Solutions Architects play a crucial role in a Business Intelligence Competence Center (BICC). Unlike most positions included in this department, a Solutions Architect works entirely internally to take charge of the design of a corporation's data warehouse. They often sit in the information technology department, but work to support business initiatives. The technical solutions set up by this professional require a deep understanding of BU and Corporate Performance Management (CPM) concepts and technologies. IT placement companies are striving to find experienced individuals who can incorporate the latest BI trends into a company's infrastructure.
While the role is largely a conceptual position, professionals in this career path are more often involved in the business side of IT solution crafting. Businesses are seeking Solutions Architects who have proven performance-driven management techniques that streamline day-to-day business practices. Solutions Architects are aware of the latest system trend applications and how best to apply them.
BI management
Across the globe, organizations expanded their business intelligence (BI) strategies. According to a white paper from Business & Decision Benelux titled, "Top 10 Trends in Business Intelligence," BI is now representing a significant portion of most organization's IT budgets. In the next 12 months, Solutions Architects will be charged with the responsibility of consolidating BI platforms, creating BICCs and developing new support systems to integrate with the cloud.
A Solutions Architect is an integral role in the requirement process and works to execute the right solutions. They are able to provide these services to the BI and IT departments because most Solutions Architects have a undergraduate degree in Computer Science or Information Technology and then go on to receive a Masters in Business.
According to Meryl Ratzman, Senior Account Manager at Profiles Placement, a Solutions Architects' core education is in information technology, they just provide solutions from the business solutions mindset. To adequately manage the role, a Solutions Architect will have professional experience XML, SOAP, SQL, SAS, Systems engineering and database.
BI self service grows
The streamlining of processes and procedures to decrease inefficiency is a growing movement in the technology sector. Regardless of industry designations, self-service BI systems are growing in popularity and continue to be a dream solution for many companies. Information Week reports that visual data recovery tools have become synonymous with self service BU tools and are growing at three times the pace of the overall BI market.
One survey has found that 44 percent of IT professionals and Solutions Architects claim that BI teams do not have adequate time or the financial resources to keep up with BI demand. The BI sector is booming and Solutions Architects may find themselves forgoing mundane tech enhancement requests in favor of developing and working on the complex data challenges that face modern enterprises.
As BI self service continues to grow, SAP final deliverables will expand. Project scopes are expected to expand and integrate into systems to provide better performance in terms of data quality and security portals. Unit testing and key data structure developments will provide forward thinking Solutions Architects that opportunities to apply new creative solutions to a project.
Ratzman went on to say that Solutions Architects will continue to become a crucial position that spearheads the development of technical requirement processes and integration execution. The final deliverable from a Solutions Architect revolve around SAP2.
The evolving role of Solutions Architects in BI and IT departments will focus primarily on integrating the latest in data security methods, accessing portals, bettering data integration and improving performance.
