Business Architecture
In my article published here in September 2025, I asked whether Business Architecture had become the new PMO — an expensive governance layer that slows delivery rather than shaping it. The response was striking. Hundreds of comments, most of them variations of the same frustration: executives don’t get it, they
Business Architecture
Business Architecture doesn’t fail because stakeholders “don’t get capabilities.” It fails when we try to sell the discipline, instead of landing the insight. After 20+ years working across financial services, public sector and utilities, I’ve repeatedly seen the same adoption trap: * In many organisations, the word “capability”
Operating Model
What peak season reveals about how your organisation really works—and how Business Architecture helps you fix it. It’s almost Christmas. The lights go up, the out-of-office messages multiply, and suddenly the organisation is asked to do something very simple on paper: Deliver on promises. Whether those promises are
Business Architecture
Most organisations unknowingly pay twice for the same outcomes. A one-page Duplicate Spend Heatmap reveals overlap fast and lets leaders decide to keep, consolidate, or retire with under‑12‑month payback. Within 90 days you should see run‑rate savings, faster release lead‑times, and fewer audit issues. The problem
Business Architecture
Thanks to all for your comments on Rebooting Business Capabilities. There were some very interesting observations as well as questions raised on the capability SLOs. I have tried to provide an answer to most of the queries in this article. We’ve all seen the 1–5 “maturity” slides. They
Business Architecture
In Parts 1–2, we made a simple promise: architecture earns trust when it changes decisions this quarter. Business capabilities are the most widely misunderstood concepts within the business. And we business architects spend an inordinate amount of time generating the perfect business capability model for an organisation. Here'
Business Architecture
Thanks a lot for the great response on my previous article on Rebooting Business Architecture. In this article, I had suggested that for business architecture to succeed it must prove value fast - by helping leaders make better decisions, faster. Continuing on the same theme, in this article, I am
Business Architecture
If business architecture is so valuable, why is sponsorship so hard to secure? Too often, we are perceived as slowing delivery, producing attractive but unused diagrams, and speaking in abstractions that the business can’t act upon. This reputation, though unfair at times, was shaped by our own practices—and
Data & Information
In the last article, I explored the cost of chaos created by the absence of a common business glossary — the silent culprit behind duplication of processes, data, and management information (MI) in most insurance organisations. We concluded that while many firms rush to modernise systems or launch “data transformation” programmes,
Data & Information
In my earlier articles, I introduced the paradox that most insurers are data-rich but information-poor, explored what truly defines business information, and described how organisations can mature from information to knowledge to wisdom. Yet one foundational issue underpins nearly every failure in business information management — the absence of a common
Data & Information
In my last article, I argued that most insurers are data-rich but information-poor. Data floods the enterprise, yet leaders still struggle to derive insight, align decisions, or eliminate duplication. The reason is simple: data is not the same as business information. Data vs Business Information * Data is raw. A string
Business Architecture
A controversial thought: in many organisations, Business Architecture has quietly taken on the role of PMO. Instead of serving as the wide-angle view on value, strategy, and future competitiveness, it often becomes: * Gatekeepers of governance. * Creators of flashy capability maps that gather dust. * A reporting layer that slows down delivery