Edward Langeland

Strategic Timing: 10 Critical Moments for Enterprise Architecture Assessment   Enterprise Architecture (EA) assessments deliver maximum business leverage when timed with leadership decision points. Below are the 10 moments when running an EA assessment is not just valuable, it’s strategic.   1. Upcoming Strategic-Planning Cycle When: 1–2 quarters before annual budgeting.
 Why: Align technology investment roadmaps with corporate priorities before funding locks.
Prerequisite: Consolidated current-state portfolio view (apps, infra, data, integrations).
 Example: Unilever ran EA assessments in Q2 ahead of Q4 budgets. Discovered gaps in e-commerce analytics, shifting $20M from on-prem upgrades to a composable Customer Data Platform (CDP).
 Outcome: 18% faster personalization, driving $55M incremental online sales.   2. Mergers, Acquisitions, or Divestitures When: During due diligence and 30–60 days post-close.
 Why: Identify integration risks and quick wins early.
 Prerequisite: Access to target entity’s architectural blueprints & contracts.
 Example: IBM’s Red Hat acquisition assessment exposed heavy AWS dependency. Post-close, 70% of workloads migrated to IBM Cloud, saving $12M annually and accelerating hybrid-cloud offerings.   3. Major Technology Refresh / End-of-Life When: 12–18 months before end-of-support.
 Why: Avoid rushed, costly migrations that replicate legacy flaws.
 Prerequisite: Dependency mapping for critical workloads.
 Example: Toyota’s SAP ECC to S/4HANA migration started 16 months pre-deadline. EA prioritized containerizing supply chain modules, reducing infra OPEX by 22% and avoiding $30M downtime risk.   4. Digital Transformation Launch When: 2–3 months before formal greenlight.
 Why: Set realistic scope, architecture guardrails, and prevent rework.
 Prerequisite: Defined transformation outcomes and KPIs.
 Example: Nike delayed its metaverse rollout after EA found weak integration between NFT platforms and loyalty systems. Six-month pause avoided $50M rework and enabled a unified omnichannel loyalty platform.   5. Significant Operational Disruption When: 2–4 weeks post-incident.
 Why: Fix root causes while executive focus is high.
 Prerequisite: Incident impact and recovery reports.
 Example: After British Airways’ 2017 outage, an EA sprint found single points of failure in 85% of systems. $100M redundancy investment cut outage risk by 65%.   6. Regulatory / Compliance Mandates When: ≥6 months before deadline.
 Why: Surface hidden risks — shadow IT, undocumented data flows, unvetted AI models.
Prerequisite: Current inventory of data flows and compliance posture.
 Example: Barclays’ EA assessment for EU DORA compliance found 14 unmonitored fintech APIs. Fixes avoided €75M potential fines and created a reusable third-party governance framework.   Continue in 1st and 2nd comments.   Transform Partner – Your Strategic Champion for Digital Transformation     Image Source: ITarch dot info

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EA Researcher Svyatoslav Kotusev has put a presentation online with his takedown of Enterprise Architecture framework #TOGAF. https://lnkd.in/e-qDSH3G Recognisable. We've been making comparable observations about TOGAF. His historical research on the origins I have always found very enlightening (and entertaining if you're in this field) and I'm glad this is now available in presentation form. I have used his analysis (from the appendix of his book) once also in an EA workshop-style setup (with attribution of course). That workshop was called "Enterprise Architecture without a formal framework", by the way. It is still true that there are consultants around selling this TOGAF illusion at some shallow level to executives and beginning digital architects. There is a good reason this works: the idea is as seductive as it is wrong. (Note: these days, as Svyatoslav observes too, TOGAF is so ambiguous that it's often 'not even wrong') What would be really good if people could simply download the whole story that is in the appendix of his book. That would enable spreading that analysis far and wide even more, and the full story is a good read. (Except where I think generally 'evil' is not really a big factor cf. Bonhoeffer and others: people promoting TOGAF tend to honestly believe in that stuff, is my impression. But that is a minor disagreement.) One of the nice things about TOGAF is that it is a nice shorthand for 'stay away'. E.g. if job descriptions ask for it, you know there is a good chance you'll end up in some sort of non-functional architecture setup based on a non-working planning approach for executives who have no clue (nor are interested in getting a clue). It's not 100% certain, job descriptions tend also to tick some meaningless boxes, leftovers carried forward for ages. (Appropriate, that observation, now that I think of it).

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In this episode of Dynamics Corner, Kristoffer and I are joined by MVP Stefan Šošić as we explore Microsoft Business Central. Stefan shares valuable insights on performance tips and tricks for both developers and users, emphasizing the importance of understanding both the technical and functional aspects of the platform. Beyond the technical discussions, we are reminded that there's more to life than just business. Tune in to the full episode for a blend of professional wisdom and personal stories that inspire and uplift. #msdyn365bc #businesscentral

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