BizzDesign Staff

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>One of the main challenges for business model innovation and business model implementation is communication. We need to get the message to the right people in a way they understand, that they like and that they can move forward with.</span></p><p>We introduced the <a title=”Blog: Business Models: Do the right thing” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/business-models-do-the-right-thing/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>Business Model Canvas</a> (Osterwalder, 2009) as a useful tool for describing how a business creates, delivers and captures  value. We described how to apply it in practice and how analyzing the model helps you answering several questions regarding whether and how your organization is, or will be, viable and valuable. In this posting, we will describe different ways of communicating business models. Several ways of presenting will be described, addressing different goals regarding the communication of your business model.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>We re-use the case of a coffee-cup company, called Nextpresso  that we introduced in aour earlier posting on </span><a style=”line-height: 19px;” title=”Blog: Business Models: Do the right thing” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/business-model-analysis-with-the-business-model-canvas/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>Business Model Analysis</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>. We will present several possibilities for presenting business models using the tool </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Tool for business model canvas creation” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/tools/business-model-canvas-module/#Business model canvas software”>BiZZdesign Business Model Canvas Software Tool</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>. Using a tool for Business Modelling is useful since the model  is created and stored in a central place, reducing the risk of miscommunication and maximizing the effect of collaboration. Furthermore, communication is made easier through publication functions (html, word, pdf-posters), making the business model better accessible.</span></p><h3>Stakeholders, views and viewpoints</h3><p>There are various questions to ask yourself before you start communicating about a business model. Of course you need to understand your stakeholders, preferably in person, so you know their preferences. If you do not know your intended stakeholder in person, it’s always harder to make an engaging view. Do what you can to understand their role and what is typically in focus for this role. An important challenge is to leave out unnecessary details and make it simple…</p><p>Obviously, what you present in the business model itself may vary. For instance leave out or add details or use coloring to distinguish AS-IS from TO-BE elements. You may want to select only some elements to show and zoom in on the relations between two or three parts of the business model. Another option is to present certain analyses, as we refer to in our posting on <a style=”font-size: 10.909090995788574px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Blog: Business Models: Do the right thing” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/business-model-analysis-with-the-business-model-canvas/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>Business Model Analysis</a>.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>The two most important communication questions of all:</span></p><p>-        <strong><em><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>What is my communication goal?</span></em></strong></p><p>-        <strong><em><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>What will make the most sense to my audience? </span></em></strong></p><p><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”solve complex problems with simple pictures” href=”http://www.thebackofthenapkin.com/”>Dan Roam</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>’s so called </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”back of the napkin the book” href=”http://www.danroam.com/the-back-of-the-napkin/”>SQVID-exercise</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> (click on “5 focusing questions”) is a simple tool that helps you to make decisions on this!</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Communication to various stakeholders in your organization requires view mechanisms and various presentation options. Most of the 7 ways to present your Business Model, are generated with BiZZdesign software.</span></p><h2><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>7 ways to present your business model</span><em style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </em></h2><h3>1.     Business Model as art</h3><p>If your idea is great, it has to look great. If you want to go to an Angel Investor or want to convince your first customer, everything you can do to impress them should be done. You never get a second change to make a first impression. Graphical work or drawings are a great way to make more happening then just your content on post-its would have done.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>First you make a business model and decide what is your goal and target audience. Second your go out and find yourself a great artist with a good sense for business. Her will make a prototype that you test with one person of your target audience.  If they like it, you finalize. Make it look exclusive and don’t make too many copies. It’s art! Be aware that aiming for the best looking model can be time consuming.</p><p><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Example</span></strong></p><p><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”> </span></strong></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Business-model-communication-art.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Communication” title=”Business Canvas Pepijn Barnard” width=”600″ height=”588″/><p class=”caption”>Business Model Canvas illustration <span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; font-weight: normal;”>(by </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; font-weight: normal;” title=”Business Model Canvas” href=”http://www.pepijnbarnard.nl/102838/588757/illustration/business-model-canvas”>Pepijn Barnard</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; font-weight: normal;”>)</span></p></strong></div><p><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </strong></p><p> </p><p>Another graphical approach can be found here (in Dutch). Sketching and drawing also can be a good way to represent your business model. <a title=”Business Model Canvas Nespresso” href=”http://businessmodelsinc.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/nespresso_businnes_model.png”>This drawing</a> looks very similar to our Nextpresso example. <a title=”Business Model Canvas Amazon” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_NS021FqASSU/SoQDzijbZTI/AAAAAAAAAGE/rDqyeTwFVgo/s1600-h/Sellaband_Business_Model.png”>This</a> one is quite busy, but holds a lot of information.</p><h3>2.     Posters</h3><p><em>Pdf-posters</em> do very well in hallways and your office. It will be inviting to react on such a poster and it fosters discussions. Posters are very useful in ‘proclaiming the gospel’ and generate ideas on how to create new gospels.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 440px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Business-model-communication-pdf-poster.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Communication PDF Poster” title=”Business Canvas Pepijn Barnard” width=”440″ height=”315″/><p class=”caption”>Communication about your business model canvas by creating a poster</p></div><p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>Looks are everything! Presenting your business model in a beautiful design makes it inviting to look at – and react upon. Therefore, make sure to use clear statements, easy-to-read fonts and a high resolution. After looks, speed is a good second. Generating the poster right after the high-energy workshop session keeps everybody enthusiastic. Location is key! Hang the poster close to those that made it, since you might want to explain elements or give some guidance to discussions that pop-up in front of the poster.</p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>3.     Pitch presentation</span></p><p><em>Output using dynamic export to .ppt</em> enables you to present your model and take your audience through the story from customer problem, via value proposition and revenue streams to key activities, resources, partners and costs.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600455-business-model-canvas-powerpoint.JPG” alt=”Business model canvas powerpoint” title=”You can export your business model canvas as a Powerpoint format” width=”600″ height=”455″/><p class=”caption”>Business model canvas exported to Powerpoint</p></div><p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>After exporting your business model to a PowerPoint-presentation, you can customize the lay-out of your slide-deck. Use the house style of your company (to-be). Try using the endless possibilities in PowerPoint to substantiate your story and the point you want to make. <a title=”Ted talk Simon Sinek” href=”http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.htmll”>Start with why!