Featured in this week’s spotlight is Laura Carty, Business Architect of Coliban Water.
Carty is an accomplished business architect and leader with experience across many industries. She is a Committee Member for Business Architecture Info Energy and Utilities Framework.
Passionate, but pragmatic, Carty specialises in aligning strategic objectives with tactical demands, developing, and using business architectural models to inform and shape organisations. Her leadership in holistic, multidimensional business architecture has driven successful, value-add transformations.
Intrigued by her approach, we sought her out for the following interview:
Question: How did you get your start in the industry?
Answer: My first exposure to architecture was when I worked in technology. As an experienced business analysis, I became more exposed to consulting and solution architecture which made things fall into place for me. I started working more with enterprise architects which is when I started to truly understand the ‘business’ layer. For me, this was the professional equivalent of completing the Rubik’s cube – it all aligned in the right way.
Q: What is your current responsibility and what is your typical day like?
A: I am currently a business architect at Coliban Water in Bendigo, Australia. We are undertaking an enterprise transformation which is an organisation-wide portfolio of work designed to drive new ways of working, strengthen our culture and uplift capability. This will equip our organisation with the tools, practices and processes needed to deliver our vision and strategic goals, and drive value for customers and community for decades to come.
Our business architecture, which I have led and co-created with my colleague forms the foundation of the transformation, it guides and drives alignment within our business and has been foundational in developing new leadership settings for the future.
I enjoy that my workdays are varied. You will often find me:
- collaborating across the organisation to build up my knowledge.
- facilitating workshops to develop, understand and refine our value streams and business capabilities.
- Documenting, updating and using models.
- Networking as part of the Whole of Victorian Government Business Architecture Working Group and peers within the Water Industry
- Leading the business analysis team
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: The appeal to me of being a business architect, is providing a comprehensive perspective to serve the organisation I am a part of, connecting strategy, processes, technology, and people. It assists to align organisation goals and operations effectively, ensuring continued value delivery to customers, community, and region. I respect the impact that business architecture can have in problem solving and shaping its structure, capabilities and advantage. I thoroughly enjoy the collaboration that impactful business architecture demands along with the continuous learning that feeds my curious mind.
Q: What trends in architecture are you following for the rest of 2024?
A: I’m looking out for continued ecosystem thinking, using business architecture to shift from siloed approach to holistic enterprise perspectives, with a focus on mapping relationships with partners, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders to create and understand value networks.
Q: What is one thing we can do to support or increase the women in architecture?
A: We can establish or seek out mentorship and sponsorship programs. Ones that connect experienced professionals with aspiring women architects. Debunking the myth that architecture is only technology will also help too, as this can often feel like an obstacle. I often anchor back that collective efforts create a more inclusive and supportive environment for all people to thrive.