1. Introduction
Enterprise architecture is a framework that helps the organization to design, implement, and manage a business plan and to incorporate it with the technology domain efficiently. It is used to assist the enterprise in running its business processes, operations, and perform changes such as meeting business goals effectively and improve decision making process. Therefore, it is commonly known for integrating and aligning business strategies with information technology (IT) resources [
1]. The concept of EA came into high demand due to the dynamic business environment and its dependency on technological resources. Furthermore, the current use of technology in business and its intimacy in running of business operations has created a new perspective of doing business [
2]. Technology has drastically changed the enterprise’s working environment. For example, the development of business processes, implementation of strategies, integration of different systems, and all other business activities are incomplete if there is no technology involved.
The use of technology is inevitable for the organizational development and business growth. Therefore, the concept is changing from traditional business to digitization, where cloud servers, big data, internet of things, and mobile technologies are producing positive impacts on digital business [
3]. Whereas this transformation is a complex process for the enterprises due to the strong binding and bridging between the business models and the large number of IT resources and information systems (IS) [
4]. The business models applied in traditional IS can be overlooked during the transformation phase if did not plan it well. Furthermore, as described by [
5], the transformation is supposed to be deal with processes, business models as well as stakeholder’s perspectives. The enterprise often mismanaged the transformation phase that might be due to lack of time, budgeting issues, or implementing the project as a whole rather than implementation in phases [
6].
EA is evolving as an integrated approach to support this scenario that is known for a complete package starting from analyzing, building, managing, and implementing the digital transformation phase [
7,
8]. It provides continuous support to organize business models and integrate it using technology infrastructure. EA enables organizations to standardize IT infrastructure and to align it with business strategies and other needs [
9]. During this phase, the overall requirements are not only to implement the new infrastructure but also to develop a number of frameworks and deliver it with proper governance rules. For this, the EA stands as a central part in defining the structure, mapping business rules, introducing new strategies, and, last but not least, is to govern at each step [
10].
The progressive intervention of EA framework in business organizations has already presented numerous benefits to the industries, known as organizational benefits, as discussed in previous research [
11]. The list of common EA processes are defined as digital transformation, IT infrastructure enhancement, utilization of IT resources, and modernization [
12]. Furthermore, EA can support the re-design and re-development process initiated through major changes identified in an organization. EA has adequately vast implications on organizations where its functioning capabilities are largely identified and applicable for business processes, information security, network performance, systems’ and data integration, and dealing with multiple personnel [
13].
Multiple researchers presented a profound understanding of EA implementation and its benefits in an organization [
14,
15,
16,
17,
18]. Previous studies addressed different processes and frameworks for the realization of EA benefits but some of them either discussed this issue with limited factors [
19] or did not provide empirical evidence [
20]. Despite the importance of the EA framework, it still lacks support in the realization of the potential benefits EA can create in organizations [
20,
21]. As a result, there is still a need to deal with the challenge of EA implementation and to realize its major benefits for an organization.
The main research question of this study is, “
how to discover and recognize the organizational benefits of EA”? Therefore, the main focus in this research revolves around the understanding of EA benefits from different perspectives, such as products, services, strategies, and utilization of resources. The main contributions of the paper are: (i) proposed model of EA and organizational benefits, (ii) verification from experts, and (iii) validation through the in-depth case study. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The next section develops the theoretical background of EA progression and realization of its benefits.
Section 3 describes the stepwise approach of the methodology undertaken in this study. In addition,
Section 4 and
Section 5 discuss the findings from interview sessions and model validation using the case study, respectively. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of major findings and future work.
3. Research Methodology
This section describes the stepwise approach undertaken in this study to answer the research question. This study’s research method is a combination of case study, interviews, grounded theory, and qualitative analysis. The idea presented in this study provides insight into measuring the benefits of EA in an organization. The research methodology is applied in three major steps: (i) primary findings from the literature review, (ii) refined through experts’ opinion, and (iii) validated through a case study.
Firstly, we refined the primary finding through EA experts. The main purpose of meeting with the experts was to take their opinion on extracted factors of EA benefits as shown in
Table 2. In addition, we investigated accordingly to understand and identify the measuring criteria for each benefit. Ultimately, with the help of experts’ opinions, the model was refined with multiple lists of criteria. The findings of the interview sessions are discussed in
Section 4, whereas the list of experts and their characteristics are explained in
Section 3.2.