</a> In the customer problem lies the reason you exist.</p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>4.     Simple cut and paste</span></p><p>By inserting a representation in documents or presentation in software like MS office tools, you can present (parts of) your Business Model Canvas in other documentation to clarify your message, substantiate choices or share and generate ideas.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>Typically in a business plans a business model is expected. Also in project plans a business model will clarify the context. We advise not to trough the canvas direct in your audience’s face, but build it up, step by step.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Example</span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>: </span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>You know </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Wikipedia: cut-copy-past” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut,_copy,_and_paste”>crtl-c, ctrl-v</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>…. we don’t think that this needs an example.</span></p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>5.     Intranet pages</span></p><p><em>Output in html</em> is suitable for communicating your business model via the public company website, intranet, etc. Via intranet, employees have easy-access to the fundamental aspects of their organization.  Partner with whom you collaborate on realizing your business model can als o be a potential target audience. A benefit is that you audience will only see those details, that they are interested in, by simply clicking on the boxes.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600316-Business-model-communication-html-output.png” alt=”Business model canvas in HTML” title=”How you can export your business model canvas as a HTML format” width=”600″ height=”316″/><p class=”caption”>Business model canvas settings for export to HTML</p></div></div><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600320-business-model-canvas-HTML-report.JPG” alt=”Business model canvas in HTML” title=”You can export your business model canvas as a HTML format” width=”600″ height=”320″/><p class=”caption”>Business model canvas exported to HTML</p></div><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>Before generating an HTML-report, think about the goal of your report. What should your report consist of? What will your starting page look like? A cascading stylesheet helps to simply generate a intranet page in your companies house style.</p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>6.     Word-reports</span></p><p><em>Generating an RTF-report for MS Word</em>, to present models that contain a lot of  information, in which the documentation of the model is included in the report. Presenting the canvas itself is in most cases sufficient. However, when a lot of documentation is used to substantiate choices, this function is very useful for communicating this rationale behind your business model.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600315-Business-model-communication-link.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Communication PDF Poster” title=”Business Model Canvas RTF report” width=”600″ height=”315″/><p class=”caption”>Communication about your business model canvas by creating a RTF report</p></div><p><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Approach </span></p><p>We advise A3 landscape to present canvas models to keep element readable. After generating an RTF report for MS Word, it is important to customize the report.  The documentation is reported in tables, intended to improve the readability and analyzability of the business model and it’s documentation. Make sure this will be the case for your model, since big models come with big communication challenges! As for HTML-reporting, several settings can be adjusted in the BiZZdesign Business Model Canvas tool. </p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>7.     Implementation view e.g. using ArchiMate 2.0</span></p><p>A business model typically is a starting point for implementation. Implementations are about finding the first customer, pivoting the model  and eventually get your processes and supporting IT in place. <a title=”Consultancy Enterprise Architecture” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/enterprise-architecture-management/eam-consultancy/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>Enterprise Architecture</a> is a proven instrument to help you in this journey. Transforming the ‘post-its’ in your Business Model Canvas into implementation concepts, e.g. using <a title=”ArchiMate for Enterprise Architecture” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/enterprise-architecture-management/archimate/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>ArchiMate 2.0</a>, will help you translate your value propositions (and the way you intend to deliver these propositions to your customers) into your architecture models. The generated concepts can be added to your architecture repository and used to build roadmaps that will guide you from your AS-IS state, to your TO-BE state. BiZZdesign Business Model Canvas Software offers the possibility to generate architecture models from your business models and keeps track of relations and changes. Typically Enterprise Architects, Business Architects and project managers are interested in these views.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Approach</span></p><p>There is a standard mapping between canvas concepts and architecture concepts. You might want to adjust this by choosing from the concepts that your company has agreed to use, for instance in conventions. You can adjust the ‘implementation concept’ per ‘post-it’. Then you simply generate a set of architecture concepts (processes, applications, business interfaces, actors) that will form the basis for the implementation models.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px; text-decoration: underline;”>Example:</span></p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600442-business-model-canvas-example.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Communication PDF Poster” title=”Business Model Canvas Example” width=”600″ height=”442″/><p class=”caption”>Communication about your business model canvas by creating a RTF report</p></div><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; word-spacing: 1px;”> </span></p><h2>Conclusions and next steps</h2><p>We described multiple ways to present a Business Model. Presenting your business model can foster discussions and improves the exchange of ideas. It is important to have everybody on the same page, before you go into implementation mode. Referring back to your original idea is of key importance. The artistic approach is great, but time consuming. Tooling is a useful aid in communicating your business model, making all kinds of communication and views easy. Feel free to share in your thoughts and suggestions on alternative presentations from your practice.</p><p>BiZZdesign organizes<a title=”Training Business Models” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/training/business-model-management/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”> training on Business Model Innovation</a> in London (UK), Brussels (BE) and Amersfoort (NL – <a title=”BiZZdesign the Netherlands” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.nl/training/business-model-management/”>see our Dutch website</a>). More about BiZZdesign’s Business Model Management services and a reference to recent webinars on this subject can be found <a href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/business-model-management/bmm-consultancy/#Do the right thing vs doing the things right”>here</a>.</p>

<p>Implementing Enterprise Architecture in any organization requires an effective method and a consistent way of modeling to build architecture models. The Open Group standards <a title=”proven, comprehensive and generic methodology and framework” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/enterprise-architecture-management/togaf/#The Open Group Architecture Framework”>TOGAF</a>® and <a title=”open modeling language for architects to model and communicate Enterprise Architecture” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/enterprise-architecture-management/archimate/#Architects need a unified framework to describe enterprise architectures”>ArchiMate</a>®  are used worldwide to implement Enterprise Architecture. TOGAF® focuses on the method of implementing and maintaining Enterprise Architecture. ArchiMate® is an Enterprise Architecture modeling language standard. A lot of organizations in various markets worldwide use (a a combination of) these standards.</p><p>On <strong>28-March-2013</strong> I will present a webinar via <a title=”Leading the development of open, vendor-neutral IT standards and certifications” href=”http://www.opengroup.org”>The Open Group</a> in which I will give an overview of some real-life case experiences in using ArchiMate® and TOGAF® for implementing Enterprise Architecture. The approach, deliverables and examples of the several case studies will be shared. Furthermore, practical do’s and don’ts in adopting ArchiMate® and TOGAF® will be discussed. Attendees of this webinar will benefit from the lessons learned, and will learn which aspects are typically important to consider when implementing Enterprise Architecture in any organization.</p><p><a title=”Register for this webinar” href=”https://opengroupevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/enroll/join.do?confViewID=1003593497&amp;theAction=detail&amp;confId=1003593497&amp;path=program_detail&amp;siteurl=opengroupevents”>Registration details</a> for this webinar can be found on the Open Group website.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600255-Togaf-archimate-repository-reference-models.png” alt=”Togaf archimate repository reference models” title=”During the webinar Rob Kroese will explain TOGAF and archiMate” width=”600″ height=”255″/><p class=”caption”>ArchiMate® and TOGAF®</p></div>

