A New Home for HoriZZon
While we are navigating the “new normal”, we are trying to cope with things in the best possible way. As such, we continue to realize new product developments and improvements for our customers. Read more
BiZZdesign
Looking Beyond Covid-19 to the Future
Covid-19 – a trying chapter not the end of the story
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
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
An EA Response to the Pandemic, Part 1: University of Missouri
With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, it seems hard to imagine that so little time ago everything was business as usual. Read more
Solve Quality Challenges for Federated Architecture Modeling at Schaeffler
Schaeffler is a globally acting component supplier for the mechanical engineering and automotive industry employing around 89,000 people. Facing the challenges and opportunities of digitization and transition from combustion engines to fuel-cell and electric vehicles, the business processes and underpinning application landscape and technology use are in an ongoing transition; generating a strong need for Enterprise Architecture. In this blog we outline the nature of EA at Schaeffler and tool support by BiZZdesign’s solution, focusing on architecture modeling quality. Read more
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
5 Questions CEOs Should Ask Themselves in 2020 – Part 1
As we embark on this new journey that is the 2020’s, CEOs ought to acknowledge the crossroads that’s ahead of them, and the choice they need to make. Read more
The Roles of Enterprise Architects in Innovation – Part 2
Part 2: From Search to Scale: Coordinating Innovation
In this blog series we aim to explore the different roles enterprise architects can play in innovation in their organization. Read more
Process Optimization Challenges, Part 3: Using Lean
Welcome to the last installment in this series. Today we’re taking a look at using Lean techniques as part of a process optimization initiative. Read more
Process Optimization Challenges, Part 2: Know Your Audience
Welcome to the second part of this series on process optimization challenges. Last time we went over the importance of simplicity in process, and more specifically how looking at the big picture when affecting change can ensure that you make a more significant improvement.
Turn the Ship Around – Break Free from the Shackles of the Present
Background
Across the globe, Enterprise Architecture teams deliver three key organizational functions. Firstly, they provide understanding of their current organization; this enables the organization to effectively control and regulate its existing operating model. Secondly, those teams provide a window into the organization’s potential, insight into where value can be found and unlocked, and an insight into the future. Thirdly, EA teams drive, enable and support the iterative improvement of this direction setting insight, and with that they translate strategy into reality, creating real business value.
On Layers and Abstraction Levels in the ArchiMate Language
Our recent blog post on abstraction levels in architecture models resulted in a lively discussion on LinkedIn. As part of that discussion, the notion of layering was questioned, and in particular the layers that are built into the ArchiMate language. In this post I want to clarify the thinking behind the language structure.
Agile ArchiMate®: Intentional Architecture
In my previous blog post on using the ArchiMate modeling language together with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), I briefly mentioned the need for modeling the intent of the enterprise. In an agile context, this notion of intent and intentional architecture is quite important. In this blog, I want to explore that further.
EA and Security
How can Enterprise Architecture help your organization become more secure, reliable, and compliant? Read more
Finding and Unlocking Business Value
Decision making
Whatever your role, wherever you are, you are measured by the value that you bring. People interact with you because they derive some value from that interaction. That could be political, social, economic, intellectual or technical. To maximize your value, you need to understand how that interaction is measured.
Customer Focus From Start to Finish: Delivering Business Change that Makes a Difference
Having the right focus
The customer is the most important variable in the equation of success. Please them and you’ll do well; ignore their needs and desires, especially in this age of speed and lower emotional attachment, and you invariably go out of business. Read more
Raise Model Quality – Conformance Checks
ArchiMate provides a powerful language to visually describe the architecture of an enterprise at different layers – from strategy to implementation. Read more
How to Mitigate Risk without Slowing Down Digital Transformation
Cybersecurity is one of the key issues the business world has to deal with, and its importance will only rise. As technology steadily evolves to take over increasingly more aspects of business (and personal) life, the need for security is being made pressingly apparent by incidents such as the breaches at Yahoo and Experian, or the WannaCry ransomware attack. Every year, a huge number of companies are hacked. Here are just some of the most famous cases to give you an idea. The result? Countless people worldwide being affected, with the cost of poor cybersecurity easily running in the millions.
Architecture and Talent: a Path to Fostering the Right Skills and Expertise
Talent is rare
Well, the right talent is, anyway. As new technologies make their way into the marketplace and their adoption becomes generalized, organizations are experiencing a personnel squeeze that poses a risk to both ongoing operations as well future plans. The newer (and more sophisticated) a technology, the scarcer the talent to support it, and ultimately the more difficult it is for an enterprise to ensure it doesn’t miss out in favor of the competition.