Are you ready to double your Enterprise Architecture team’s output with half the number of resources? That is the challenge that Architecture practice leaders across the industry are facing in 2026. This is being driven by 3 forces:
- Mandate to adopt AI as a means of increasing productivity
- Businesses need to accelerate change, which increases the demand for EA services
- A shortage of qualified resources in the job market to hire
The EA Challenge
Increased demand, decreased supply and an underpinning technology shift… woah, that’s a triple whammy! I’m really not concerned because there is a flipside to this coin – leaders are valuing the role that EAs play within their organization and the council they provide in enabling informed decision-making. The struggle is figuring out how EA teams (and individual architects) will meet this challenge.
Intelligent Automation
Intelligent Automation offers a timely opportunity for Enterprise Architecture teams to meet their business needs without increasing human resources, using technology to reduce the amount of “busywork” architects must perform, so they can focus on areas where individuals can have the greatest impact.
Are you new to the idea of Intelligent Automation? Not to worry. It is the merging of classical process automation (RPA) with the reasoning power of AI. RPA provides a workflow structure and predictable/repeatable behavior, while AI provides the reasoning to handle ambiguity and perform inference. If you’d like to learn more about this, check out the Intelligent Automation Whitepaper from NovoCircle
Focusing on the role, not the tools
Oh, great, another set of technology being shoved down your throat! EAs have been dealing with that dynamic for years. But Intelligent Automation is different. It isn’t about the tools and technology (but those are important to understand). Intelligent Automation is all about the job role – giving Enterprise Architects an enhanced set of capabilities to do their jobs more effectively: analyzing larger data sets, responding to changes more quickly, and reducing the cycle time for answering business questions.
The two areas where architects’ skill sets and mindsets add the most value are analyzing complex webs of interdependencies and breaking them down into simple parts that business leaders, IT executives, and project teams can understand. The goal of Intelligent Automation isn’t to replace architects; it’s to make them better through AI-Augmented Architecture. It’s about doing more with less effort.
Stepping up to the Challenge
Unfortunately, today, most architects spend 70-80% of their time sitting at a computer with a keyboard and mouse, manually creating architectural models and diagrams, while only a small fraction of their time is actively engaging with stakeholders to influence and support business outcomes. Imagine if you could do something about that! If you eliminated even half of the busywork, just imagine the great things you could do with the time you save. Intelligent Automation in Enterprise Architecture can substantially expand the architect’s capacity to manage a larger scope, increase stakeholder engagement, and drive greater impact within the organization.
Are you ready to step up to the 2026 EA Challenge of doing twice as much with half the resources? NovoCircle can help. Our Intelligent Automation experts are also practicing (and recovering) Enterprise Architects with decades of experience. We understand your challenges and would love to help you take your architecture practice to the next level. Contact us to request a free consultation.
