Digital transformation: business models supported by real-time enterprise architecture

Before a company can travel the digital transformation journey, it has to get its business model right. That means striking a delicate balance between standardizing and integrating operations—while also staying flexible enough to adopt new technologies. Companies that manage this feat drive fresh growth—and can go head-to-head with the toughest rivals in the digital age.

At a glance

• Digital technologies help companies get offerings to market swiftly and profitably—through deeper understanding of customers, smarter decisions, and automation.
• But to capture these benefits, companies must adopt the right business model.
• Once a company has the right business model, it should build the enterprise architecture—including core customers, integral business processes, shared data, and systems linked to automation—needed to execute it.
• Companies typically journey through four stages of enterprise architecture maturity: (1) meeting local business needs, (2) standardizing common processes (3) making sure they win all the benefits from standardization, and (4) taking advantage of the platform they’ve created.