Multi-Solution Architecture Blog Series ‒ Who is the Multi-Solution Architect (MSA)?

I often find myself looking for the best way to describe what I do to new clients especially when my title (MSA) is commonly interpreted as Master Service Agreement. It is more common than you think. In the consulting world, master service agreements and statement of work define our existence and hence rarely a new client will identify an MSA as a Multi-solution Architect. I recently decided to cope with the shift in the industry and rebrand my role to a Digital Experience Architect, that being said I will stay away from abbreviating this into acronyms. Try it and you will know what I mean.

Today I share with you high level insights around the role of the Multi-solution or Digital Experience Architect and explain why it is one of today’s top in-demand jobs in the digital advertising world. In future posts, we will look under the hood and discuss the job description in more detail. Note: For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to this role as MSA throughout this post.

The common analogy I refer to when describing the attributes and role of an MSA is by comparing it to the conductor in a musical orchestra. In an orchestra setting, the conductor’s role is not to replace a metronome but to make sure that there is harmony and rhythm among the musicians by constantly adjusting the tempo, time signatures and dynamics to produce a flawless piece of music. The same applies to the MSA, this role is not to replace the solution consultants or the project manager but to ensure client ideas are translated to the right architecture and executed in a comprehensive roadmap. Let us go through this and highlight the top similarities between a conductor and an MSA:

Understand and Interpret the requirements

One of the first orders of business that a conductor is tasked with is interpreting the score created by the composer. This is no different from when an MSA conducts requirement gathering sessions with the client to understand their pain points, business goals and priorities. It is a very crucial step and it is vital to take place early on in the process to ensure that all the subsequent phases fall into the right place. These sessions vary across engagements and highly rely on the digital maturity of the client, technology stack, business objectives and timeline.

Identify the right instruments

The symphony orchestra consists of four groups (woodwinds, brass, percussion and strings) but the specific details around the exact instruments that they use is often what the conductor, concertmaster and group leads discuss and agree on. In similar fashion, the MSA works closely with the client’s IT and solution experts to identify the right technologies to be utilized. Technologies can also be split into multiple groups such as (Content Management, Data Management Platform, Rule based Targeting Platform, Digital Asset Management, Email Orchestration Tool, CRM and more). These systems come in all shapes and sizes with competitive offerings from Adobe, Salesforce, Oracle, IBM and more. Identifying the right arrangement, architecture and integration of these technologies ensures the proper delivery on the client’s business objectives and goals.

Set the roadmap and timeline

Orchestra performances do not happen overnight. It takes months of auditions, practices and continuous adjustments of the scoring/tempo/dynamics to be ready to open the doors to the public. This requires a strong plan, discipline and leadership to make sure everything is ready on opening day. The MSA’s biggest responsibility is to make sure that a comprehensive roadmap with clear steps, milestones and timelines is defined and agreed on. This becomes the guideline to ensure that we stick to a schedule to deliver on our promises as planned. The roadmap is often accompanied with a detailed project charter including roles and responsibilities for implementation, testing and delivery.

Bring all the pieces together

It is show time, the scores have been reviewed and adjusted to match the vision. The orchestra has undergone all the needed practice sessions and everyone is ready for opening day. As the curtains open up, the conductor guides the musicians with his baton and delivers a musical journey to an excited audience. Opening day is what we reference as go-live day; this is when we hit one of the many milestones in the roadmap. The milestone can be the launch of a new campaign utilizing a new architecture such as integrating two technologies together enabling cross-channel activation methods to deliver a consistent and connected experience across multiple channels.

Handle the unexpected

Although we hope for best case scenarios, we always should plan for the worst cases as well. Some circumstances might arise such as conflicts among the musicians, called-in sick musicians or even a blizzard outside. These circumstances can affect the show severely. The conductor needs to adjust and handle the situation to make sure a good show is delivered and the audience is not exposed to these difficulties. The MSA faces similar situations where technologies might fail, integrations might not operate as expected or campaigns are misconfigured. These fire drills happen often and the MSA is trained and experienced to handle these situations and figure out alternate options to make sure things go back on track and the show goes on.

At a high level, the Multi-solution or Digital Experience Architects hold an extensive knowledge of the marketing technologies and are equipped with resources to conduct different size orchestras from small to medium to large. They are problem solvers with years of experience in the digital marketing and advertising space.