Experts predict the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to exert an impact on enterprise architecture in 2021, as businesses scrutinize their IT investments, application portfolios and processes in the face of budget cuts.

But the crystal balls of top analysts, consultants and executives in the field of enterprise architecture (EA) also reflect trends they've witnessed taking shape for several years and predict will escalate as organizations expand their business transformation efforts.

For instance, many experts see automation, analytics, data governance, IT compliance and business outcomes taking on added importance in enterprise architecture tools. One consultant envisions guilds becoming ubiquitous in data, infrastructure and application architecture to facilitate a more formal way of sharing ideas and artifacts and approving decisions.

Below is a sampling of the EA predictions SearchCIO collected for 2021 and beyond.

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