How Does Enterprise Architecture Add Value to Organisations?

TLDR

Enterprise architecture defines a high‑level view of an enterprise’s business processes and IT systems and their interrelationships, yet its value remains poorly understood. The article seeks to clarify how EA supports an organisation’s future goals by answering how it delivers benefits. By reviewing literature, the authors develop the EA Benefits Model, which links EA to benefits through four enablers: organisational alignment, information availability, resource portfolio optimisation, and resource complementarity. The study concludes by outlining future research directions that build on its findings.

Abstract

Enterprise architecture (EA) is the definition and representation of a high-level view of an enterprise’s business processes and IT systems, their interrelationships, and the extent to which these processes and systems are shared by different parts of the enterprise. EA aims to define a suitable operating platform to support an organisation’s future goals and the roadmap for moving towards this vision. Despite significant practitioner interest in the domain, understanding the value of EA remains a challenge. Although many studies make EA benefit claims, the explanations of why and how EA leads to these benefits are fragmented, incomplete, and not grounded in theory. This article aims to address this knowledge gap by focusing on the question: How does EA lead to organisational benefits? Through a careful review of EA literature, the paper consolidates the fragmented knowledge on EA benefits and presents the EA Benefits Model (EABM). The EABM proposes that EA leads to organisational benefits through its impact on four benefit enablers: Organisational Alignment, Information Availability, Resource Portfolio Optimisation, and Resource Complementarity. The article concludes with a discussion of a number of potential avenues for future research, which could build on the findings of this study.