<p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Let us suppose you work in an organization that needs improvement or change. You are a member of staff whose task is to support this. Perhaps you are a business consultant, a process designer or an architect. Some strategic decisions have been made and you and your colleagues are contributing the best you can. Doing analyses, making designs, supporting members of business management. The last few years your staff team has invested and improved significantly on </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Training enterprise architecture, training business process management” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/training/”>knowledge, methods</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> and </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Professional software tools are crucial for effective and efficient design, analyse and improvement of organisations” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/tools/”>tooling</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>. You have already been working hard on a coherent set of models (architecture, process, business objects?) as a basis for designing the business solutions required.</span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 246px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Business-Design.png” alt=”Business Design” title=”A solid business design is the start of ” width=”246″ height=”205″/><p class=”caption”>Creating a design for your business</p></div><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>In some cases this is enough for successfully facilitating business change. Indeed getting a grip on change in today’s increasingly complex business reality requires professional methods, tools and knowledge. Obviously, a thought-through business solution is a fundament for many successful business improvements.</span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><p>In other cases solid business design work is just not enough. When you come to think of it: <em>why do you still see so many business change projects fail? And why is your serious design function in practice not always taken so seriously? And why is there a number of your good staff colleagues who are not happy or even frustrated with the impact of their work?<span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></em></p><p><em><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></em></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 210px;”><em><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Solid-business-design.gif.png” alt=”Solid Business Design” title=”Sometimes business design is not enough” width=”210″ height=”140″/><p class=”caption”>Getting grip on business change</p></em></div><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>If you recognize this and find the questions above relevant, please join me in this series of blogs. I have noticed it is often not a lack of analysis or design capabilities that stands in the way of success. I have also experienced that supporting a business manager is often about everything </span><em style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>but</em><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> the content of the business problem. It is about context, perspective, about </span><em style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>how </em><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>a solution is developed, soft skills, stakes, ownership etcetera. I personally like to call this phenomena the ‘</span><em style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>content paradox</em><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>’. It’s influence on bottom-line results can be huge – and that interest me. These ‘other’, sometimes less-tangible, but everyday aspects might also be of interest to you in becoming more effective. In this blog series I intend to share some of my thoughts and experiences on this. The word cloud below gives a sneak preview of the concepts I expect to touch upon.</span></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600386-Blog-cloud-Alex-Hendriks-BiZZdesign2.png” alt=”Word cloud Alex Hendriks” title=”Alex Hendriks will write about these topics in following blogs” width=”600″ height=”386″/><p class=”caption”>Blog word cloud Alex Hendriks</p></div><p>So what is your personal top-3 of answers to my ‘<em>why-questions</em>’ above?</p><p>Please share your ideas on this with me at <a title=”E-mail Alex” href=”mailto:a.hendriks@bizzdesign.com”>a.hendriks@bizzdesign.com</a>, or leave a comment. In my next post I will discuss an innovative technique for staff teams to take on their client’s perspective.</p>

<p style=”line-height: 18.99147605895996px;”><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>As BPM, BA or EA professional, you help to optimize implementation of change and operations. Your focus is: </span><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Doing the things right!”.</strong></p><p style=”line-height: 18.99147605895996px;”>Today we see clients struggle with the question: “<strong><a title=”Blog: Business Models: Do the right thing” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/business-models-do-the-right-thing/”>Are we doing the right things</a>?” </strong>Your customers, partners and competition demand that flexibility is the standard. Innovation of who you are, what markets you are in and how you make money in these markets become relevant issues! It is time to reinvent your business model! Relate your communication and implementation work to a common view of your current and future business models.</p><p style=”line-height: 18.99147605895996px;”>In this energetic <a title=”Blog: Business Models: Do the right thing” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/about-bizzdesign/events/business-model-innovation”>one hour webinar</a> we present the following topics:</p><ul><li>Business Model Canvas</li><li>Innovation</li><li>Relations to Enterprise Architecture, BPM and Business Analysis</li></ul><div><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 411px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Doing-the-right-things-vs-doing-the-things-right.png” alt=”Doing the things right vs doing the things right” title=”Is it time to reinvent your business model?” width=”411″ height=”309″/><p class=”caption”>Business Model innovation webinar</p></div></div><p style=”line-height: 18.99147605895996px;”><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>This webinar about Business Model Innovation will take place at the 19th of march at 17:00 (CET) and is set-up by BiZZdesign North America, but can be attended by people worldwide. </span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>For more details about this webinar and registration, please send an email to <a title=”E-mail Ericka” href=”mailto:e.aguilera@bizzdesign.com”>Ericka Aguilera</a></span><a style=”margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;” title=”BiZZdesign North America” href=”mailto:e.aguilera@bizzdesign.com” target=”_blank”>, </a><a title=”BiZZdesign office North-America” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/contact/north-america/#BiZZdesign North-America”>BiZZdesign North-America</a></p><p style=”line-height: 18.99147605895996px;”>More <a title=”Blogs by Remco Blom and Tim Vehof” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/serviceline/business-model-management”>blogs about Business Model Management</a> can be found here!</p>

