Potential Benefits of Enterprise Architecture Management in the Digital Transformation Process

Abstract

Digital transformation has an increasing influence on business processes and new business models. A successful digital transformation in enterprises requires a holistic IT infrastructure in order to meet changing business requirements. Enterprises face the challenge of combining business and IT to benefit from existing technological attainments in the digital age. As Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) is supposed to support companies’ transformation processes, it has consequently moved into the focus of large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises. Previous studies have considered the benefits of EAM taking not into account factors regarding the digital transformation process. The present study is therefore intended to close this gap. This article builds on a conceptual model based on a qualitative design with case studies. It presents a quantitative study that investigates the empirical relation between several indicators and the dependent variable “Benefits of EAM” in the digital transformation process. The results show that the indicators “IT Landscape”, “Internal Business” and “EAM Establishment” positively and significantly influence the benefits of EAM in the digital transformation process.