They take the business requirements and turn them into new software solutions that use a company’s emerging technology. In other words, businesses need to perform the digital transformation of their core operations, which is to transfer core processes to software solutions, streamlining them. As this transition is highly complex , every company needs an expert with a particular skill set and a knack for balancing business needs with different nuances of technology solutions. Digital transformation requires businesses to reconsider either how they deliver value to their customers or what they will eventually deliver. Enterprise architecture, which we covered in a dedicated article, focuses on building complex enterprise ecosystems and solves high-level strategic issues. Enterprise architecture defines the strategic directions of the business architecture, which then leads to an understanding of what technology facilities are needed to support that architecture.

To determine which IT solutions would best serve the company’s objectives, a solutions architect must have a working knowledge of business side of the firm. The whole process of defining crucial business objectives and figuring out what each solution will need will depend on how well you can lead a team. A solutions architect needs to be adaptable to a wide range of situations and eager to understand the particular needs of each project.

There is no practice ignoring the roles and responsibilities in solution architecture development. One more role of solution architect may be included, such as the Software Development Life Cycle planning. From the other perspective, a solution architect is not a project manager . There is no need to mix these roles to avoid problems such as micromanagement. A solutions architect description places them somewhere in between the above-mentioned specialists.

Solutions Architect Responsibilities & Detailed Role Explanation

The responsibility of a solution architect is to pick the most suitable tools for a particular project. First, they create a technical vision to show how the software will cover business needs. Next, they pass their tech vision to the development team who starts working on the solution. Business operations gather and employ the data, while IT obtains, stores, and derives that information from varied database resources. In other words, they answer for determining procedures and technologies to be applied in collecting, structuring, storing, and accessing enterprise information.

• Driving discussions with senior personnel of the company, guiding architects and software developers.
• For example, a travel provider like Booking.com wants to create an app to let customers book flights, hotels, and cabs from mobile devices.
• According to a survey by a Project Management Institute, of all projects, a mere 62% manage to hit their original targets, while only about half of them stay within budget and don’t exceed the required timelines.
• Mobile app development The widest range of custom-designed mobile apps and free consulting on project strategy.

In a nutshell, a person you hire for this role should integrate technical expertise with strong leadership skills. Such highly versatile individuals can be hard to find, with recruitment cycles ranging from 6 to 12 weeks, and starting-level SA salaries averaging at $78, 484 per year. Yet, the solutions architect doesn’t substitute the Project Manager – rather, he assists the PM over the course of the development process. Deploying apps to infrastructure in the AWS cloud is the main responsibility of an AWS Solutions Architect.

Craft A Product Roadmap

Our team has conducted in-depth analysis and built a SaaS-based architecture initiating automation and switching to electronic document management, complying with FDA and ISO requirements. To understand how different processes work together, solutions architects must look at the whole business picture. They should also connect the business vision to the technical aspect of the project while still keeping in mind the corporate strategy. As you can see, the roles and responsibilities required to answer what solution architects do are quite broad. The exact list of non-technical components depends on the software’s complexity, but a general guideline would include performance, maintenance ability, security, and usability. As a solutions architect, the responsibility is to ensure that the product engineers meet all non-functional requirements.

When developing a role description, identify the role type and then focus on the most important attributes and create a balance between SFIA skills and leadership skills. In the last couple of years, the rise in demand for Solution Architects has exploded because of the broad array of skills they bring to a project’s framework. This article focuses on the Solution Architect role, but for clarity, here’s a brief explanation of the other two roles and how they compare to the Solution Architect role. There are several Solution Architect roles covered under the umbrella of the position.

An optimal, well-structured architecture of your enterprise solutions will account for excellent operational efficiency, increase time-to-value, and will give your company an indisputable competitive advantage. With this regard, the importance of a solution architect in an organization becomes paramount. Solution architects make sure the product meets business requirements, will be delivered on time and within budget.

Accounting for project constraints

So, in other words, the enterprise architect defines what has to be done, while the solution architect then decides how to do it. The integrated systems and software architectures perform together. If he misses even a single detail, it may affect the app development process and result in breakdowns or inefficient software solutions. Basically, Solution Architecture is the process of designing solutions that meet a company’s set of needs.

