What Are Business Architect Skills? (Definition And Examples)

Updated 16 March 2023

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Business architects create comprehensive, cross-functional and value-driven strategies, solutions and products that help companies scale and optimise their processes. These professionals require many unique soft and technical skills. If you are considering a career in business architecture, knowing about the essential skills of the profession can be beneficial. In this article, we define business architect skills, list the most important ones, discuss how you can develop them and share how to highlight them when applying for jobs.

What are Business Architect Skills?

Business architect skills are the strategic, technical and soft skills that help business architects manage critical responsibilities like implementing business transformation, building business models and capabilities, developing solutions and streamlining different business operations. Business architects have a crucial role in an organisation as they help design the company's overall vision, solutions and processes to create synergy between strategy, analysis, implementation and operations.

A business architect typically has the following responsibilities:

develop business strategy
identify operational requirements and provide solutions
design effective IT architecture and enablement processes
analyse and create business models
develop business capability models
create new value and revenue streams
supervise the company's overall strategy and development

To perform these duties effectively, business architects require a range of diverse skills. These include strong business acumen, digital and computer skills, analytical skills, collaboration and leadership. Most companies typically expect business architects to have substantial expertise in different business strategies, processes and technologies, alongside demonstrable experience in planning and implementing modern business solutions.

Essential Business Architect Skills

Here are some essential skills that business architects may require to fulfil their responsibilities:

Collaboration

The role of a business architect is extremely collaborative and requires them to interact with various specialists in strategy, business, IT, operations and HR. To develop and execute the different aspects of a business strategy and plan, business architects work with department heads, project managers, data architects and modellers, developers and business analysts. Strong collaboration skills can enable business architects to complete tasks, develop ideas and implement solutions effectively. These skills include organisational abilities, emotional intelligence, adaptability and empathy.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

Communication skills help in exchanging information, feedback, updates and ideas. These skills can be crucial for business architects to work in large teams of different experts, identify challenges and implement solutions. Strong communication skills include listening actively and adapting the communication style as per the audience. They also generally mean being friendly, having confidence, being clear and respectful and knowing non-verbal cues. These skills can help business architects collaborate with different professionals, ideate appropriate solutions and execute them effectively for maximum benefit.

Having interpersonal or people skills can also help them communicate with their team members. These usually include being dependable, flexible, patient and motivational to others. Strong interpersonal skills can be vital for business architects to lead teams in developing strategies and finding solutions.

Digital Skills

An essential part of the modern business is the use of digital tools and solutions to optimise existing processes. Having expertise in business IT solutions, understanding how data works and knowing how to implement digital solutions for maximum enablement is crucial for business architects. They typically work with data and solutions architects to ideate, design and develop IT solutions that improve synergy and efficiency. Business architects ensure that the proposed solution aligns with the company's overall business strategy and goals. Many businesses prefer business architects who have a specialisation in information technology management or implementation.

Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills

Developing value streams, business models and flows is vital for business architects. This requires strong analytical abilities, such as attention to detail, data mining, theorising, diagnostics, forecasting and decision-making skills. Having an analytical mindset means possessing strong critical thinking skills that can help you make decisions based on available information and knowing how to analyse data effectively. The ability to visualise a problem, diagnose it and view it from different perspectives also help improve analytical skills.

To provide a cohesive framework and strategy for the company, business architects require strong problem-solving skills, including research, analysis, data collection and presentation abilities. Being able to assess the findings of the collected data to deliver results with confidence can help business architects draw accurate decisions. This can result in a measurable impact on the company's business performance.

Business Acumen

Having strong business modelling, architecture and analysis can be crucial for business architects. It is essential for them to visualise and create comprehensive models, conduct investigations and apply business tools. In addition to theoretical business knowledge, knowing how to translate complex information into actionable steps is also equally vital. Knowledge and experience in business analysis, supply chain, management models, growth strategies, human resource management and operations can help business architects perform their role effectively.

Leadership Skills

Leadership skills can be indispensable for a business architect as they usually manage large teams of experts, supervise them and provide them guidance. Knowing how to communicate with team members effectively and mentor and motivate them can help business architects fulfil their duties. Leadership also includes knowing how to strategise, delegate, adapt, coach, innovate and efficiently organise the available resources. Leadership skills can help business architects manage challenging situations, prevent conflict, develop innovative business solutions and positively influence the company.

How to Develop Business Architect Capabilities

Here are some ways in which you can develop the skills required to become a business architect:

1. Develop soft skills

Soft skills, including communication, leadership and problem-solving, are essential for the role of a business architect. Knowing how to interact, give feedback, manage team members and resolve conflicts can help you collaborate better. Being adaptable, creative, and dependable are some other ways to enhance your soft skills. You can start by focusing on building one skill, learning from your mentors and applying it in your routine. For example, if you want to improve your communication skills, begin by initiating team discussions or writing reports.

2. Complete a certification course

If you want to develop one specific technical or soft skill, you can consider completing a short-term certification course. For instance, if you wish to improve your collaboration or interpersonal skills, you can look for a suitable leadership development course that helps nurture your communication abilities. Similarly, if your goal is to improve your knowledge of a specific digital tool or solution, you can find a distance learning programme that allows you to increase your technical knowledge while working on your job.

3. Facilitate collaboration between different departments

You can create new business strategies and discover innovative solutions by acting as a facilitator of communication and collaboration between different business departments and functions. Start by assessing the challenges that diverse teams are facing and conduct an audit to understand how access to specific resources or data can help them. Develop practical solutions with data or IT teams and implement them to enhance collaboration between departments. For example, you could find new ways for the sales and marketing departments to work together to increase the success of lead generation campaigns.

4. Build business expertise

Business understanding of how to build models, forecasts, flows and maps is essential for business architects. Develop strong and compressive knowledge about different business strategies, functions and operations by referring to diverse sources, completing certifications and finding mentors in the industry. Also, make sure you keep learning about new business trends and practices to ensure that the company can leverage them effectively.

How to highlight business architect expertise when applying for jobs

Here are some ways to showcase your business architect capabilities on your resume and during interviews:

Include relevant keywords. Research the company and read the job description thoroughly to include all relevant keywords that can help create a positive impression. You can also add suitable keywords to your cover letter or other documents if required.
Choose the format carefully. When writing the resume, make sure you choose the most appropriate format that adequately focuses on your soft and hard skills. Ideally, having a separate skills section on your resume can help highlight the specific skills and qualifications you want the hiring manager to notice.
Use action verbs. While writing the resume and answering questions in the interview, carefully choose action verbs to begin your sentences. Start expressing or discussing your achievements using words like achieved, attained, enacted, implemented, decreased, improved, established, pioneered, outperformed, supervised and surpassed.
Demonstrate confidence. By communicating with the interviewer confidently, you can showcase your soft skills. You can display strong confidence by maintaining eye contact, asking relevant questions and answering calmly.
Listen carefully. The hiring manager may pose a case study question and ask you to solve a hypothetical business problem during the interview. Make sure you listen to the particulars carefully and offer an actionable solution in your response to answer these questions.