The Benefits of Enterprise Architecture in Organizational Transformation

Today, as organizations constantly adjust their activities to meet ever-changing circumstances, continuous business transformation is taking place. However, planning and steering this transformation can be a daunting task as complexity has been built into the organization over the years. Enterprise Architecture (EA) has been widely adapted as a planning and governance approach to manage the complexity and constant change, and to align the organization toward a common goal. This article studies the EA benefit-realization process by clarifying how EA benefits are realized. Specifically, the focus is on the strategies, resources, and practices which the EA benefits stem from. The findings, derived from an in-depth case study, show that the EA benefit-realization process constitutes a long, intertwined chain of activities. Organizations benefit from EA through various means: from the initiation, when comprehensive understanding starts to form, until years later, when measurable outcomes such as cost savings materialize. Suggestions on what to incorporate into EA programs are presented.