Expanding our HoriZZon in 2021
2020 was a tough year. Covid-19 created a ‘perfect storm’, leaving many companies fighting an unfair fight. And we are still in the middle of it. Let 2021 be the start of a better future for all of us. Read more
Address Regulatory Compliance Challenges in the Financial Services Industry with Enterprise Architecture
Regulatory compliance is a core business fact of life for the financial services industry today. Compliance is not only about combating financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud, and tax evasion. But also about operating in a prudent and responsible manner and being able to prove that you have the policies, procedures and processes in place to do it reliably – covering everything from capital and corporate governance to data privacy, disclosures and diversity. Compliance plays an essential role in helping to preserve the integrity and reputation of a bank.
BiZZdesign Connect Conference Links Attendees with Value
Designing Better Enterprises – Yes, Please!
The 2020 BiZZdesign Connect Conference has concluded and we’re happy to say it was a tremendous success! Our theme and proposition for you this year was Designing Better Enterprises, and apparently the rest of the world found it really relevant. So many hundreds of professionals attended the online event that took place Thursday, November 19th in order to witness the talks we had prepared! Read more
Creating Architecture Models in an Agile Way
In previous blog posts, we talked about the use of architecture models in the context of agile development, and the ‘right’ level of detail for such models. But how do you go about creating models in an agile context? Read more
An EA Response to the Pandemic: Novozymes
Living in a new normal
It’s been roughly two months since the Covid-19 pandemic has forced everyone into quarantine. Although the situation is ‘exceptional’, it’s nonetheless starting to feel like a familiar sort of exceptionalism, something you don’t really remark as much anymore. Read more
ArchiMate Models for Agile Teams (Part 2)
In the first part of this blog post, we discussed in general how the structure of the ArchiMate modeling language matches the structure of both component and feature teams. In this second part, we want to go a bit deeper into this topic.
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ArchiMate Models for Agile Teams (Part 1)
In the most recent post in our ongoing series on agile and architecture, I argued why architecture models are valuable for agile organizations. That post concentrated on the ways in which you can use these models to foster business agility at the enterprise level. In this post I want to zoom in a bit and discuss how architecture models and ArchiMate in particular can support agile teams. Read more
An EA Response to the Pandemic – Ameren
The Covid-19 effect
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected Ameren much the same way it affected other large, Fortune 500 companies. We too have experienced a sudden need to facilitate work-from-home (WFH) conditions for a significant number of our staff; we’ve seen a spike in the number of people that require access to VPN, to videoconferencing capabilities; we’ve even gone through hiring and onboarding new employees exclusively online. Read more
Looking Beyond Covid-19 to the Future
Covid-19 – a trying chapter not the end of the story
An EA Response to the Pandemic: CSL Behring
CSL Behring is part of CSL Limited, the world’s third largest biotech company. CSL has over 25,000 employees with operations in more than 35 countries and annual revenues close to $9 billion. When COVID-19 started to grow into a worldwide pandemic, as an organization, CSL Behring reacted in a globally-coordinated manner to ensure that any negative impact to their business would be minimized. Read more
Enterprise Architecture and the COVID-19 Pandemic: South State Bank
It comes as a surprise when something as unlikely as a worldwide pandemic happens. It’s the sort of event that you may prepare for, but will likely never experience. Instead, you think, “Not in my lifetime,” or perhaps “Not where I live.” COVID-19, however, showed us that low probability of an event doesn’t mean its occurrence is impossible. Read more
An EA Response to the Pandemic: What Enterprise Architects Can Do in This Time of Crisis
These are strange times and for many of us the world has been turned upside-down by the Covid-19 pandemic. Enterprise architects, used to a medium- and long-term focus, suddenly and urgently need to contribute to the very survival of their organizations in the immediate term. This requires a thorough rethink of what we do, but we won’t have time to sit back and contemplate the EA discipline. We need to take action now and with this blog post I want to give you some concrete ideas on this. Read more
Business Priorities During Covid-19
As we now realize, the effects of Covid-19 on work and home life have focused our efforts on learning to navigate a new normal. The personal and business impacts of this are evident. On the personal side, we are all learning how to be “Alone, Together” and some of us are adjusting to new WFH colleagues. Read more
“Get Rid of All Contractors by Friday”: A Real (Crisis) Story – Part 2
In Part 1, we anonymized the narrative of one of our large manufacturing customers. Forced to protect the company in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CEO decided to let all the contractors go and in Part 1 we presented the first of two possible scenarios as to how this might take place. In that initial scenario, the company fell in the trap of decisive, but hasty action.
For our Change Agents…
These are crazy times. We all see a lot of sad things happening around the world. In addition to the personal dramas of people falling ill, and medical systems being stretched, we see a lot of businesses struggle. ‘Lock-down’ situations reduce or eliminate revenue streams and there is great uncertainty about how long restrictions will continue to apply. Many business models are not sufficiently resilient to face the current crisis. Read more
“Get Rid of All Contractors by Friday”: A Real (Crisis) Story – Part 1
(The following is a true story that was shared with us by a current BiZZdesign client. All details have been changed to protect the anonymity of the source.) Read more
The Value of Architecture Models for Agile Organizations
In the past, I have written extensively on the combination of enterprise architecture and agile development, most recently about the notion of intentional architecture. It is clear that for any organization or system of some size, a solid architecture practice is needed next to agile ways of working.
5 Questions CEOs Should Ask Themselves in 2020 – Part 2
Welcome back to our ‘5 Questions CEOs Should Ask Themselves in 2020’ series. Read more