The speed of response to change and fluidity are key preconditions for the next generation of IT solutions in the digital world. We are witnessing a rather unimaginable expansion of the use of technology in everyday life, on the one hand, and a continuous increase in the speed of software delivery, on the other, which significantly increased expectations and contributed to the adoption of agile methods and practices, shifting the pendulum of software architecture from traditional to agile methods and practices. Agile architecture, as a result of the transformation of a traditional and agile approach to software development, is a new approach that uses agile techniques to deliver a flexible architecture, adaptable to changing demands, tolerant to changes, which is the result of the iterative-incremental design of the agile process of software development. In recent years, there has been a shift in focus, in practice and research, from people and processes to integration technologies and application's hosting, which has led to the emergence of microservices and increased interest in software architecture and design. One consequence of this is the emergence and development of new approaches in the process of building Agile architecture, such as Continuous Architecting, Lean Architecting or Evolutionary Architecting, which essentially share the same goals. In this connection, in order to understand better the concept and the new role of Agile architecture in the digital era, it is necessary to study the genesis of Agile architecture, as a special approach in software development, to identify current trends and practices that are adapted to the contemporary digital environment (scalability, distribution, complexity). The results of conducted systematic literature review will help researchers and practitioners in better understanding of what Agile architecture is and its role, the current trends and directions of future development, and practices that are particularly useful in the development of complex software, with the aim of broadening the application and improvement of the agile software development process.

Digital transformation (DT), as a result of digitalization process, rapidly and fundamentally changes the business entities and organizations, which involves a radical review of the use of technology to change the strategy, value streams, operations, and business models, with a significant impact on customers, business partners and employees. Enterprises are launching the DT initiatives examining the wishes and needs of customers and creating operational models that use the new opportunities to increase competitiveness. In this regard, the key responses to changes in the digital era are the reshaping customer value propositions and reconfiguration the operation model. In the basic industries, where the product is mainly a raw material, such as the mining industry, the companies launch the DT initiative to improve operations. The operating model is adjusted so that user preferences and expectations affect each activity in the value chain. This requires the integration of business activities and the optimization of the way to manage and track data related to each key activity in the value chain. However, although there is a great potential for future growth, the current state of digital transformation in mining is at a low level. Therefore, the question arises as to how to launch and effectively realize the DT initiative for improvement the operational model in the mining enterprise. This paper, in general, discusses the importance of the DT, with particular reference to the key aspects of the DT, challenges and success factors in the mining industry. As a result of research, the key aspects of realization the DT initiative for improving the operational model in the large, diversified mining enterprise are presented; challenges and success factors are identified and classified in a given context. The complete research efforts, as well as the obtained results, are dedicated to the role and significance of the DT phenomenon in the mining industry, with the goal of wider and more effective use the digital technologies in the mining enterprises.

The organization's agility represents its ability to respond fast to changes by the transformation and/or optimization of business processes. In the conditions of the ever-increasing use of digital technologies, the agility of organization can be compromised if the digital strategy and IT resources are not flexible enough to adequately respond to changed business conditions. Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) promotes better alignment of business goals and IT resources to faster respond to changes. However, given the challenges of the digital era, especially when it comes to distribution, complexity, scalability, and delivery speed, the success of the SOA initiatives increasingly depends on the choice of delivery strategy and implementation approach. The SOA middle-out delivery strategy is guided by business strategy, strategic vision and goals, with reuse of existing IT resources and focus on urgent requirements, tactical and operational goals. On the other hand, SOA evolves towards increasing agility and a simpler, service-based implementation approach that supports fast delivery. This paper, in general, discusses the ways of more efficient alignment of business and digital enterprise strategy, based on the implementation of SOA initiatives for the development of business software systems. Within the framework of the research, the significant challenges and best practices have been identified and clearly distinguished, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, which are related to the key architectural and methodological aspects of the SOA implementation using the middle-out delivery strategy and service-based approach.

The consequence of the increasing development and use of digital technologies, in every segment of society, is the emergence of digital disruption - a powerful external pressure that is changing the way business is done in all industries. Businesses are responding to digital disruption by digital transformation, which involves organizational change, redefining and aligning digital and business strategies, new business models, increased agility of software development and delivery processes, migration and/or integration of legacy systems using cloud-based platforms and ecosystems. In such a context, one of the key responsibilities of a software architect is to maintain the agility of the organization by defending the flexibility of digital strategy and IT resources so that the enterprise is able to transform and respond adequately and rapidly to the effects of digital disruption. In this regard, the question arises as to how digital disruption and business transformation affect the change in the role, importance, competence and agility of a software architect, especially in the context of the development of complex business software systems. This paper aims to present the role of an agile software architect in the era of digital disruption and transformation, by integrating the results of theoretical and empirical research. A systematic literature review identifies the role, importance, and competencies of a software architect in implementing agile architecture. In other hand, empirical research, based on a case study in a large enterprise, provides a better understanding of the importance of software architect for aligning business and digital strategy, as well as its contribution to increasing the agility of the process of developing, delivering and integrating complex business software systems.

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The advent of the cloud and software ecosystems, the expansion of digital technologies and new business models, the digital transformation and the 4th Industrial Revolution bring new challenges to the implementation of agile software development processes, which create new needs for process and project management. These challenges are especially related to the development of complex, distributed software systems, their security, scaling, distribution and development environment, rapid delivery and maintenance. Agile software development processes emerged 20 years ago in response to the challenges and problems caused by the bureaucratic, predictive nature of traditional methodologies. Since then, they have had a tremendous impact on changing the way software is developed, due to a greater focus on people, fast iterations, direct communication and quick feedback. However, in order to remain agile in their application, agile development processes have had to transform and adapt to new challenges, with a rethinking of some of the fundamental aspects of agility. In this regard, the question arises of what the agile development process looks like in the software factory of the future. To answer this question, applying multiple case study and comparative analysis, this paper investigates, describes, and compares agile software development processes in some of the leading software companies, such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. The results of the research will contribute to a better understanding of the basic principles of agility and agile development process in the software factory of the future.