Enterprise Architecture Dos and Don’ts from Armeda Financial CTO Lovalo

Do resist the urge to be a hero. The executive team may swoon with joy when you announce you’ve cut spending and saved “X” million dollars, but that one-time event may hobble your strategic technology plans for years to come. Killing a planned hardware upgrade now, for example, might save you some short-term cash but could set you up for a serious customer-support crisis 18 months down the road.

Do lighten up. Clamping down may endear you to the bean counters, but you run the risk of losing the respect of your temperamental technology stars and causing “the breakaway republics”?outlying sales forces and so on?to rebel. The more rationally and reasonably you present your case, the more likely you’ll be to win compliance.

Do keep perspective. This business cycle may not be as fun as the last one, but it is only a business cycle and will eventually pass.

Don’t pick products for all the wrong reasons. When cash is tight, companies tend to favor the technologies in which they’re already most heavily invested, but that can be a mistake. You might be running three different network operating systems, but the one that’s handling 70 percent of your systems could well be the least capable of handling your needs long-term. Be brave: Evaluate on capability as well as cost, and pick what’s most functional for the long term.