In today's dynamic business landscape, where technology and strategy are inseparable partners, enterprise architecture can play a crucial role in navigating the landscape and succeeding in digital transformation. But how do you successfully create value from the work on the business architecture of the company?
In this article, we will explore the success factors that lay the foundation for extracting gains from enterprise architecture. From the key role of management to the use of effective information acquisition tools and strategies, we will take you through the steps required to build an architecture that not only integrates technology and business objectives, but also rigs the company for growth and innovation.
The starting point for successful business architecture and realizing value is committed management. In an era where decisions need to be supported by data, enterprise architecture provides managers with a solid platform for insights and management information. Through the conscious use of the architecture's insights, management can make more informed decisions based on data.
Hint: Get management engaged by visualizing the architecture with a focus on KPIs that are important to management. This could be, for example, how the technologies support the overall business objectives, total costs associated with the application portfolio, or where in the business there is poor technology support that hinders development.
The choice of tools plays a crucial role in the development of a robust enterprise architecture. Use a tool that can visualize your business in a way that is understandable to both technologists and business people. This bridge between IT and business lays the foundation for an architecture that links strategy and technology closely together.
Hint: Choose a forward-looking tool such as:
Automate information retrieval (surveys/integration) and facilitate efficient management of enterprise architecture. This can be done through surveys sent around the organization or through integration. This allows the architecture to be constantly updated and shows a real picture of the situation in the organization.
In order to succeed in information gathering and to ensure that the business architecture is capable of helping to connect strategy and technology, it is crucial to involve the right stakeholders.
Hint:
To succeed in this, it is important to speak a language that everyone understands. You need to communicate with a “business language” that the whole business understands, and focus on how technology affects the business, and vice versa. It is also important to present data with high quality. Ensure that the visualizations are based on up-to-date data that give a real picture of the current situation
Start only with key data that provides good management information, such as how systems support strategy or how data flows in your organization. Do not delve into details and think that you are going to map the entire organization right away. You can't do that, nor is it necessary. Focus on the information you need to make good decisions.
Clear principles for technology acquisition form a solid foundation for an efficient and forward-looking architecture. You increase the likelihood that IT projects will be successful, and at the same time lay the foundation for avoiding technical debt and shadowing IT.
Hint:
Here are some examples of good principles:
We help businesses with digital transformation as a proactive partner that delivers continuous value quickly. We assist several companies with, among other things, business architecture, target image and roadmap for digitalization, ERP transformation, cloud migration, feasibility studies, etc.
We provide enterprise architecture as a service, which means we manage and develop it on an ongoing basis. You can outsource the work on the enterprise architecture in its entirety to us, or use us together with internal resources such as expertise and capacity.
We want to be your proactive digitalization partner. Book a no-obligation conversation to hear how we can help your business become data-driven, transformative, and gain competitive advantage.
