Enterprise Architecture creates cost savings and drives strategic planning at $100B Financial Services Company

Modernization of systems to support digital transformation and business growth

The impetus for this $100B Financial Services Company's enterprise architecture journey was similar to that of many financial institutions: a need for increased governance. The Company used enterprise architecture to enforce policies, standards, and procedures to ensure compliance and reduce risk. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, this Company found itself in a difficult situation that required the enterprise architecture value proposition to move beyond governance and reporting: the imperative was that enterprise architecture help achieves operational efficiency and cost reduction. There were two challenges the Company needed to address:

• Gain better insight into the interdependencies of applications and technologies across the enterprise to identify unutilized, redundant, or non-compliant applications.
• Develop strategies for modernizing systems, capabilities, and processes to meet the demands of a growing company with a more significant focus on digital transformation.

Enterprise architecture program evolves from governance-focused to enabler-focused

Listening and collaboration have been critical elements to MEGA's relationship with this Financial Services Company, which started from the beginning. With support from HOPEX solutions, this Financial Services Company evolved its enterprise architecture program from governance-focused to enabler-focused using strategies that fostered collaboration, increased communication, and provided valuable deliverables to help decision-makers make more informed, better decisions. MEGA helped this Company realize accessible and actionable enterprise architecture by enabling it to:

• See the bigger picture – HOPEX's solutions (application portfolio management, business capability modeling, business process modeling, and application modeling) provided this Company with the ability to have a complete view of the organization's enterprise architecture by:
• Use personas to manage roles – The HOPEX platform provided the ability to use personas to manage roles (e.g., business architects, data architects, etc.) and created consistency and structured project work so each role had access to their specific information to model their requirements.
• Move from an enterprise architecture "push" mode to a business unit "pull” method. The Company's enterprise architecture department created an environment that has successfully communicated the value of enterprise architecture outputs across business units. Their lower maturity "push" mode transitioned to a higher maturity "pull" manner where business users proactively engage with an internal website visually representing the intelligence generated by the HOPEX platform.
• Expand the HOPEX user base beyond the core enterprise architecture team. This Company invested in training people across IT and businesses on HOPEX and its enterprise architecture processes and procedures. To further engrain the knowledge, the Company hired a MEGA resource to provide a greater depth of enterprise architecture knowledge and rigor.
• The power of having a single source of truth – HOPEX's unique differentiator is its single data repository. With all the data in one place, this Financial Services Company maintains high data quality. It generates dependable dashboards and reports for stakeholders who need to know whether the underlying technologies are performing within the expected parameters.
• Understanding traceability between systems and building a technology catalog reference model that the Enterprise Architecture team can leverage when doing projects
• Having a solid foundation on areas of vulnerability that require stress testing and analysis
• Identifying redundancies and opportunities for future integrations
• Supporting initiatives in business architecture, application architecture, and TABA framework implementation.

Enterprise architecture accelerates innovation and delivers actionable insight

This Financial Services Company has moved from governance-focused architecture (push mode) to a trusted influencer (pull mode) that is viewed as a partner by the business units throughout the organization. The Company's reliance on HOPEX to support its enterprise architecture initiatives has resulted in significant benefits to the enterprise, including:

• Data rationalization – Discovered they were retaining data in areas that were not critical, and thus able to reduce the amount of data they needed to manage
• Application rationalization - Rationalized numerous redundant applications, and now have better, more effective use of technologies to support the business
• Cost savings – Reduced excess waste on redundant applications
• Strategic planning – Enabled faster and more streamlined planning
• Standardized documentation – Increased output of digital documentation

This Company's journey to enterprise architecture success has been all about integrations, collaboration, increasing visibility, and fostering a culture of inclusion and enablement. The Company's enterprise architecture team has de-mystified enterprise architecture by delivering actionable insight to decision-makers. By providing valuable and reliable data, the enterprise architecture team has elevated its role as a strategic stakeholder in transformation initiatives. Further, portfolio architects have become influential and trusted partners on various projects.

This Financial Services Company uses enterprise architecture to facilitate innovation and digital transformation efforts. It views HOPEX software as an enabler for future business modernization initiatives and improvements to the customer experience. It took time and determination, but the Company succeeded in developing an enterprise architecture program providing enormous value and insight.

"The enterprise architecture group is an influencer of strategic planning, and HOPEX provided us with the ultimate visibility required to have a holistic understanding of ecosystems, data, and interdependencies across the business units. Business managers are empowered to translate data into action through visualizations and dashboards. And, as a trusted advisor to the business units, our enterprise architecture team has a seat at the table to influence strategic initiatives." Financial Services Company Senior Manager, Enterprise Architecture