Architecture

In today’s tech world, not every company has an architect. This is acceptable when the size of the company is small and their focus in on a niche product. These companies can get away with having a developer take on the role of a lead architect. However, if this isn’t your company, not having an architect could create a lot of problems. First, a developer handling building the product and playing the role of architect isn’t as productive which could lead to a slow SDLC. If multiple developers are sharing the role of an architect, this could create a lack of vision of where the company is going, which wastes precious company resources (time & money)  which ends in the company creating the wrong product or developing it in a sub-optimal way. 

Architects in the tech world are the glue to an organization's development arm building out the “blueprints” for large projects. They are the planners, researchers, testers, build proof of concepts and are always on top of the latest tech trends. Rather than your typical engineer, who is working on building a piece of the car, say an engine, the architect is figuring out how to build the entire car (perhaps without an engine).

Not willing to make the investment in people and infrastructure - Create analytics dashboards to triage issues. 
Most SMB or startup companies that are in growth mode don’t worry about making and planning for your future growth/scale is becoming more paramount (don’t fumble through growth)

The great architect shortage will continue! To boast enough knowledge to become an architect takes a long time and because of this developers tend to get stuck in their current roles while others realize they don’t have the passion or mindset to become one. Also, as the tech landscape evolves companies have to deal with more complex problems (data warehousing, cloud migrations, training LLMs) increasing the demand for architects (and with it their wages). Specialized architect consulting companies, such as Axil, will become commonplace lending out their architects services to many companies for a reduced price in comparison to hiring them in house.