In addition to continuous, evolutionary optimizations, most enterprises also undergo revolutionary transformations from time to time. Knowledge about current corporate practice for coherent IT and business transformation is therefore very valuable. In this paper we present the results of an empirical study on the management of large-scale transformation programs that focuses on IT as much as business aspects. Companies that rate themselves as mature with regards to transformation management, assess certain transformation management components different than less mature companies. Cost reduction, revenue improvement, and agility improvement are the most relevant goals of transformation programsall these are business goals and not IT goals. Current state of the practice transformation management can be classified into three approaches: Value-driven, ungoverned and change-driven. We found that no single management approach covers all these areas appropriately yet.

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) is considered to be a valuable means in order to support large-scale changes, called enterprise transformations (ET). In the study at hand we apply an explorative qualitative approach in order to investigate the potentials of EAM to support ETs by discussing the topic with highly knowledgeable informants that deal with EAM on a daily basis in nine different companies. The results reveal six propositions about the current and future state of EAM as an ET supporting discipline. The propositions reveal a distinction between IT and business focused EAM, means and activities taken by EAM to support ET, major pitfalls that need to be avoided as much as perceptions about the future of the discipline.

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Enterprises from time to time have to go through radical changes, oftentimes referred to as enterprise transformations (ETs). Depending on the type of ET that is conducted, different information requirements exist. In order to support ETs, a reference information model should therefore distinguish different ET types. Based on the empirical analysis of ETs that is used to determine four ET types with different information requirements, we construct such a reference model in the paper at hand. The application of the model is exemplified with the case of enterprise architecture management as an information provider.

Many enterprises need to handle programs that impose fundamental changes to the organization as well as the supporting IT systems. While general guidance for such transformations in form of methods, reference models, principles, etc. is available, the specific context of the insurance sector is often not considered. We conducted an interview series with informants from major European insurance companies to explore the specifics of enterprise transformation in the insurance sector. The results suggest amending existing transformation support methods by regarding transformation triggers, transformation program types and core techniques. E.g., transformations that deal with standardization, mergers and acquisitions and internal alignment are not sufficiently covered yet and techniques that deal with soft and social aspects of transformations are less visible in the insurance sector. Our findings create not only the basis for a wider survey to extend and validate initial findings, but also for comparing and discussing concrete enterprise transformation cases.