Judy Ko recently discussed the difficulties business users have communicating with technical staff, and visa-versa. “How many of us have spent days or even weeks in tedious requirements gathering sessions, asking what the business wants, and getting very fuzzy answers back?” she asked, taking the technical side. Conversely, business people frequently complain that technical folks speak a different, strange language. This makes key enterprise projects such as data warehousing, SOA, or data integration that much more difficult, if not impossible, to implement.

Enter the enterprise architect. This person serves as the bridge between the business and the technical staff, having both technical expertise and business acumen. The job of the EA is to investigate what the business needs and wants, and map those requirements against existing technologies and processes, while planning a framework for the future.

Organizations are hungry for this kind of skill. Even as many people talk about a potential economic downturn, the prospects for enterprise architects are bullish. David Foote, an IT labor market specialist, for one, is finding that organizations are hard-pressed for talent to implement service oriented architecture, and could probably use up to five times as many enterprise architects that they now have on staff. In addition, Forrester Research also just released a report that surmises that any economic downturn would only increase demand for enterprise architects, since businesses would be consolidating their operations and looking to reduce costs through mergers and acquisitions – calling for skills around data, applications and process integration.

So, what qualities should you look at for in an enterprise architect, who will be so crucial in moving business and technology organizations forward through a turbulent economy?

Here are the five key qualities to look for in an enterprise architect, circa 2009:

1) Well-respected and influential

2) Able to emphasize methodology, modeling, and governance

3) Technologically and politically neutral

4) Articulate, persuasive, and a good salesperson

5) Enthusiastic

The first point, well-respected and influential, is essential for getting projects moving through the organization. Scott Bittler, vice president of enterprise planning and architecture strategies for Gartner, says “architects need the support of senior IT and business managers and the ability to influence them as well as the IT organization at large. Those that are already well respected and have influence have an advantage.”

In my next post, I will explore the other qualities that enterprise architects require for the world ahead of us.