ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE – HOW DOES IT SUPPORT INNOVATION?

We believe there to be a possible problem with Enterprise Architecture, in that in using standardizations such as frameworks stifles creativity and innovations, focusing on IT-environments. This assumption is not new as there already are thoughts in existence on this subject, each side discussing if there is a fault or not. Out of our own interest we delve deeper into the subject of Enterprise Architecture to see if there is any truth in our assumption and to see if there is anything anyone can do to compensate or solve this perceived problem. We look into what Enterprise Architecture consists of and examine four different popular frameworks associated with it: TOGAF, FEA, Gartner and Zachman. We learn about creativity in Information Systems organizations and its connection to IT. Our research strategy for this thesis is deduction together with two separate phases, one phase is exploratory and the other descriptive. We examine the nature of creativity and innovation, there too with an emphasis on IT. In order to find out if our assumption is correct we seek out literature, articles and other sources of information on innovations, creativity and frameworks. Armed with this information we seek out and perform interviews with people from large commercial organizations who have hands-on work experienc