IS Architecture Characteristics as a Measure of IT Agility

As markets change, business models alter and technology evolves information systems need to change. The ability and speed of change in information systems are crucial success factors for the success of the business itself. We call this IT Agility. IT Agility depends on many internal and external factors of the enterprise and can be achieved through reactive and proactive actions. In this paper the focus is on the information systems architecture as a main proactive contributor to IT Agility. As measurement is essential for the management of IT Agility a framework is suggested that quantitatively evaluates the main influencing factors of information systems architecture on IT Agility (coupling, redundancy, complexity and parameterization). Results from a real-world application show the ability of the framework to identify fields for improvement in IT Agility in the information systems architecture of enterprises.