The Business Case for Enterprise Architecture
In an era of constant transformation, having an intentional enterprise architecture (EA) practice is no longer optional. EA is a strategic capability that enables organisations to align business and IT, enhance agility, improve decision-making, and reduce waste¹. But for many, the question remains:
→ What is the business case for EA?
The answer requires clarity about EA, what it is not, and how it creates value. It also requires understanding the organisational context.
What EA is (and is NOT)
In a previous LinkedIn post, I shared perspectives on EA, referencing the Schools of Thought and various industry definitions².
There are a few hundred definitions and perspectives on EA and probably a thousand more opinions. This article will not go into that debate. However, to define a business case for EA, you have to define your perspective on EA based on your context. Without this clarity, there can be no credible business case.
Enterprise Architecture is not a tool or a framework. It is also not a panacea. EA does not solve problems independently; it enables value through context-dependent mechanisms such as decision quality, platform alignment, and strategic clarity³. The real value lies in what it helps the enterprise do, not in the models it produces.
Frameworks like TOGAF or tools support EA work but are not EA itself. A framework is a map, not the terrain. EA, and to a larger extent, Enterprise Design, is the discipline of designing the enterprise for coherence, adaptability, and value.
EA Benefits
A compelling business case must link architecture to business outcomes. Here are five dimensions where EA creates strategic value:
Foresight and Risk Management: EA supports scenario planning, identifies critical dependencies, and provides traceability to manage risk, ensure compliance, and build enterprise resilience.
Strategic Benefits: EA aligns technology investments with business goals. It clarifies accountability, improves strategic planning, and supports governance. EA practitioners connect strategy to execution.
Economic Benefits: EA identifies redundancies, enables reuse, and cuts costs by simplifying systems, standardising platforms, and optimising resources.
Transformational Impact: EA accelerates digital transformation. It supports innovation and agile delivery by creating structural clarity and reducing complexity.
Operational Efficiency: EA fosters collaboration, reduces duplication, and improves the execution of change by creating a shared understanding of capabilities, systems, and dependencies.
How EA Enables These Benefits
EA delivers value not just through models or diagrams but through the mechanisms it enables:
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: EA increases initiatives' coordination, reduces team friction, and enables faster execution. The best architects are connectors, collaborating proactively across departments and connecting strategy and execution.
Capability Mapping and Roadmapping: EA enables the enterprise to connect business needs to technology investments. This could be done by architecting digital platforms to enable capabilities and monitoring emerging technology.
Architectural Governance: EA provides structure, transparency, and traceability for high-impact business and technology decisions⁴. Enterprise Architects are decision professionals⁵ and provide governance through architecture review processes, reference architectures, and standards.
EA must be adapted to the organisation’s culture, operating model, and maturity level to realise these benefits⁶. EA in a multinational enterprise will differ from that of a non-profit, government agency, or start-up company.
Why EA Value is Hard to Measure
Value realisation is where EA shines. However, EA's value is often indirect, realised through the success of the initiatives it enables rather than as a standalone function. EA is a strategic advisory function. Hence, its impact lies in enabling the right choices, avoiding duplication, and ensuring investments deliver value⁷.
Many of EA’s benefits are intangible. They appear through improved decision speed, more substantial risk anticipation, and more coherent execution. These are not direct outputs but signals of enhanced enterprise performance.
To evaluate EA effectively, executives should monitor:
Time-to-decision and time-to-execution
Reduction in technical and organisational complexity
Reuse of capabilities, platforms, and processes
Consistency and traceability across change initiatives
There are various methods from research for defining and analysing key EA performance metrics⁸. One useful approach for assessing EA value, which I highlighted at The Open Group Conference in 2018, is the Enterprise Architecture Value Framework (EAVF)⁹, developed by Henk Plessius and colleagues.
Final Thought
Enterprise Architecture is not a cost centre. It is a strategic enabler when done right.
It reduces complexity and enables coherent decision-making, and arguably, the most essential value is that it accelerates transformation in today's intelligent age.
And in a volatile world, it gives organisations what they need most:
→ The ability to change.
But only when applied with clarity, embedded into decision-making, and adapted to context.
Further Reading
Strategy&. (2009). Building value through enterprise architecture. PwC. https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/gx/en/insights/archive/building-value-through-enterprise-architecture/strategyand-building-value-through-enterprise-architecture.pdf
Ugwu, K., (2024) https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kainepro_enterprise-architecture-has-160-definitionsand-activity-7267137565923622912-0k4N
Tiitinen, S., Nurmi, J., & Seppänen, V. (2024). Enterprise Architecture Management value creation mechanisms. CEUR Workshop Proceedings. https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3804/paper1.pdf
The Open Group. (2025). The purpose of enterprise architecture. https://pubs.opengroup.org/togaf-standard/adm-practitioners/adm-practitioners_3.html
Zachman International. (2023). Enterprise Architects are decision professionals! https://zachman-feac.com/resources/blog/enterprise-architects-are-decision-professionals
BCS Enterprise Architecture Specialist Group. (2022). Maximising the value proposition of EA with cultural change. https://www.bcs.org/media/9755/ea-culture-aaqartit-kdamianakis.pdf
Niemi, E., & Pekkola, S. (2017). Understanding Enterprise Architecture Benefit Realization. Coala Oy. https://coala.fi/files/Niemi_1426.pdf
Cutter Consortium. (2015). Methods for Defining and Analyzing Key EA Performance Metrics. https://www.cutter.com/sites/default/files/architecture/fulltext/reports/2015/02/index/ear1502.pdf
Plessius, H., Van Steenbergen, M., Slot, R., & Versendaal, J. (2018). The Enterprise Architecture Value Framework. AIS eLibrary. https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2018_rip/48
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