecture American Express has created? Why was it important to standardize so much of the architecture? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a stan- dard EA for American Express? 1. 2