Enterprise Architecture Management: the practitioner’s case for the digital twin
In order to make targeted use of the huge opportunities offered by the digital transformation, enterprises need strategic tools that provide guidance and enable change. Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) is one such tool. It creates structure, reduces uncertainty and helps organizations get fit for the future. Professor Dr. Helmut Beckmann of the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Electronic Business (EB) has passionately devoted himself to this topic for several years. He firmly believes that creating a digital twin of your organization provides a basis for sustainable innovation and strategic management.
Digitalization is no longer an optional project – it pervades business models, processes and technologies and is key to an organization’s competitiveness and future viability. But without a clear understanding of the organization’s architecture, there is a danger of confusion. Enterprise Architecture Management provides a structured approach to leveraging digital technology’s potential and managing complexity.
Enabling the transformation with EAM
EAM combines strategic objectives and operational implementation. It supports cross-departmental collaboration,
highlights interdependencies and helps teams work together to create an agile organization.
EAM’s most important benefits are:
- Full transparency regarding structures, interdependencies and potential
- Informed decision-making using the architecture information network
- Simulation-driven risk minimization and efficiency gains
- Faster implementation of transformation projects
- Securing of long-term competitiveness
These principles also underpin the work of the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Electronic Business. A team of experts led by Dr. Helmut Beckmann helps enterprises to introduce EAM, not just at a conceptual level but also in their day-to-day operations.
Using the digital twin as a management tool
The Enterprise Architecture is a digital twin that provides a virtual representation of the organization – including everything from its business models to its processes and IT systems. It enables changes to be simulated, risks to be assessed and decisions to be arrived at transparently.
In their work as consultants, the experts from the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Electronic Business have repeatedly seen how the digital twin empowers enterprises not just to plan transformations but to actively shape them, by providing a strategic compass in a dynamic market landscape.
EAM combines strategy, business processes and technology, providing managers with a central management tool for optimizing resource deployment and creating an agile organization.
Decision-makers have various options:
- They can incorporate EAM as an integral part of their management system
- They can use the digital twin as an innovation tool
- They can use it to ensure data quality and system integration
- They can train employees to use it
- It can help with understanding change as a continuous process
The Steinbeis experts support these steps with their methodological expertise and a deep understanding of their partners’ individual challenges.
Examples from consulting practice
EAM has proven its worth in various sectors such as the automotive industry, energy industry and financial sector. In one case, an automotive manufacturer used the digital twin to optimize its production processes and bring new models to market faster. EAM also helped an energy provider to create a more efficient IT landscape and respond faster to regulatory requirements. And in the financial sector, the digital twin enabled the integration of new digital business models, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
These examples reflect the experience of the Steinbeis experts in their daily work – EAM isn’t just a theoretical construct, it is a key, tried-and-tested tool for enabling lasting change. The digital twin improves companies’ transparency and agility and supports their ongoing strategic development. This is exactly where the experts from the Steinbeis Consulting Center for Electronic Business come in by helping enterprises to configure their architecture systematically, use the digital twin as a management tool, and understand change as a strategic success factor.
“EAM is my passion, and it’s the tool I use every day to make organizations fit for the future”, concludes Steinbeis expert Helmut Beckmann.