How much EAM will your organisation survive?

The market for Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) has grown enormously in recent years. Well deserved, we at Bee360 think. But where there is light, there is also shadow.

We take this as an opportunity to take a critical look at whether they are realised - and what it takes to unlock the value of EAM: Because if EAM works in isolation, it’s mostly effort for its own sake, with little

01

EAM continues to grow in importance

With digitalisation at the forefront, more complex IT landscapes and a growing reliance on technology, organisations need to ensure that their IT architecture is not only transparent, but also future-proof. Therefore, understanding technological assets and dependencies is becoming crucial for today’s business, which is exactly addressed by EAM. According to a 2023 Gartner study, 70% of medium and large enterprises worldwide now use an EAM tool to organise and strategically align their IT systems (source: BOC Group).

The outlook is also promising: EAM SaaS providers are expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% to 2028 (source: The Business Research Company). This growing demand is also reflected in market developments such as SAP’s acquisition of LeanIX in September 2023. As a result, EAM is more than just a hype: Without clear EAM, the organisation lacks overview, leading to a disconnect between business strategy and IT reality. The implementation of EAM is therefore in the legitimate interest of both business and IT.

02

What often goes wrong instead – and the consequences

Our discussions with existing customers who have replaced their best-of-breed solutions with Bee360 reveal a clear pattern: Things often go well in the beginning. The implementation is challenging, but with the right partner, the start is successful. The first results are impressive: colourful dashboards, complex architecture diagrams, detailed reports. Management is impressed, and praise is plentiful. But after one or two years, it becomes clear that:

The added value does not justify the time invested.

Data quality is insufficient

‘Those who have to invest the work to maintain EAM (the architects) are usually not the ones who benefit. The main beneficiaries are the managers who could use the information strategically. This core problem in EAM affects the quality of the data.’ - Dr. Victor Vergara, Architecture & Process Manager at Kostal Group.

Worst case: data graveyard

‘EAM was at a low level of maturity and not sustainable. This became very clear when the Enterprise Architect left our company, the position remained vacant for a long time and it became apparent that neither reports were being generated nor data updated. There was no added value, it was a data graveyard.’ – Dr. Markus Kress, Head of EAM at Witt Group.

03

Success factors for value-added EAM

Value-adding EAM is characterised by the following key factors, which ensure that it does not become an end in itself:

1. Actual use of data for strategy implementation, not just for mapping reality

   ‘Implementing an EAM tool is not a guaranteed success. It is a demanding modelling and documentation activity that requires skilled people. If it is perceived as just documentation, it will fail. The EAM use cases must be carefully selected and their added value must be directly visible. This requires a platform that integrates stakeholders from different areas (e.g. the CIO for an ITFM initiative)’. – Dr. Markus Kress, Head of EAM at Witt Group.

2. A lean approach focused on tangible value

   When introducing EAM, there is a great temptation to get bogged down in the details. Instead, EAM should ideally be introduced as part of a specific transformation project (e.g. ERP transformation, introduction of omni-channel sales). In this way, EAM can be focused on the actual value added: For example, if the goal is to reduce costs, it makes sense to start with the critical applications rather than documenting the entire business architecture. The added value is even greater if the documentation produced can be used in an integrated way for other projects or requirements. (For example, if a decision has been made to retire an application, it should not be developed further).

3. Clear responsibilities

   EAM should help to clarify responsibilities. This starts with seemingly simple questions such as ‘Who is the right contact for a request?’ and extends to challenging questions such as ‘How can we ensure that requests or IT investments support (only) strategically relevant business capabilities?’

4. Change Management for Business and IT

   EAM should enable business and IT to work together. This is not easy to achieve and requires a major organisational change that the organisation needs to buy into. In addition to identifying appropriate, specific use cases, it is also necessary to use terms and concepts that are understandable to all stakeholders. After all, how many new terms do board members or P&L managers want to learn?

5. Focus on the essentials

   Rather than getting bogged down by complex features, EAM should focus on the key objectives: enabling business strategy through IT, organising accountability and using data in a targeted way. The same logic applies to EAM concepts that are too broad: consulting firms tend to have an incentive to develop broad EAM concepts in order to sell as much of their expertisible. This is not necessarily in the client’s best interest. Again, less is often more.

“

EAM is not a guaranteed success. It is a demanding documentation task that requires competent personnel.