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>In this 9th posting we will cover the topic of using consultants in your Enterprise Architecture practice. This may seem like a strange topic to address. After all, we do offer consultancy, so </span><em style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>of course</em><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> we can help. That’s our job. There is more to be said about this topic, though, especially in the context of enterprise architecture.</span></p><p></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600375-Roadmap-for-success-Consultancy.png” alt=”Part 9. Consultancy” title=”Roadmap for succes part 9: consultancy” width=”600″ height=”375″/><p class=”caption”>Consultancy for Enterprise Architecture</p></div><h2>What Enterprise Architecture is all about</h2><p>In our view, enterprise architecture is all about answering the question: how do we want to organize ourselves? It is a conceptual tool that helps you to get from where you are, to where you want to be. As a discipline, we frequently make use of <em>models</em> that describe – with respect to a set of concerns from a stakeholder – where we are, and/or where we want to go.</p><p>All of this requires an organization to answer some tough questions: who are we? Who do we want to be?</p><p></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 400px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Consultancy-face-the-reality.png” alt=”Facing reallity ” title=”Consultancy is facing reality” width=”400″ height=”364″/><p class=”caption”>Facing reality</p></div><p>As most of us know, looking in the mirror can be really hard. It is tempting to only see the good things. Not only that, there’s more that must be taken into account. For example: the principle of bounded rationality (Simon) comes into play when taking into account that we just cannot know everything and thus outside help may be needed. The same goes for group-think: it is a well-known fact that in many organizations the desire for harmony overrides the realistic view of a situation leading to a very slanted perspective of the real world. This typically tends to hamper decision making. Again, consultants may help by providing a fresh pair of eyes.</p><h2>New developments in the market</h2><p>Enterprise Architecture is a relatively young (management) discipline, and we see a lot of development in the field still. It sometimes seems that new (versions of) frameworks and approaches are published every week. A new trend, though, is the publication of case studies, filled with best practices, suggestions for aligning with other frameworks (data management, risk management, security, strategic management, project management and so on).</p><p>Staying up to speed with development in the field is hard and requires time. In our experience: consultants are often asked because of their extensive experience with frameworks and approaches, and therefore have more incentive to stay up to speed.</p><h2>Level of involvement</h2><p>Whether you are requesting help from consultants to avoid / break through the limits of bounded rationality or group think, or because you need specific expertise not available in your organization: stop to think about the level of involvement that you need.</p><p>One thing seems obvious: since architecture touches upon the essence of your organization it makes sense to avoid a situation where consultants are <em>responsible</em> and <em>accountable</em> for your architecture, unless you really know what you’re doing.</p><p>In general, consultants should do what their name says: consult. Give advice. Train. Tutor. Coach. Ultimately, the organization hiring the consultant should remain in charge of their own destiny, after all!</p><h2>Next posting</h2><p>If you’d like to know more, please contact the authors directly at <a title=”E-mail Bas van Gils” href=”mailto:b.vangils@bizzdesign.com”>b.vangils@bizzdesign.com</a> / <a title=”E-mail Sven van Dijk” href=”mailto:s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com”>s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com</a>, or leave a comment. The next post in this series is about using architecture principles and models. It is scheduled to be posted in between 25^th and the 29^th of march. </p>

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>In an earlier blogpost </span><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>we described the issue of ‘doing the things right’ vs. ‘doing the right things’. In that blogpost we introduced the </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” title=”Blog ‘Business Models: Do the right thing'” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/business-models-do-the-right-thing/”>Business Model Canvas</a><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> (Osterwalder, 2009) as a useful tool for describing how a business creates, delivers and captures value.</span></p><p>In this posting, we will elaborate on Business Models, introducing the subject of Business Model Analysis. We will describe the rationale for doing analyses and present different possible techniques using the case of Nextpresso, a virtual coffee-cup company. The example model is included, in a trial version of our software. Download the trail version of the <a title=”Business Model Module” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/tools/business-model-canvas-module/”>BiZZdesign Business Model Canvas Software</a> to learn more about this Tool.</p><h2><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;”>Business Model Analysis</span></h2><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><p>Analysis of business models answers questions concerning why and how a venture is, or will be, viable and valuable; After completing a Business Model Canvas for a current or future business Model, designers have questions such as:</p><ul><li>Where are our revenues coming from? </li><li>What value is delivered to which markets? </li><li>What costs are involved in delivering that value? </li><li>Are our perceived key activities and key resources as important for gaining revenues as we think they are? </li><li>If we change our model in a specific way, what are the effects?</li></ul><p>This requires insight in the elements of the business model, attributes of the elements and the relations between different elements. Results from analysing these elements, attributes and relations become the foundation for business model change and innovation in an organization. When conducting analysis on a business model, there are different perspectives to start from. In our example, each possibility for an analysis is done from a different perspective, answering a specific question.</p><h3>Case and tool introduction</h3><p>In this blog we will present different possibilities for analysis on the Business Model Canvas for a virtual coffee-cup company, Nextpresso. The Nextpresso machines brew espresso from coffee capsules, a type of pre-apportioned single-use aluminium container of roasted coffee with a variety of flavours. Nextpresso initially operates in the Dutch coffee market and intends to “cuppify” the traditional coffee world from there.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>We will present several possibilities for analysis using the <a title=”Business Model Canvas tool” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/tools/business-model-canvas-module/”>BiZZdesign Business Model Canvas Software Tool</a></span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>. Using a tool for Business Modelling is useful since the model is created and stored in a central place, reducing the risk of miscommunication and maximizing the effect of collaboration. Furthermore, communication is made easier through publication functions (html, word, pdf-posters), making the business model better accessible. Needless to say, this is quite important for models that describe how your company creates value. Especially in the case of Business Model Analysis, tooling can help identifying strengths and weaknesses through relating building blocks, and providing insight in cash flows by calculations. Finally, tools help you to work your way “downstream” from your high level business model, to more detailed implementation views e.g. process models, customer journey maps and enterprise architecture models.</span></p><h3>Business Model Canvas for ‘Nextpresso’</h3><p>The Canvas below presents the current business model of Nextpresso. As said, Nextpresso is a coffee-cup company, providing “Great espresso experiences at home and at the office”.</p><p><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600476-Business-model-canvas-for-Nextpresso.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”600″ height=”476″/></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><p class=”caption”>Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><h2><span style=”font-size: 1em; line-height: 19px;”>Comparison of business models</span></h2><p>If we enter a new market, how will this affect our revenues? If we stop providing certain services, will we decrease our costs? Why is the model of our competitor more successful than our model? Comparing different business models is useful in addressing such questions. The Nextpresso case provides a good example of such an analysis:</p><p><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600449-Business-model-canvas-for-Nextpresso-new.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”600″ height=”449″/></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><p class=”caption”>New Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>The Canvas represents the business model of Nextpresso according to the situation before the value proposition ‘Great espresso experience at the office’ was added. At first Nextpresso provided machines and cups for households only. One can see the differences in Customer Segments, Channels, Customer Relationships and Revenue Streams. When elements from the other business model would have been removed, one should have these elements indicated with red. While knowing these differences, Nextpresso can calculate the differences in revenues and costs before and after this change. In the next example, we will present an example of calculating these costs and revenues.