The Use of an Enterprise Architecture Framework to Guide the Management of Big Data in Health Organisations

Big data has gained popularity in recent years, with increased interest from both public and private organisations including academics. The automation of business processes led to the proliferation of different types of data at various speeds through information systems. Big data is generated at a high rate from multiple sources that can become complex to manage with challenges to collect, manipulate, and store data with traditional IS/IT. Big data has been associated with technical non-technical challenges. Due to these challenges, organisations deploy enterprise architecture as an approach to holistically manage and mitigate challenges associated with business and technology. An exploratory study was done to determine how EA could be used to manage big data in healthcare facilities. This study employs the interpretive approach with documentation as the analysis. Findings were governance, internal and external big data sources, information technology infrastructure development, and big data skills. Through the different EA domains, big data challenges could be mitigated.