Dr. Markus Kress — Head of EAM at Witt Group

Excursus

Excursus

A perfect example is the use of EAM in the digital transformation of the Witt Group from a mail order company to an omni-channel clothing retailer. Part of the transformation involves changing the application landscape (around 300-400 applications) to more standard software and moving from data centres to the cloud. This requires transformation plans in line with project portfolio management to answer the following questions:

• What business processes need to be redesigned?
• Which modules with which functionality will go live and when?
• What is the impact on the existing system landscape (interfaces, applications)?
• What is the impact on the business processes?
• Where is structured change management required?

The Witt Group uses Bee360 for both multi-year transformation planning and cloud migration (e.g. 5R - rehost, refactor, replatform, rebuild and replace).

04

Bee360 implements these success factors

If you want to build a value-creating EAM, you need to tackle the problem at its root: EAM must not be operated as an isolated discipline, but as part of a holistic, integrated approach. Indeed, there is one platform on the market that has proven to deliver what the competition promises: Bee360.

With our connection of Enterprise Architecture Management, Strategic Portfolio Management and IT Financial Management on the right level and with a consistent taxonomy, Bee360 enables digital organisations to regularly answer the important, value creating questions for IT. That is why we are the only vendor in the EAM, IT Financial Management and Strategic Portfolio Management markets to be listed by Gartner, Forrester and other leading analysts.¹

How we address the success factors

EAM data is shared across departments

Bee360 enables architecture data to be used seamlessly by key areas such as Portfolio Management and IT Financial Management in an integrated platform. This is particularly evident in the integration of prioritisation criteria from specialist departments and EAM into demand management. This ensures that the architects’ work has a direct positive impact. So why create another silo with a specialist tool when a comprehensive and integrated solution like Bee360 already exists?

¹ At this point, we would like to take a stand on the term ‘holistic’ and do something tangible to counteract its inflationary use.

Responsibilities are organized in one platform (and understood)

Bee360 provides a central platform used by all parties to clearly organise responsibilities. In addition, we developed ‘board-appropriate’ terminology to support the organisation of shared responsibilities between business and IT. This creates additional buy-in for the change and leads to sustainable decisions.

Lean EAM without overheads

‘At Bee360 we deliberately offer lean EAM that focuses on real value. The alternative offered by our competitors is an expensive all-you-can-eat buffet, which makes it difficult to eat sensibly and often leads to stomach aches-’ – Sönke Claussen, Managing Director at Bee360.

The added value unfolds particularly through the link with the adjacent areas: this makes prioritisation in demand management easier, the portfolio more structured and the costs are directly related to the benefits achieved.

This focus on the essentials means that we can introduce EAM and train your employees in it in just a few months. Even if you don’t have a dedicated architect in your organisation.

A proven change approach: BeeChange

To support the necessary organisational change, we have developed concepts that have been proven in numerous implementations. We get the necessary C-level attention for the topic and increase user acceptance through communication concepts, training and, above all, the rapid generation of added value.

Smart Pricing

We have learned: A meaningful EAM depends on many stakeholders on the platform from different disciplines. It is particularly frustrating when the pricing of the tool works against this, for example by charging by the number of applications or users. This forces the organisation to make an uncomfortable choice: ‘Do we model our enterprise architecture cost-effectively, or do we model it the way we need it?

Quick win for existing customers

Those already using Bee360 will be pleased to know that there are no additional license fees for EAM functionality in Bee360. This means a big impact can be achieved with little consultancy effort.

Synergies for new customers

Those not yet using Bee360 can still benefit from smart, competitive pricing, regardless of application or user. In addition, the holistic approach eliminates redundant tools and delivers significant savings. Sounds like a first task for architects, doesn’t it?

05

Conclusion: A lean, value-driven EAM is more useful than an extensive data graveyard.

Many companies enthusiastically implement their EAM, only to discover later that it is more trouble than it is worth. Understandable, given the messages from the market. But the solution is not to abandon EAM, but to have a better EAM: lean, integrated and with a clear link to operational and strategic IT. Anyone who has reached the point of critically questioning their EAM should take a second look at Bee360. This is where EAM comes to life - and adds real value.

About the authors

Vincent Jaenisch

Holistic Management Advisor Bee360

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As a Holistic Management Advisor, Vincent helps CIOs find the optimal entry point into Bee360 for their organisation. He uses his extensive consulting experience to develop solutions tailored to the specific needs of CIOs. He pays particular attention to the change processes required for effective collaboration between IT and the business.

Viet Duc Le

Product Manager Enterprise Architecture Management

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As Bee360’s Product Manager for EAM, Duc has developed and implemented standardised, efficient frameworks across industries. With a deep understanding of business-IT alignment, he helps clients improve communication between business and IT and quickly bridge the gap between strategy and execution. This enables organisations to evolve successfully.