A survey published on The Open Group Web site (www.opengroup.org) illustrates the growing demand for Togaf skills. Togaf is a collection of architectural wisdom that aims to allow others to learn and apply enterprise architecture more quickly and to benchmark against industry practices.

According to the survey, average minimum salaries for enterprise architects sporting Togaf certification and skills in the UK have increased by 23,5% since July last year. Increasingly, enterprise architect job advertisements are also specifically requesting Togaf knowledge and certification.

"Enterprise architecture has been around for many years, but the tendency has been to bundle it with IT, and not to provide sufficient resources to enable a truly positive impact on business," Prinsloo says.

"Organisations and practitioners have approached architecture in different ways, with the result that there was no real standard that could be applied. This is changing, and organisations are realising the value that standards-based enterprise architecture can bring to the business. As such, they are now prepared to pay top money to secure certified enterprise architects," he adds.

With a triple focus on trying to educate enterprise architects in a globally accepted methodology, raising their professional profiles in the marketplace and establishing enterprise architecture as a credible discipline, Real IRM runs public and client-specific Togaf certification courses both in SA and internationally.

Real IRM's certification programme is a four-day course. Since commencing certification in June 2006, the company has certified 12 enterprise architects in the UK, two from Botswana, one from Mozambique and 43 in SA. To date, The Open Group has certified over 1 300 enterprise architects worldwide.

"Certification is invaluable for any enterprise architect, whether they are already in the market or still trying to enter, as it fosters an appreciation of what enterprise architecture is and develops an understanding of how to approach the development and maintenance of enterprise architecture for an organisation," Prinsloo says.

"Togaf certification ensures that enterprise architects are empowered to see through vendor hype, to understand what enterprise architecture really means and to implement it across the organisation in a positive way. Certification allows companies to be sure that the people they bring on board are up to date with the industry's best practices, and have some practical techniques to bring to the table. It separates those who simply say they are architects, from those can demonstrate an understanding of what that actually means," he concludes.