Secondly, the refined construct was applied to a case study to measure the EA benefit. Thus, the main part of the model validation was the discussion with the case study—a large automobile manufacturing industry operating in Pakistan. The selected organization is a large-scale organization, dealing with a good number of customers and employees. A detailed summary of the organization and its EA products is presented in
Section 5.1. The case study approach has been supported by [
52] for the research idea that requires an in-depth analysis of different organizational and behavioral factors. Furthermore, the case study approach provides the space to explore multiple ideas: (i) for the researchers to observe interesting facts and practice applying them in an organization, (ii) and to develop a strong result to support the proposed research paradigm [
53]. The case study approach has largely supported and applied in different studies related to ICT investments and evaluation [
49,
50,
54,
55].
Moreover, the research was inspired by the approach of grounded theory [
56] to extract innovative ideas and associate the discussion of participants with research questions and variables. Grounded theory is an impressive approach for building association in collected data through interviews or observation, as well as for understanding any organizational insights [
57]. Therefore, through the interview sessions we extracted the main attributes related to EA and organizational benefits to support the research idea. The research development was further enhanced with the help of interviews and experts’ opinion.
The qualitative data analysis was applied in interview sessions to generate pieces of information to support each research factor. The qualitative approach is feasible where organizational context, behavior, environment, and deep analysis are required to justify the findings of the research [
58]. Mostly, qualitative data analysis is feasible for an issue that requires the examination of multi-dimensional and dynamic variables using methods such as observation, interview, and personal experience [
59]. The research performed several steps to extract the findings from the discussion with EA experts. The stepwise research approach is shown in
Figure 1 and is further explained in the subsequent sections.
3.1. Primary Findings
Our literature review established the base for this research. Previous work discovered different studies that proposed conceptual and theoretical models and methodology of EA [
23,
60]. The following are the highlights of primary findings of this study:
Researchers described the EA implementation in three different interconnected processes, like decision making, architecture, and implementation [
22].
Previously, most of the research was more focused on presenting the conceptual models of EA [
23,
24]. For example, [
26] proposed a conceptual model of EA and organizational benefits using different factors, such as competitive advantage, customer value, cost-effectiveness, and system integration.
EA provides support to different services, products, systems, and business goals [
36].
EA generates multi-dimensional benefits for organizations [
20].
EA framework has a variety of products with their implications, the identification of these benefits is still complex [
4].
Apart from the previous work presented in this field, a deeper understanding and empirical testing are further required [
32].
The major categorization of EA and organizational benefits extracted from previous work are business agility, creating competitive advantage, and increase value [
31].
With the help of our vast literature review, there are several measuring factors identified for each of EA’s organizational benefits, as shown in
Table 2.
3.2. Data Collection Process
In this study, we have taken the primary findings from the literature review in front of experts to refine the collected data. The refinement process was applied with the help of EA experts. For this, seven experts were selected in this study and all of them were practicing and working in different Pakistani industries. Their complete information was kept anonymous because of privacy issues, but some of the characteristics are mentioned in
Table 3.
Several sessions were conducted to take their opinion. Based on their availability and time constraints, some of the interviews were collected electronically; some live sessions were also part of this study. Therefore, we can say that the interviews were semi-structured. During the live session, cross-questions were asked for further understanding. All of the experts had more than five years of experience in this field and had been working in the middle and upper hierarchy. They had vast experience in EA use, implementation, and pre/post evaluation of EA products.
In the beginning, different questions were asked in warm-up sessions to match the level of the researchers’ understanding and EA experts’. The warm-up questions were also asked to create the pace for the discussion. Furthermore, the extracted EA benefits were presented to them in order to take their suggestions on measurement of those factors. As a whole, the summary of interviews is presented in
Section 4, which is categorized according to each benefit. Finally, the sub-criteria suggested by interviewees are presented in
Table 4, which will be considered as a basic guideline in model validation. To check the validity and reliability of the findings generated from the interview sessions [
61], the transcription of each interview was cross-checked and presented to the interviewees to obtain their consent. Also, some findings were validated through documents and reports collected from the interviewees provided to the researcher as supporting materials.
3.3. Data Analysis
In this phase, several steps were taken to analyze the data collected during the interview sessions. First of all, interview sessions were transcribed and presented back to the interviewees to obtain their approval on the written content. Some alteration was performed based on the suggestions given by the interviewees. Later on, the final transcriptions were loaded and analyzed through Atlas.ti [
62], a tool used in qualitative research and for interview analysis. The memos, coding, and categorization steps were applied in the Atlas tool, to create relationships among the opinions given in different interview sessions. The screenshot of coding step is shown in
Figure 2. The detailed findings of the interview analysis are presented in
Section 4 and
Table 4.