The solution architect is also responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the finished system. So, it is a guarantee that there is a safe and stable environment for the correct operation of the software. The solution architect also makes sure that the product is up to date in terms solution architecture responsibilities of business value. In other words, it is the hardware component of the software product. It describes system software, firmware standards, control systems, etc. As of Jul 1, 2020, the average annual pay for an AWS Solutions Architect in the United States is $155,005 a year.

You need to make a set of technological choices that will have a far-reaching impact

Possession of a bachelors level degree is a must to work as a solutions architect. A detailed understanding of information technology and how the business works is essential to work in this role. Companies benefit from employing a Solution Architect as projects become more complex and challenging.

Once everything is approved, SA traces the process of development and keeps clients tabs on the progress. During the development stage, the solution architect delves into each of the product areas. They have to explain how to make each part of the software so that everything fits into a single product. Let’s talk a bit more about solution architect responsibilities and roles before and during the development process.

A Solutions Architect’s Responsibilities

Defining and documenting solution specifications and requirements. Solutions architects outline the features of the future solution and map out the phases of its development and implementation. Not only technological impact must be considered but the new solution’s impact on the key business processes as well. Estimation and outlining of the solutions needed to implement cloud migration as well as continued operations are also part of a solutions architect job profile. Moreover, the Solution Architect closely works with Azure Developers, Azure Administrators, and cloud DBAsto translate business requirements into designing secure, scalable Azure cloud Solutions.

What is the Role of a Solutions Architect: Importance, Required Skills, Responsibilities

After the enterprise architect has determined what has to be done, the software solution architect specifies how it has to be done to address a certain business challenge. You need to set up communications between stakeholders and engineers.A solution architect will help to fill the communication gap between technical and non-technical specialists. Also, by collaborating with the project management team, solution architects cover the risks of product misalignment with stakeholder requirements and ensure that the solution fits the defined purpose. Designing a solution requires understanding how different parts of the business work together.

Solution Architect Technical Skills, Experience, and Background

Cloud solutions We have extensive expertise in cloud computing projects for all business sectors. For instance, a product is built with technologies that must suit the requirements of its particular modules. A project scope is a part of software documentation that defines specific goals, tasks, features, and functions. At this stage, the Solution Architect’s role is to oversee the progress of the project in accordance with the solution goals and enterprise resources. This process also includes risk recognition and additional planning. Although not a substitute for the PM role, the solution architect position requires strong management skills.

The role of a Solution Architect requires a mixture of both technical and business skills. A well-thought-out architecture can help teams to develop a high-quality product on time and within budget. That is why a Solutions Architect is irreplaceable when working on any complex project. If SA is involved in the development, you can be completely sure that the new software product will solve key business problems. This means that at the end of development, the company gets not just a working application, but a product that will lead to scaling. Updates stakeholders on the status of product development processes and budgets.

For example, the mobile app should also include some https://globalcloudteam.com/ functions that work in an offline mode also.

The solution architect becomes involved with a project at the time of inception and is involved in the functional analysis of developing the initial requirements. Project development per se is outside the solution architect’s area of responsibility but they are held accountable for meeting deadlines and using resources effectively. Focusing on business results, they are supposed to choose the most adequate solution brushing away those that aren’t likely to yield the expected outcome. Besides, solutions architects should maintain a long-term view of the project to envisage its upscaling opportunities as well as the attainability of introducing minor and major changes. ITIL is the industry-accepted range of qualifications that contains 5 levels. The highest credential is the ITIL Master for those experts who deal with IT service management and have deep experience with ITIL practices.

The principal involvement of Enterprise Architects is ensuring the company, as an entity, has streamlined application lifecycles and uses the technologies best suited for each application. Yet, the broad range of existing software may play Old Harry with businessmen taken away by the vision of mouth-watering opportunities their implementation opens. Sometimes, they may fall for a cutting-edge technology that is totally irrelevant to the business goal they have in mind for it. Or, having chosen the software wisely, they can’t have it aligned with the scope of tasks it is meant to fulfill.

8+ years experience working with specific technology domains such as Software Development, Systems Engineering, Cloud Computing, Infrastructure, Networking, Security, Data, and Analytics. Businesses must consider what value they can deliver to customers today and what they need to deliver in the future for digital transformation. They must also have a long-term vision of the software regarding scalability, change management, and other aspects.

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