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Typical usage of business model comparison addresses questions regarding GAP-analyses (difference between as-is and to-be models), analyses on optional changes to a business model and comparison of alternative business models for the future. (Note: the feature to compare business models canvasses is standard available in BiZZdesign-software from release 4.2 and up)</span></p><h2>Analyzing Revenues and costs</h2><p>What value do we deliver to which markets and what costs are involved in delivering that value? Where are our revenues coming from? What prices generate what sort of revenues? The ‘Costs and revenues’ function provides a useful way of addressing these questions. Organizations get a simple and clear oversight in the size of the markets they operate in, revenues per revenue stream and costs per cost structure. </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600122-Business-model-canvas-Nextpresso-cost-and-revenue.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Costs and Revenues made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas Costs and Revenues was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”600″ height=”122″/><p class=”caption”>Costs and Revenues. Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 531px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Business-model-canvas-detailled-cost-structure.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas detailled costs structure made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas detailled costs structure was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”531″ height=”278″/><p class=”caption”>Detailled costs structure. Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>For an overview of revenues and costs, specific information per Cost Structure and Revenue Stream serves as input:</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 530px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Business-model-canvas-detailled-marketing.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas marketing made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas marketing was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”530″ height=”275″/><p class=”caption”>Marketing. Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><p align=”center”><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><h2>Analyzing the customer relations</h2><p>In the Nextpresso case, management asks themselves: “Do we have different operating concepts for our segments ‘Households’, ‘Office users’ and ‘Companies’? Why? How many? Using the Customer Relations Landscape Map in BiZZdesign Architect, an answer to those questions can look like this:<span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 530px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600202-Business-model-canvas-customer-relationships-landscape-map.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas detailled marketing made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas detailled marketing was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”600″ height=”202″/><p class=”caption”>Detailled marketing. Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>If you want to know what operating concepts your organization has for different Product Market Combinations (PMCs), this Customer Relations Landscape Map can be of service. It is typically conducted by organizations operating in segmented markets, e.g. retail banking, where concepts for wealth management relations are very different from concepts for standard retail banking relations.</span></div><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”><br/></span></div></div><h2/><h2/><h2>Analyzing the channels</h2><p>If you want to analyze, in addition to standard PMCs, through what channels your value propositions are delivered to your market segments, the ‘Channels Landscape Map’ can be of service. With this matrix, organizations can get better insight in <em>how</em> they deliver value.<span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </span></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600315-Business-model-canvas-channels-landschape-map.png” alt=”Business Model Canvas Channels made for Nextpresso” title=”This Business Model Canvas channels was made for the virtual coffee-cup company Nextpresso” width=”600″ height=”315″/><p class=”caption”>Channels. Business Model Canvas Nextpresso</p></div><p> </p><p>This Channels Landscape Map may be extended by mapping the Channels on different phases a customer is in (e.g. orientation, comparison, purchase, usage, complaint)</p><h2>Presenting your business model</h2><p>Communication to various stakeholders in your organization requires view mechanisms and various presentation options. BiZZdesign Architect provides many presentation options which we will discuss in a next posting.</p><h2>Conclusions and next steps</h2><p>We described types of analysis and we zoomed in on analysing the Business Model Canvas. Analysis of business models answers the question why and how a venture is, or will be, viable and valuable. Based on questions that represent perspectives on analyzing business models, the Nextpresso case shows different possibilities for conducting analysis. Tooling is a useful aid in business model analyses, making calculations and communication easy. Feel free to share in your thoughts and suggestions on alternative analyzes from your practice.</p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>BiZZdesign organizes </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/training/business-model-management/”>training on Business Model Innovation</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> in London (UK), Brussels (BE) and Amersfoort (NL – </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.nl/training/business-model-management/”>see our Dutch website</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>). More about BiZZdesign’s Business Model Management services and a reference to recent webinars on this subject can be found </span><a style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.nl/consultancy/business-model-management/”>here</a><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>.</span></p></div></div>

<p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>February 1</span><sup style=”line-height: 19px;”>st</sup><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>, 2013: a memorable day in the Dutch banking industry. One of the “systematically important financial institutions” (SIFI) of the Netherlands, is nationalized. This happened years after the first banks were given state support or were nationalized in the aftermath of the credit crunch. The Dutch Central Bank, and the Dutch Ministry of Finance, say that it could not been done otherwise – there were no means to split the bank into a healthy part and a “bad bank”. Nationalization is the only option to prevent a financial crisis.</span></p><h2><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”><span style=”font-size: 10.909090995788574px;”>Splitting a financial institution</span></span></h2><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>The possibility of splitting a financial institution, usually in a part focused on regular retail banking , and a part aimed at investment management, has become a hot topic. Politicians and citizens alike do not accept the bail-out of troubled banks with taxpayer’s money. The Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, and the financial industry face a big challenge. “Never again”, is a phrase that has lost a bit of its meaning, but which has been said by many experts analyzing the case.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>A lot of regulation is underway to make splitting a viable option. In Europe, the <a title=”Read the report ‘High-level Expert Group on reforming the structure of the EU banking sector'” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/ http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/bank/docs/high-level_expert_group/report_en.pdf”>Liikanen Expert Group emphasized the need for banks</a> and other financial institutions to draw up and maintain effective and realistic so called “recovery and resolution plans”. The objective of such plans is to ensure the resolvability and operational continuity of critical functions of a financial institution. It should be possible to split up an institution in a couple of days (usually a weekend), to prevent awkward side-effects such as bank runs.  As we speak, the Central Banks are urging the banks to make such recovery and resolution plans (due end 2013). Splittability is a </span><em style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>conditio sine qua non</em><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> in these plans.</span></p><h2>How do we achieve splittability?</h2><p>Obviously, the notion has many aspects: financial, legal, and, last but not least, operational (which is basically everything apart from the financial and legal aspects that usually suck up all the attention). What about the processes? What about the information and the underlying data? What about the Information Technology? Just a few minor, operational details…</p><p>In the Government Committee on Restructuring the Dutch Banking Industry (commissioned by the Dutch Finance Minister, headed by professor Herman Wijffels, and a follow-up on the Liikanen Expert Group) we try to answer these questions. We acknowledge the importance of IT in the financial industry – actually, a bank is completely dependent on it. We acknowledge the importance of data, and the issues around, for instance, data quality, or security. We look at the processes and the governance of financial institutions. All to make sure, that splittability is indeed an option. To make sure that the recovery and resolution plans can be effective, if needed.