The New Face of Digital Transformation: Enterprise Architects

Case Studies Presented at #EAConnectDay Show How to Accomplish Radical Digital Transformation in Just Weeks

Boston MA – May 21, 2020 - LeanIX, a provider of Software-as-a-Service solutions in Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM), concluded its 9th global #EAConnectDay conference which revealed a modern breed of Enterprise Architects (EAs) becoming the new ‘face’ of digital transformation.

More than 1,700+ business executives and IT professionals registered for the #EAConnectDay virtual event to witness how companies from sectors as diverse as manufacturing and software to government successfully implemented their digital transformation programs, some of them in just weeks.

The companies presenting their digital transformation best practices included Apptio, Atlassian, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Ernst & Young, LeanIX, Lucidchart, Otis, and Vale Industries. The common thread among all these companies was that an Enterprise Architect executive within their IT departments drove the successful transformation programs.

Examples of EA-led transformation initiatives included:

Global mining and manufacturing company Vale Industries showed how they used Enterprise Architecture practices to keep their global supply chains running during the Covid-19 pandemic closures. Their digital transformation efforts included:

• Standardizing software applications and IT processes throughout the supply chain;
• Innovation Hubs for design thinking and collaboration, and Digital Labs for prototyping; 
• Dev Centers to quickly develop a suite of 20 applications for its 150,000 IT employees to maintain continuous supply chain operations.

In the past, such agility and collaboration were blocked by silos, but introducing Enterprise Architects within its business lines democratized data and simplified governance.

Software developer Atlassian, makers of Jira, Confluence, and many other well-known applications, uses Enterprise Architecture to streamline its M&A practice. Having acquired 14 companies to-date, Atlassian’s EA has a goal to integrate the IT systems from acquired companies and realize the full IT value of acquisitions in just 3 months. Using EA best practices, all newly acquired IT applications are now roadmapped by day 14, and full IT value from each M&A deal is realized by day 90.

Global consultant Ernst & Young, LLP shared the strategic use of Enterprise Architects within its government consulting practice. As nearly every government on the planet is currently engaged in some form of a transformation project to digitize their government operations during shelter-in-place, EAs are leading the design and visualization transformation strategies to get stakeholder buy-in, and then documenting the roadmaps to implement those visions.

167-year-old Otis was spun out from United Technologies Corp and given 5 weeks to stand up an independent IT organization -- all during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Otis’ sole Enterprise Architect executive used LeanIX’s EA technology platform and services to crowd-source data about the company’s 900+ applications, clone-and-purge all data relevant to Otis, and develop a business-aligned technology roadmap to be operational as a separate company -- in just 10 days!

“The new face of digital transformation is your Enterprise Architect,” said André Christ, CEO and Co-founder at LeanIX. “Not every enterprise has a dedicated EA executive yet, but I predict that after the recent pandemic experiences -- and how successfully EAs were able to guide rapid transformation initiatives -- we’ll be seeing many more of them in the near future. In the case studies we saw presented at EA Connect Day, these EAs are literally the superstars in the modern, agile, and data-driven IT department.”

The IT industry’s next #EAConnectDay will take place on September 2-3, 2020, structured as a global ‘hybrid’ event co-located both online and on location in Bonn, Germany. A call-for-papers is open now, seeking more examples of EA superstar stories in digital transformation.

About LeanIX:

LeanIX offers a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application for driving Enterprise Architecture and Cloud Governance, enabling companies to accelerate their IT transformation. From on-premises to cloud native and microservices, architecture teams using LeanIX have the power to strategically support their business and take decisions faster. More than 270 global brands including Volkswagen, adidas, Bosch, DHL, Santander, Atlassian, and Zalando rely on LeanIX to improve transparency, visibility, and drive real-time efficiencies. LeanIX addresses IT’s critical need to ensure high-quality, real-time data is accessible to stakeholders whenever needed. Use cases include Cloud Governance, Application Portfolio Management, and Technology Risk Management. LeanIX was founded in 2012 by Jörg Beyer and André Christ. The company is headquartered in Bonn, Germany, with U.S. headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and an office in Hyderabad, India.

To learn more about LeanIX, visit www.leanix.net, @leanix_net on Twitter, and https://www.linkedin.com/company/leanix-gmbh on LinkedIn.