Enterprise architecture is gaining renewed importance as organizations face increasing technical debt and vendor sprawl. According to Forrester, the number of organizations with enterprise architecture units grew by five percentage points from 2022 to 2023, with nearly half of organizations reporting having such a unit. Large enterprises are leading this trend, with 55% indicating they have an enterprise architecture unit, up from 47% the previous year.

Enterprise architecture temporarily lost favor as organizations adopted Agile methodologies, which emphasized decentralized processes. However, the rise of technical debt and the complexities of managing diverse IT environments have prompted a shift back towards enterprise architecture. Charles Betz from Forrester noted that companies are now adding architect roles and units to address these challenges.

Organizations lacking designated architects may still function effectively, as some individuals may take on architectural responsibilities under different titles. However, without proper architectural oversight, companies can face increased technical debt, costly code rewrites, and security vulnerabilities. To mitigate these issues, it's essential for stakeholders to accept a level of standardization while ensuring that architects support innovation rather than hinder it.