</p><h2>Enterprise Architecture and <span style=”font-size: 10.909090995788574px;”>splittability</span></h2><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Maybe not surprisingly, we stress the importance of an “old friend” of the readers of this blog: <a title=”More Enterprise Architecture blogs” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/serviceline/enterprise-architecture-management”>Enterprise Architecture</a>. The only way to achieve splittability in a manner that safeguards the continuity of at least the healthy part of a bank, is to have a structured overview and a set of principles governing the bank. Enterprise Architecture provides just that.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Enterprise Architecture can also reduce the enormous amount of regulation, which is a heavy burden for the banking industry. A set of elegant principles can replace the rules, and reduce bureaucracy and complexity.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Enterprise Architecture is not new to banks. Many have invested millions in it, some for more than twenty years. What’s new, is the regained importance. An importance acknowledged by the Government and the Central Bank. This revival will bring Enterprise Architecture on the agenda of a bank’s Board of Directors – a prerequisite for the success of implementation that is still failing in many organizations.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Frank Harmsen</span></p><p><strong style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Note</strong><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>: After the release of the report of our committee, I will deliver a second blog on the role of Enterprise Architecture in the financial industry, focusing on the “specifics”.</span></p><p><span style=”font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>Prof. Dr. <a title=”Frank Harmsen on Linkedin” href=”http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/frank-harmsen/0/552/337″>Frank Harmsen</a> is an IT Strategy &amp; Governance Consultant and Professor at Maastricht University.  </span></p>

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>In this eighth posting we will cover the topic of <a title=”BiZZdesign Architect” href=”http://tools/bizzdesign-architect/”>Enterprise Architecture Tooling</a>. First we will explore the question what capabilities effective Enterprise Architecture teams need from tools, and list some characteristics that tools need to have in order to efficiently support Enterprise Architects. In the second portion of this blog we will address best practices that Enterprise Architecture teams can use to fully leverage the power of Enterprise Architecture tools.</span></p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600375-Enterprise-Architecture-Tooling.png” alt=”Enterprise Architecture Roadmap for Success Contents” title=”Enterprise Architecture Roadmap for Success:” width=”600″ height=”375″/><p class=”caption”>Enterprise Architecture Roadmap for Success: part eight; Tooling</p></div></div><h2>Many Enterprise Architecture aspects</h2><p>From <a title=”Blogs by Sven van Dijk and Bas van Gils” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/posts/bas-van-gils-and-sven-van-dijk”>previous postings</a> in this series it has become clear that Enterprise Architecture has many aspects, and that the specific set of aspects to focus on greatly depends on the approach that an organization takes with respect to Enterprise Architecture. For example more strategic aspects in a top-down approach and more operational aspects in a bottom up approach.</p><p>But in general we could state that Enterprise Architecture is always about knowledge and communication. Enterprise Architecture brings together various perspectives, enabling integrated analysis on the current and future state of the architecture of the enterprise. This results in valuable knowledge that greatly enhances decision making, whether on a strategic or more operational level. This knowledge not only needs to be efficiently managed and maintained, it also needs to be communicated to the right stakeholder at the right time, and even more importantly: in the right format. An essential aspect in Enterprise Architecture is stakeholder communication. Enterprise Architecture has a diverse audience including business and technical backgrounds, and each of the stakeholders needs to be addressed in a language that is clearly understood.</p><p>This gives us directly a number of essential qualifications for Enterprise Architecture tools: rigidity when it comes to the management and maintenance of knowledge, and flexibility when it comes to the analysis (ad-hoc, what-if, etc.), presentation and communication of the knowledge to diverse audiences.</p><p>So what you are looking for is a tool with solid repository capabilities, and flexible modeling and analysis functionality:</p><ul><li>Options to create manageable partitions of Enterprise Architecture knowledge such as models. Definition of these partitions should be flexible and fully customizable, while the tool offers functionality to make sure that integrity of the data over the various partitions is not compromised;</li><li>Management of versions, including life cycle (draft, approved, etc.), but also versions in time (current state, future state, etc.);</li><li>A metamodel that possesses just enough formality to model all aspects of the enterprise  (business, people, processes, technology) in a coherent and meaningful way, but is on the other hand flexible enough to customize and tailor to cover capturing organization specific information;</li><li>Flexible and ad-hoc modeling and analysis functionality is essential to deal with the various questions and concerns that stakeholders have regarding the Enterprise Architecture;</li><li>Reporting and communication features capable of slicing and dicing the knowledge in any way, and little restrictions on the format in which the knowledge can be presented to various audiences;</li></ul><h2>A single Enterprise Architecture tool or a set of tools that supports Enterprise Architecture?</h2><p>In the tooling business there are many vendors, some of them claiming to offer one-stop-shop Enterprise Architecture solutions. Given the diverse functionality that Enterprise Architecture needs, and the myriad of approaches organizations take on Enterprise Architecture based on their priorities, a one-size-fits-all solution does not often seem the best choice.</p><p>Take for example document management capabilities to support Enterprise Architecture governance on the one hand side, and multi-faceted ad-hoc model querying to support complex design decision making on the other hand. When trying to cover both in one tool you don’t usually get the best of the both worlds.</p><p>Often it is better to select a small number of specialized tools that can be aligned so that together they support the full spectrum of capabilities that Enterprise Architecture needs. This can sometimes be found in a “tool suite” from one vendor. But if the organization wants more flexibility to choose the best tool, they usually end up with tools that support open standards so that they can be easily aligned with other components in the organization specific Enterprise Architecture tool set.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600498-Enterprise-Architecture-Repository.png” alt=”Enterprise Architecture Repository” title=”Enterprise Repository, Architecture Repository” width=”600″ height=”498″/><p class=”caption”>Enterprise Architecture Repository</p></div></div><p><a title=”TOGAF®, The Open Group Architecture Framework, is a proven, comprehensive and generic methodology and framework.” href=”http://consultancy/enterprise-architecture-management/togaf/”>TOGAF’s </a>description and depiction of the architecture repository gives a good overview of what the architecture content is that needs to be created, managed and maintained in an enterprise architecture environment. The architecture landscape often consists of descriptions using models to express the architecture on various levels: strategic, segment, and capability. Other model content includes solution architectures in terms of building blocks, and a library with reference models. The models are based on the organization specific meta model. Other types of data in the architecture repository include architecture requirements, a library of standards, governance data and data describing the architecture capability itself.</p><p>The architecture repository is often a conceptual thing rather than a physical implementation on a single database. Often, a set of tools are in use in an organization to support various processes and management of various types of data. The tools are aligned, e.g. based on the structure suggested by TOGAF, so that together they form a complete solution supporting the Enterprise Architecture capability.