3.4. Model Validation
Finally, after multiple steps were applied to refine the primary findings, the proposed model for measuring organizational benefits of EA is shown in
Figure 3. The proposed model is a visualized form of the extensive literature review presented in
Table 2. The purpose of this validation step was to verify the proposed model through a real case study to measure the benefits of EA. As a first step, the proposed framework was refined by EA experts, as discussed in
Section 4. In addition, the guidelines for model validation were also identified during the interview sessions (
Table 4). The details of the case study, used products of EA in the case study, and the validation process are explained in
Section 5.
4. Findings from Interview Sessions
There were a total of seven interview sessions conducted at different times and locations. The interview sessions were semi-structured, where the common concepts, objectives, products, and benefits of EA were part of the discussions. To stay on track, the questions were related to EA benefits and to finding out the measuring sub-criteria for each measure. The discussion during each interview session was at least one hour or more. This section summarized the highlights of all interviews. For a clearer understanding, the interview highlights are presented under the category of each organizational benefit, like “business agility”, creating competitive advantage”, and “increasing value”. Finally, at the end of this section, we provide the major findings of the interviews in the form of “guidelines to measure the benefits of EA” (
Table 4).
Business agility is one of the organizational benefits that can be achieved through EA implementation, as mentioned in the proposed model. During the interview sessions, we asked their opinion on EA and business agility and its corresponding factors and how to measure these factors. The summary of interview sessions about EA and business agility discussed are as follows:
EA and organizational benefit—“business agility”—interview highlights. “Normally, as a BA, the strategy we built is fully consulted through other architects working in the company. The business strategy is always developed based on the availability of resources and products”, the participant BA added his opinion. The list of the benefits was shown to all participants in different sessions. Regarding the EA impacts on business agility, the participants showed their interest towards its acceptance.
Most of the participants fully agreed with the instrument and the list of the benefits initially proposed by [
31]. The participant
OA from educational institute further added here, “having EA as the main enterprise framework, it eased the approach to do required changes in any process, as well as the implementation of new rules and policies is a part of execution”.
Overall, all interviewees showed their support and confidence towards the statement that “Business agility is one of the major organizational benefits that can be achieved after successful implementation of EA”. According to the PM who belongs to the automobile manufacturing industry, “it is not about to plan and manage organizational internal processes, but EA work as a complete package, the future prospects, competitors information, deep knowledge about customers, and it may change overall vision of the employees”.
In response to the question about integration and adoption of new technologies with the existing business scenario, the TA (health organization) explained, “indeed it is not an easy task, where a single mistake can create a massive mess and can disturb the overall working capabilities… although, proper and step-wise implementation with testing strategies may avoid these issues”.
In addition, the
CIO added the important point here regarding the adding of the new service, product, or new technology, he said, “the real achievement is not about implementing the new services, products or technology, the essential thing is to get the results out of it by improving the operational capacity”… that was a really important point he made, especially as he is working in a health organization. Actually, operational capacity is one of the elements of business agility that can be achieved through IT investment and also discussed by [
40] in their published article.
Regarding the question about major difficulties with EA implementation, the enterprise architect explained, “the real problem occurs when the planning team develop a strategy that does not match with the application requirements or supported by existing architecture”, in addition, the statement given by enterprise architect, also supported by other interviewees. The CIO further added here, “by implementing EA is not about getting the corporate benefits only but it also provide different values to the company’s employees and customers”.
Finally, as a part of this research to validate the proposed model, we asked the participants to provide feedback and their input on measuring business agility factors that were presented to them.
Table 4 illustrates the summary of the discussion in the form of additional sub-criteria extracted during the discussion.
The next EA benefit discussed during the interview sessions is known as “creating competitive advantage”. According to the proposed framework, there are six measuring factors extracted from the literature review. During the discussion we asked their confirmation about the list of benefits, where all the participants supported the construct. In addition, for each measuring factor, we asked for suggestions on providing the measuring criteria. The measuring sub-criteria are shown in
Table 4, whereas the summary of the interview sessions is explained below:
EA and organizational benefit—“creating competitive advantage”—interview highlights. “When it comes to creating a competitive advantage, this is an important organizational benefit can be achieved through EA implementation”, says an enterprise architect from automobile company. “From an organizational point of view, integration of strategy and execution… is quite challenging, as it requires support from other architect and EA products”, the statement supported by all interviewees.
It is always the main motto of the organization to put special focus on customers, business processes, and market situation. “Did you find it complex to manage”? “We have a number of EA components, such as business modeler, knowledge management, and solution providers, with positive support and possible alteration in a specific system we can achieve the target successfully… Although, regarding the market situation, we need to keep our eyes on the list of competitors, and also to provide extra support to the customers to keep them loyal and connected with our services”, explained by TA and CIO from health organization.
