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Bridging the gap between technology and business: The role of a solution architect

March 05, 2021
Bridging the gap between technology and business: The role of a solution architect

An average of nearly 50% of projects tend to fail within a few months after they start. This means that about half of new projects end up being a waste of time and money.

The solution to this problem is someone who can create a solid foundation for the software project to ensure that it will be scalable and flexible to drastic changes.

Who is this, you ask? A Solution Architect.

Before we delve into the Solution Architect roles, let’s first clarify what this actually means.

What is a Solution Architect?

According to Techopedia, solution architecture is “a combination of roles, processes and documentation that are intended to address specific business needs, requirements or problems through the design and development of applications and information systems.”

Long story short, a solution architect (SA) is a person who finds the best tech solution to clients’ business challenges and problems.

“A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”

– Charles Kettering

Let’s take the example of an architect who designs buildings. Imagine you want to build a stadium. You’ll begin the conversation with an architect at an early stage before any earthwork starts. The architect will ask you questions: “What do you want to build?”, “For what purposes?”, “What kind of events will be attended at the stadium?”, “What seating capacity should it have?”, etc. The whole project depends directly on the answers to these questions: size, functional zones, type of coating, parking capacity, etc.

After the architect figures out all the functional requirements for the project, the architect develops a solution concept and sketches a future building. Then,  the architect presents the idea to stakeholders to make sure that it’s what they were expecting. Budget is usually discussed at this stage: the architect gives an approximate estimate for project costs.

During the next stage, the architect makes more detailed sketches such as plans for ventilation and electricity systems. Moreover, it’s impossible to know all the standards and aspects, so the architect has to collaborate with different specialised engineers. Thus, they create a detailed plan of the building.

The distribution of roles in the IT industry is quite similar. A Solution Architect defines stakeholders’ needs, develops the concept, and finds the best tech solution. Finally, the Solution Architect gives the project to team leads for technical implementation.

Enterprise Architect vs Solution Architect vs Technical Architect

Apart from the Solutions Architect, there are two more architect-level roles related to the software development process: the Enterprise Architect and the Software Architect, also known as the Technical Architect. Let’s take a closer look at their roles. 

Enterprise Architect

Enterprise architecture focuses on creating complex enterprise ecosystems and meeting high-level strategic challenges. The Enterprise Architect identifies strategic directions of the business architecture to find out what technology stack is needed to support that architecture. The Enterprise Architect is responsible for drawing up a strategic plan of implementing technical changes.

Software Architect

Software architects are mainly in charge of software engineering problems as well as software architecture. Unlike the Solutions Architect, the Software Architect’s responsibilities don’t include dealing with financial and organizational issues. Technical Architects focus on engineering aspects related to certain software projects, such as development, implementation, maintenance, support, and evolution. Software architecture experts constantly liaise with development teams and monitor the whole software development process.

Solutions Architect 

The Solutions Architect is a position between the business-oriented Enterprise Architect and the technical Software Architect, as solution architecture determines how different components of business, information, and technology architectures can be used in a particular solution to achieve business goals.

Solution Architect Roles and Responsibilities

Let’s figure out more about the role and key tasks of a Solution Architect on a project.

Components of a Solution Architect role

A Solutions Architect identifies project requirements and communicates with stakeholders

First of all, a Solutions Architect is responsible for identifying the project requirements. However, at the start of the project, the Solution Architect may not know some nuances of specific technologies. Therefore, there is a need to study more deeply and understand the possibilities and limitations of particular solutions. That’s why the Solution Architect role entails developing prototypes, small parts of the system that make sure that the ideas work.

A Solutions Architect is responsible for technology selection

One of the major Solution Architect roles is technology selection. Based on business requirements, the Solution Architect, often in collaboration with the development team, identifies the types of technologies necessary to effectively address business needs, including programming languages, frameworks, databases, and tools.

Ecosystem integration is one of the key Solution Architect roles

One of the Solution Architect responsibilities is ecosystem integration, meaning that Solution Architects also consider whether a certain solution matches other software solutions within the enterprise ecosystem. 

A Solutions Architect evaluates and minimizes potential risks

Risk management is a significant role of a solution architect. Solution Architects must identify and mitigate risks via tests in performance, security and user experience, and eliminate any factors that may impede the successful delivery of a solution.

A Solutions Architect is responsible for the final product architecture

Having formed a technical solution, the Solution Architect presents it to the customer and coordinates all the details. At this stage, the Solution Architect prepares a description of high-level architecture or some of its parts.

Solution Architects view the project in general context

The Solution Architect is the person who contemplates the development of the system from above. The Solution Architect has a clear view of the future product’s architecture and all its parts presented in diagrams, charts and illustrations.

A Solutions Architect is in charge of the ongoing communication

In each phase of product development, the Solutions Architect is responsible for communication with the client, project managers and the development team. Solution Architects communicate with stakeholders and executives to keep them updated about what is going on.

Of course, one person can’t understand everything in detail. The Solutions Architect’s key task is to get the general context and correctly coordinate the technical work of different teams.

To Sum Up

All in all, the major Solution Architect’s role is to explain the business requirements to the development team and lead them to build a product that can effectively solve existing business problems. Without any exaggerations, a Solutions Architect is your best ally to align business requirements with technology solutions.

If you are interested in knowing more about the benefits of good Solution Architecture for a project, you’ll enjoy our coming soon article.


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DeepInspire / boutique software development company

Bridging the gap between technology and business: The role of a solution architect