We are not a modelling tool, we are a COMMUNICATION - COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
Audience: enterprise architect
Building the perceived value of our holistic solution, there is naturally a comparison with other tools. There is a very wide range in the field of enterprise architecture. We often tell our clients „the difference between some of other tool and us is not like between a Škoda and a Mercedes, but like between a car and a plane“.
The power of platform
The initial enthusiasm for modelling within architecture was in place because it allowed for a multidimensional capture of organization, processes, structure, and dependencies. The complexity of the operation of companies and organizations has exceeded the possibilities of other descriptions. The expectations of enterprise architects matched the potential and vision of modelling and the role they could play. It did not happen.
The business was not prepared for this and architecture became a very effective tool for IT management, creating solutions, describing systems and applications. Unfortunately, it has not succeeded in establishing itself more as a tool and solution for business or the entire organization. We do not have enough data to analyse the overall context and reasons why this happened. However, the hypothesis is actually relatively simple. The models are not intuitively understandable to anyone outside the circle of architects. Creating outputs that are "manually" transferred to Visio, PowerPoint, or another visualization environment is a time-consuming and one-time activity. Without automatic updating, this is an activity that is very inefficient and therefore happens to a relatively minimal extent.
Our solution, which includes the Horizzon web portal in addition to the modelling environment, allows you to define dashboards that are directly connected to models and data. Therefore, the update takes place automatically and we actually create a dynamic data holistic view of the organization.
IT and business alignment
The form of IT and business cooperation is absolutely key and decisive for the success of an organization today. It is about mutual understanding and coherence, harmonization, when it is necessary for IT people to be able to think in terms of business goals, innovations, impacts. On the other hand, there is business knowledge of IT. Whether business plans, innovations and initiatives are IT central or IT is only in the role of executor.
The coherence and interconnection of IT and business actually determines the degree of integration of the entire organization. Mission, strategy, execution, capability and resources. The success of strategy implementation and execution depends on how well the interdependencies are described.
Unfortunately, describing an organization is often such a complex matter that it focuses more on describing partial solutions. But they support the "silo" thinking and functioning. Partially, agile teams are breaking down this system, but they need to be given a tool.
Design, visualization and unified language across the organization
Perhaps it is absolutely clear that the same language is needed for integration. The analogy of biblical Babylon is a common reality in corporations. The reason is not the absence of will, but rather the absence of a solution.
PowerPoint and Excel have dominated for many years, but it's time for a change. It is necessary to design processes, structures, dependencies and connections. This multidimensional description cannot be realized without vivid dynamic models, but they must be interpreted in a visually comprehensible style.
The uniformity of visualizations across the company not only helps understanding, but greatly increases efficiency and objectifies decision-making.
Integrated holistic view
The need for a holistic view is very closely linked to the strategic maturity of the organization and the perception of the importance of overall integration.
It is a deep understanding that a partial solution does not form a whole, only a set of partial solutions.
The perceived need then in most cases encounters the reality and the excessive complexity and complexity of the solution. Creating a holistic view and its subsequent updating seems impossible.
It is a challenge that really places extraordinary demands on the quality of design and execution, which would represent a clever simplification. However, this dynamic model is essential for data-based decision-making and the implementation and execution of strategies with confidence.
Change of mindset and cultural shift of the organization
"Enterprise architecture is not about the project, it is not about the initiative, it is about the overall mindset. When I want to lose weight, I'm not looking for a diet, but a change in lifestyle. ” These words from Roger Burlton were heard at this year's Bizzdesign Connect.
They capture the essence of why implementing a holistic enterprise architecture is so challenging. However, they also point to the benefit of the whole effort. It is the technological health of the organization (the opposite of technological debt) and with a certain amount of exaggeration, the overall or strategic "health".