The company creates a competitive advantage in many ways, but it critically depends on the time of strategy development and used approach says BA. He continued, “For example, if a management strategy is feasible from all aspects but the delay or early in implementation… it cannot generate potential benefits”. “Overall, the organizational culture plays a significant role in generating a higher return on investment and create a competitive advantage”, an interviewee elaborated more in this regard.
The findings of the interview illustrate that the parameter added in the instrument to measure the competitive advantage was fully supported by interviewees. In particular, attributes such as focus on the customer, market, and business processes were voted as more important than others. The enterprise architect also put extra importance on the attribute “integrating the strategy development and its execution”, which requires proper planning and utilization of resources.
During the conversation with different participants, it was noted that a powerful strategy should involve a complete business model, that is the main functionalities of enterprise architecture framework, such as a business modeler. “The design of the business model is based on the organizational policies and other criteria as well”, BA (from educational institute) added this point.
From the company’s point of view, they always struggle to be noticeable and profitable among the list of competitors. At this stage, to get a more clear understanding form the EA experts and practitioners, the question asked from the interviewees, “Is it quantifiable to know about the performance and market standing in front of other competitors?” The BA made a notable remark on this question, “Indeed, there is no clear cut formula or equation to know the market standing, since it requires regular monitoring, benchmark, and list of criteria to be measured thoroughly”. The interviewee further added that “Somehow, from tangible like financial perspective, it is measureable by looking at the company’s capital and net profit…. but non-tangible benefits such as customer satisfaction with your product, their trust on the company, or employee efficiency…. these types of measurement factor requires multiple dimensions to be covered”.
The discussion led to the point where the researcher asked their opinion on defining the measuring criteria for each measuring factor that could help the researcher to measure the performance of organizational benefit i.e., “creating competitive advantage”.
Table 4 summarizes the findings of this question, as mentioned in measuring sub-criteria column.
The next and last category of EA benefits investigated in this study was “increase value”. The concept of creating values is defined as a number of non-financial benefits, EA implementation can provide to the organization. The concept of value is commonly known as a non-financial benefit an organization can achieve from any project [
11]. In this regard, the researcher extracted the number of values proposed in previous work related to EA use and implementation. During the discussion with the experts, the idea was positively supported by all of the interviewees and the level of acceptance was high. Specifically, a deeper knowledge of the customer, employee satisfaction, and improving business efficiency were explained as the main motives of EA products. The following are some opinions received from the interviewees that supported the research idea that “EA products can increase potential values to the organization”.
EA and organizational benefit—“increase value”—interview highlights. In addition to the financial benefits, EA generates a major positive impact on the organization by increasing its value. For sure, “EA framework supports the organization in digital transformation that initiated many values to the organization, not only to the customers but employees as well”, the PM from automobile company provided a healthy argument. The TA further added to it, “However, the transition and implementation of EA follows the structured list of processes, where the performance of the technological resources is much important than others”.
Similarly, the AA explained, “obviously, it’s a joint effort, EA framework supports internal and external processes and business models that generate enormous values”. Meanwhile, “we need to the know the difference before and after implementation, the things that are clear enough to us are better engagement and fast response to the customers, improved employees working capability, and overall moving towards digitization”, a clear point made by the enterprise architect.
Consequently, “Is there any resistance recorded from the employees for these radical changes?” The researcher continued the discussion by asking the question. “Integrating system and transition process always bring changes, naturally… the employees feel uncomfortable in the beginning, … and for sure we don’t blame them. Ultimately, the overall scenario is for the sake of organizational benefits and values, they have to compromise and start feeling the positive change”, the OA from educational institution answered. The PM further added to this point, “In this way, the major step is to empower the users to work in a relax environment, where there will be some space for the mistakes, indeed…. user empowerment is the main value that EA can bring to the organization”.
As a reference to the previous work, the researcher put a statement that “Enterprise architecture supports knowledge management and business intelligence [
63], what is your opinion about it. The point made by
BA from educational institute, “the enterprise architect provides a platform and support for different projects, knowledge management is one of them. It creates deeper knowledge of the customers, directly and indirectly, that can be extracted from multiple applications. The use of that knowledge can improve better delivery to the customers and can improve employee’s morale and satisfaction as well”. Finally, we asked their opinion to measure each measuring factor, the findings are shown in
Table 4.
Finally, the same theory was applied here as well to get some list of parameters that could be used to measure each factor. Based on their vast experience and a significant role they played in EA implementation and measuring its impact, participants highlighted different parameters. As a major finding, we used the following guidelines during model validation in a case study.
Table 4 illustrates the measuring sub-criteria for each measuring factor corresponding to three major benefits of EA, which were further validated through a case study in the next section.