Category Archives: Blog

RFP – What goes into it ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RFP in the age of pay as you use / On demand Software ?

As you could see above the Ruler of Dubai has floated an open tender on his linkedin page calling for a solution to traffic congestion . As part of an IT team we are most often tasked with the task of how to prepare an RFP how to respond it and what does it take to ensuring that you are putting your needs across to that prospective vendor or customer out there to whom it needs to go out to.

In the age of cloud and COTS ( Commercial Off the Shelf ) solutions or software there are customers who pick and choose which software solution to buy based on similar success stories and circumvent the need for a formal RFP. They would most often go with a pay as you use model where with a subscription model you have the software solution at your disposal . But this apart the RFP is not dead yet and there are many formal RFP which get circulated like the one above where the need for pick and choose the right solution from the customer makes sense.

Some of the qualities that you would need while responding to an RFP ?

Understand the customer problem as it stands.

Articulate your value proposition to the customer so that you differentiate from the competition ?

Just because there is a solution it would straight way fit the customer’s context.

How are you going to take of customization needs from a solution fitment point of view.

What is the type of language / taxonomy that you would use when you interact with the business folks . Is it same as the IT side of things ?

Do you understand the jargon and the nitty gritties referred to in the RFP ?

Are you technically competent to see the solution in its entirety or are you from the business side of things where you are looking at the solution from a viability perspective from a purely business angle.

Do you understand responding to an RFP has a direct relevance to the development or downstream chain of solutions being offered. Sales promise the world and the reality is delivered by the downstream people.

Ability to think in terms of abstraction is a key asset here . How would you hide the implementation details and look at  a reference architecture to solve these.

How will a reference architecture help you solve these issues , as these shall help creating repeated success in the company and also help iron out issues while solutioning with the client.  What other skills do you find to be lacking here ?

 

 

 

So What are the Qualities of a Solution Architect ?

So you want to transition from what you are doing to a role that helps you see customer solutions. There are many solutions for a given problem which one suits the solution the best given the customer context.Most often the tendency is to straight away jump to a problem and start solving it rather than step back and look at the big picture.

So what does the good solution architects have in common.

They are good at communication, good technical  / business background, have a breadth of experience across a spectrum of an area of the industry pie, have an appetite for plugging risk , they can see the high level picture as well go down to the nuts and bolts when needed, they are visionaries , stand for the proposed solution by backing it with a proper rationale and more importantly life long learners.

Here is leaving you with an article that has these thoughts on how to become a solution architect or be better at it if you are already one.

What make a good solution architect ?

What has been your experience that you find is missing among the architect community and what skills are needed to help them look good in front of their peers , stakeholders and customers ?.

What are the qualities of a Solution Architect ?

 

So you want to transition from what you are doing to a role that helps you see customer solutions. There are many solutions for a given problem which one suits the solution the best given the customer context.Most often the tendency is to straight away jump to a problem and start solving it rather than step back and look at the big picture.

So what does the good solution architects have in common.

They are good at communication, good technical  / business background, have a breadth of experience across a spectrum of an area of the industry pie, have an appetite for plugging risk , they can see the high level picture as well go down to the nuts and bolts when needed, they are visionaries , stand for the proposed solution by backing it with a proper rationale and more importantly life long learners.

Here is leaving you with an article that has these thoughts on how to become a solution architect or be better at it if you are already one.

What make a good solution architect ?

What has been your experience that you find is missing among the architect community and what skills are needed to help them look good in front of their peers , stakeholders and customers ?.

Where does the Solution Architect fit in an Enterprise?

Most often get to hear where does a Solution Architect fit into the overall hierarchy of an enterprise.People often confuse this with the role of an Enterprise Architect and some of them want to be better at Solution Architecture and move up being an Enterprise Architecture.

In an organization context when you are going from Strategy to Execution then it becomes imperative to understand what are the layers in this process,

Typically it shall be going from
Contextual —-> Conceptual —–> Logical ——> Physical.

As can be seen in the picture attached the Solution Architect is pegged at a layer between the conceptual and logical layers of the strategy to execution process. And the Enterprise Architect is mostly at the contextual layer where business problems are present at a particular context.

If you are wanting to better at Architecture and being Agile at the same time and such resources shall help you keep updated with resources for architects. Do send a mail to maileturnti@eturnti.com with subject Subscribe.

Togaf Trainings and Consulting : http://eturnti.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=171856f3ca74842f465089b2b&id=67c266dd99&e=3d9b3ab567

Solution Architect Training :    http://eturnti.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=171856f3ca74842f465089b2b&id=600fe9d5d3&e=3d9b3ab567

Agile Architecture Trainings : Mixing Agility with Architecture   http://eturnti.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=171856f3ca74842f465089b2b&id=600fe9d5d3&e=3d9b3ab567

Want to be a better Solution Architect ?

 

Most people undertake a Course or Certification when they are in between jobs or are looking to test the waters on their market potential. A certification kinda of validates that need as you are better off from the herd when you have that certification. But a certification alone will not help you to get there. Most concerns of people wanting to play the role of an architect would be .

1. I have played various roles but have not been officially given an architect title in the company . How should I move into one ?
2. I have all along been into lead roles / managing projects and delivery but never played the role of an architect in a project.
3. I have worked along side different architects and have seen project / delivery folks donning architecture roles . Can I do the same for my career progression ?
4. You want a role change having been a manager for many years now you want to see the other side .
5. You have got your hands dirty with having worked on many different products and solutions and now want to spend time architecting with the customer in mind as you better understand product and solutions.
6. You have been all along working alongside products and solutions and now can better steps into the shoes of a customer to understand what they need ?
7. You want to apply all that you know regarding a domain but are not customer facing to be able to influence and add value to the final architecture ?
8. Are you in the midst of all the above kinds of queries ?

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