</p><h2>A fool with a tool…</h2><p>In this final part of this posting we want to address the actual use of Enterprise Architecture tools. In our practice we sometimes see organizations looking for off-the-shelve solutions that “do” Enterprise Architecture for them. It may sound as an open door, but in our opinion a tool should support enterprise architects so that they don’t have to bother about simple, straightforward, and activities with an administrative character. In that way, they can focus on the real design challenges that the organization faces: the activities with which Enterprise Architecture actually adds value to the organization. Talented and intelligent enterprise architects are those who ask the right questions, and who can reduce complexity with smart models. Tools should make the life of these architects easier by being flexible, supportive, and not imposing all kinds of cumbersome activities for simple tasks. Some Enterprise Architecture tools claim to automate the intelligent design work, and that Enterprise Architecture automatically “happens” once installed on the companies’ servers. In practice this is rarely the case. Effective architecture is all about the right architect using the right tool in the right way, or as we sometimes say: a fool with a tool is a still a fool making faster disaster.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 301px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Fool-with-a-Enterprise-Architecture-Tool-.png” alt=”Enterprise Architecture Fool with a Tool” title=”Enterprise Architecture Tooling” width=”301″ height=”222″/><p class=”caption”>Enterprise Architecture Fool with a Tool</p></div><h2>Next posting</h2><p>If you’d like to know more, please contact the authors directly at <a title=”E-mail Bas van Gils” href=”mailto:b.vangils@bizzdesign.com”>b.vangils@bizzdesign.com</a> / <a title=”E-mail Sven van Dijk” href=”mailto:s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com”>s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com</a>, or leave a comment. The next post in this series is about using consultants for building Enterprise Architecture practices. It is scheduled to be posted between 11^th and 15^th of March.  </p>

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>The last few years have been tough for many organizations, especially in (the aftermath of) the global economic turmoil. Getting to grips with the complexity of doing business is increasingly important. Many of the problems that organizations struggle with have similar characteristics. Consider for example:</span></p><ul><li>Business transformation has major impact on the organization, from work floor up to (top) management, ranging from process, organization structure, data, and IT infrastructure</li><li>Various solution alternatives for business- and IT problems are available and viable. Which alternatives will we pursue?</li><li>Business Units have concerns that do not always align. Both for change projects and for business as usual we see BU’s competing to meet their own targets rather than keeping an eye on common goals</li><li>Etc.</li></ul><p>In these cases it pays off to use Enterprise Architecture methods! On<strong> 21-February-2013</strong> I will present a <a title=”Register if you would like to attent” href=”https://opengroupevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/enroll/join.do?confViewID=1003476223&amp;theAction=detail&amp;confId=1003476223&amp;path=program_detail&amp;siteurl=opengroupevents”><strong>webinar </strong></a>in which I will show how <a title=”Specification TOGAF” href=”https://opengroupevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/enroll/join.do?confViewID=1003476223&amp;theAction=detail&amp;confId=1003476223&amp;path=program_detail&amp;siteurl=opengroupevents”>TOGAF </a>and <a title=”Specification ArchiMate” href=”https://opengroupevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/enroll/join.do?confViewID=1003476223&amp;theAction=detail&amp;confId=1003476223&amp;path=program_detail&amp;siteurl=opengroupevents”>ArchiMate </a>add business value. The combination of these open standards provides organizations with a balanced approach to EA with extensive tool support. <a title=”Register if you would like to attent the webinar” href=”https://opengroupevents.webex.com/cmp0307l/webcomponents/widget/detect.do?siteurl=opengroupevents&amp;LID=1&amp;RID=2&amp;TID=11&amp;rnd=3433236763&amp;DT=60&amp;DL=nl&amp;isDetected=true&amp;backUrl=%2Fec0606l%2Feventcenter%2Fenroll%2Fjoin.do%3FconfViewID%3D1003476223%26theAction%3Ddetail%26confId%3D1003476223%26path%3Dprogram_detail%26siteurl%3Dopengroupevents”>Registration details for this webinar</a> can be found in the Open Group website. If you are interested in the slides, you can download them on the right of this page.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600437-Agenda-Webinar-TOGAF-ArchiMate-Delivering-Business-Value.png” alt=”Webinar delivering business value with TOGAF and ArchiMate” title=”During this webinar we’ll teach you how to add value to your business” width=”600″ height=”437″/><p class=”caption”>Webinar Delivering Business Value with Enterprise Architecture Using TOGAF® and ArchiMate®</p></div></div>

<p><span style=”line-height: 19px;”>T</span><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>his is the seventh posting in our “<a title=”Blog series Sven van Dijk and Bas van Gils” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/blog/posts/bas-van-gils-and-sven-van-dijk”>Enterprise Architecture Roadmap for success</a>” series. In the previous posting we started to describe actionable steps that an organization needs to take in order to set up Enterprise Architecture. We described how organizations should approach Enterprise Architecture implementation as a project, with clear and confirmed ideas on scope, leadership, budget, and planning. We mentioned the establishment of a project team that will be responsible for an effective execution of the project plans. In this posting we zoom in on some of the characteristics of an Enterprise Architecture team.</span></p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600375-Roadmap-for-succes-establish-the-team.png” alt=”Roadmap for success: Establish an Enterprise Architecture team” title=”Roadmap for success: Establish an Enterprise Architecture team” width=”600″ height=”375″/><p class=”caption”>Roadmap for success part 7: Establish an Enterprise Architecture team</p></div><p> </p><p><span style=”color: #e3004a; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 15px; word-spacing: 1px;”>Building the team</span></p><p>Implementing and evolving an Enterprise Architecture function in the organization requires a whole range of roles with specific characteristics, competences, skills, and qualifications. What the most effective team for a given situation would be depends on many factors. These factors include “hard” ones, such as organization size and structure of the organization, and available resources, but also on “soft” aspects, such as culture and “political atmosphere”. These “soft” aspects are usually established through a long tradition and history, and are thus the more tough ones to change.</p><p>Building a successful team also depends on the approach and vision for enterprise architecture that an organization pursuits. In one of the first postings of this series we described two extreme approaches: top-down and bottom-up. In a top-down approach the role of enterprise architecture is more focused on supporting high-level decision making on the strategy level. In a bottom-up approach, enterprise architecture is positioned much closer to the actual operations. In this approach Enterprise Architects role is to materialize on synergy among the numerous projects (in-flight, as well as planned) by introducing standards for processes, reference architectures, and governance. In the remainder of this posting we will describe typical Enterprise Architecture team characteristics for both approaches.</p><h2><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/_resampled/resizedimage600548-Roadmap-for-succes-build-enterprise-architecture-team.jpg” alt=”Roadmap for success: Building the team” title=”Roadmap for success: Building the team” width=”600″ height=”548″/><p class=”caption”>Building the Enterprise Architecture team</p></div></h2><h2>The top-down team</h2><p>The initiative to establish an Enterprise Architecture function that supports the organization solving the question “how should we organize ourselves” on a higher level often comes from executive levels, i.e. the CIO. The initiative is often driven by a need or feeling that the answer to this question is not yet very well understood, can be diverse and/or complex and the organization needs a multi-perspective, and creative yet structured approach to solve the puzzle. Typical situations could for example be mergers and acquisitions, or when an organization feels that more foundational changes to the business model are necessary in order to survive.</p><p>The role of enterprise architecture in this approach is to provide better insight in the organization and its high-level constituent parts in terms of people, processes/functions, and technology. Often based on high-level models, Enterprise Architecture supports the definition of the necessary change by providing impacts of suggested changes on the current organization, combines multiple perspectives such as the financial perspective,  the risk perspective, the operational perspective, the perspectives from the various areas of the business in terms of location, function, etc.