2014

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Enterprise Architects Should Follow the Money

Enterprise architecture (EA) offers ways to steer and guide the design and evolution of the enterprise including its information technology (IT). One of the outputs of EA is improved decision-making about IT. Objective: This study aims to provide EA researchers and practitioners with insights into how IT decision-making actually takes place and what that means for them. Method: A systematic literature review was conducted in order to find and analyze primary studies about IT decision-making. Results: We found that IT investment and prioritization is by far the largest decision category. Money seems much more important than content. The IT decision-making process itself is subject to different variables and factors making every IT decision unique. We also found that both rational and bounded rational approaches are used in IT decision-making. EA has not a prominent role in IT decision-making. Conclusions: IT decision-making is a messy and complex process where money plays a prominent role. We argue that, if enterprise architects want to influence IT decision-making, they should follow the money by combining content with investment planning and prioritization. Further research is required into what distinguishes enterprise architects that are successful in IT decision-making, from those that are less successful.

The role of organizational culture for grounding, management, guidance and effectiveness of enterprise architecture principles

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has become a widely acknowledged approach for guiding the continuous change of increasingly complex organizations. While methods and models for describing and analyzing enterprise architectures (EA) have been extensively discussed, principles guiding an EA’s design and evolution are hardly covered in existing research. The paper at hand therefore analyzes the mechanisms of EA principles (EAP), that is EAP grounding, EAP management, and EAP guidance and their effects on EA consistency and EAM utility. Specifically we aim at understanding the role of organizational culture for the mechanisms and effects of EAP. Based on empirical data we find that all relations describing EAP mechanisms and their effects are significantly moderated by organizational culture. Based on our findings we give recommendations on how to deal with selected design decisions when introducing and developing EA principles in an organization.

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These smart, connected products – made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity – have unleashed a new era of competition. Smart, connected products offer exponentially expanding opportunities for new functionality, far greater reliability, much higher product utilization, and capabilities that cut across and transcend traditional product boundaries. The changing nature of products is also disrupting value chains, forcing companies to rethink and retool nearly everything they do internally. Smart, connected products raise a broad set of new strategic choices for companies about how value is created and captured, how to work with traditional partners and what new partnerships will be required, and how to secure competitive advantage as the new capabilities reshape industry boundaries. For many firms, smart, connected products will force the fundamental question: What business am I in? This article provides a framework for developing strategy and achieving competitive advantage in a smart, connected world.

From Enterprise Architecture to Business Ecosystem Architecture: Stages and challenges for extending architectures beyond organizational boundaries

Today, Enterprises act in an increasingly interconnected world and in different kinds of collaborative networks. They are part of business ecosystems in which they interact with their customers, partners and competitors. The processes of analyzing and planning the intertwinement of business and IT architecture within enterprises has been successfully supported by enterprise architecture management (EAM) approaches. In this paper, we analyze four cases from different industries (health care, logistics, retail, and education) and argue that the intra-organizational concepts of enterprise architectures (EA) and EAM need to be extended to grasp the challenges of the enterprises’ interconnectedness. Beyond the known concepts of extended enterprise architecture and federated architectures, we define five stages of extended architectures. Additionally, we describe challenges and existing solutions, which are relevant for this extended perspective.

The Digital Enterprise: The Moves and Motives of the Digital Leaders

This book reflects Karl-Heinz Streibich’s optimism about the technology industry and the richness of his connections with industry thought leaders. Throughout the book you will encounter the vision of Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0) that is driving innovation across a wide spectrum of industries around the globe. With over 20 examples provided, you will read about GE’s vision of the Industrial Internet and how it will bring massive efficiencies to aviation, utilities, and many other industries. You will discover how banks and insurance companies and oil companies and museums and casinos are innovating using a wide range of other technologies. Get ready to be inspired by some of the top companies in the world that are on the forefront of transforming into a Digital Enterprise.