The primary purpose of EA must be to facilitate rapid change in the organization's business processes and in the information, applications, and technical infrastructure that support them. EA can be a valuable management tool to address important enterprise-wide concerns, such as: assessing the impact of business changes, aligning long-range business plans with system plans, and focusing on the strategic use of technology.

This paper has explored the benefits and use of EA and provided some practical guidance on the steps required to begin putting an EA in place. Whether you are evaluating the possibility of introducing EA into your organization or trying to make use of your existing EA components, this paper provided some initial insights into the practical use of EA.