</p><p>The role and position of Enterprise Architecture in this approach has a number of implications for the members of the team that is responsible for setting up the Enterprise Architecture practice. Because the scope of Enterprise Architecture in this approach is often the whole enterprise, it is an important aspect that the team has to reflect the various areas of business. For larger global organizations this means that the regions need to be represented. Or for diversified organizations, this means that the various lines of business need to be represented. Another important aspect is that members have a broad overview of the architectural landscape for their individual areas. This is why we don’t see many domain architects, such as data, application, or business process specialists on Enterprise Architecture teams in this situation. It is not easy to name typical roles in the top-down Enterprise Architecture team, but in general we could state that in the formal reporting hierarchy they are within a few steps from the CIO.</p><h2>The bottom-up team</h2><p>As we have described in one of the first postings of this series, the role and position of Enterprise Architecture in a bottom-up approach contrasts heavily with the top-down approach. In a bottom-up approach, the scope of the change is much more defined in terms of objectives and value, and also it is more clear what the architecture footprint is, i.e. the parts of the organizations on which Enterprise Architecture has an impact (provides value). Often, the Architecture Board was heavily involved in the definition of the objectives, and approach for Enterprise Architecture, now the execution of the plan will be the responsibility of the Enterprise Architecture team. In this situation the Enterprise Architecture team will often detail the approach into a working plan, and the implementation process will be governed with this working plan as starting point. The Enterprise Architecture team will frequently, often as much as every two weeks with the Architecture Board to discuss progress.</p><p>In this situation, the Enterprise Architecture team requires representation from the various functional areas within the scope of the organization. Often these areas are data, technology, security, application, etc. Important characteristics for Enterprise Architecture team members are seniority and expertise in their area, and also some history in the organization, which is important to more successfully navigate the political waters.</p><p>Although the task at hand seems much more straightforward for the bottom-up team, there are still plenty of challenges on the road. Especially the “relationship management” part of the task requires sufficient social skills. As mentioned earlier in the series, Enterprise Architecture cannot operate in isolation. Strong relationships need to be established and maintained with customers of Enterprise Architecture, in this approach e.g. mainly the project organization.</p><p></p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 387px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/BlogDocuments-2/Roadmap-for-succes-bottum-up-team.png” alt=”Roadmap for success: The top-down team” title=”Roadmap for success: The top-down team” width=”387″ height=”331″/><p class=”caption”>The top-down team</p></div><h2>Next posting</h2><p>If you’d like to know more, please contact the authors directly at <a title=”E-mail Bas van Gils” href=”mailto:b.vangils@bizzdesign.com”>b.vangils@bizzdesign.com</a> / <a title=”E-mail Sven van Dijk” href=”mailto:s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com”>s.vandijk@bizzdesign.com</a>, or leave a comment. The next post in this series covers tooling for Enterprise Architecture. It is scheduled to be posted between 25^th February and the 1^st of March. </p>

<p><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>“<a title=”Business Process Management (BPM) is a proven approach to improve your organization” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/business-process-management/”><strong>Business Process Management</strong></a></span><strong style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”> </strong><span style=”color: #505050; font-size: 11px; line-height: 19px;”>is old school; Business Analysis is the new hype”. Huh…? With all terms and hypes it is easy to get confused. If you ask five different persons to clear things up, you will probably get five different explanations. It is all about definitions. In this blog I will distinguish Business Analysis from Business Process Management. Feel free to comment on this blog!   </span></p><h2>What does Wikipedia say about Business Analysis en Business Process Management?</h2><p><em>“<a title=”Business analysis is a research discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems.” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_analysis”><strong>Business Analysis</strong></a> is the discipline of identifying business needs and determining solutions to business problems. Solutions often include a systems development component, but may also consist of process improvement, organizational change or strategic planning and policy development.” </em></p><p><em>“<a title=”Business process management (BPM) has been referred to as a &quot;holistic management&quot; approach[1] to aligning an organization’s business processes with the wants and needs of clients.” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_management”><strong>Business Process Management</strong></a> is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. Business process management attempts to improve processes continuously.”</em></p><h2>Both Business Analysis and Business Process Management are aimed at optimizing performances</h2><p>If we look at the definitions, we see that both Business Analysis and Business Process Management are aimed at optimizing performances. Where Business Analysis has a (usual) strong IT focus, Business Process Management has a broader scope. Business Process Management focuses on end-to-end process performance. There is nothing ‘old school’ about end-to-end process performance. Organizations face challenges in both improving processes and optimizing the IT support. Business Process Management and Business Analysis should strengthen instead of replace each other.</p><p> </p><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 600px;”><div class=”captionImage left” style=”width: 300px;”><img class=”left” src=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/assets/Uploads/Pictures_articles/_resampled/resizedimage300300-procesbloem.jpg” alt=”Business Process management Proces Flower” title=”Business Process Management (BPM) is all about optimally designing, implementing, and executing business processes on any level in the organization.” width=”300″ height=”300″/><p class=”caption”>Business Proces Management design and implementation</p></div><p>But why is it that Business Analysis is sometimes pressing Business Process Management to the background? In my opinion it is all about legacy. Business Process Management, as a practice, is a little ‘older’ than Business Analysis. With its ‘age’ there might be more success stories, but also the Business Process Management fiasco’s are plenty. In the past we have seen many instrumental Business Process Management implementations: Business Process Management Suites were bought as solutions to problems, often leading to disappointing results. We now know that only describing our processes does not automatically improve process performances. Business Process Management should be, as the Wikipedia definition explains, about real continuous process improvement. Business Analysis is not yet infected by the failures of Business Process Management. This is why many people share the opinion that Business Analysis is more business oriented, whereas Business Process Management is more execution focused… It is tempting to use the term of Business Analysis instead of Business Process Management, while trying to do the same thing: improving process performance.</p></div><h2>Business Process Management changed its name in Business Analysis</h2><p>If I look at Business Analysis presentations, tools and approaches, I fortunately have a strong ‘déjà vu’ feeling. Many Business Process Management instruments are presented as Business Analysis instruments. So Business Process Management is not gone, but only changed its name. Business Process Management is a very powerful means, aimed at end-to-end process performance and customer quality. These are essential topics for every organization; they should all be involved with Business Process Management. But if they like to call it differently, like Business Analysis, this is OK with me. At BiZZdesign we stick to<strong> <a title=”Business Process Management (BPM) is a very fruitful way to improve your organization, ” href=”http://www.bizzdesign.com/consultancy/business-process-management/bpm-consultancy/”>Business Process Management</a> </strong>as the main practice, from where the Business Analysis services are delivered.</p><p>Good luck with Business Process Management and Business Analysis in your organization!</p>