From Enterprise Architecture to Business Ecosystem Architecture: Stages and Challenges for Extending Architectures beyond Organizational Boundaries

Abstract

Today, Enterprises act in an increasingly interconnected world and in different kinds of collaborative networks. They are part of business ecosystems in which they interact with their customers, partners and competitors. The processes of analyzing and planning the intertwinement of business and IT architecture within enterprises has been successfully supported by enterprise architecture management (EAM) approaches. In this paper, we analyze four cases from different industries (health care, logistics, retail, and education) and argue that the intra-organizational concepts of enterprise architectures (EA) and EAM need to be extended to grasp the challenges of the enterprises' interconnectedness. Beyond the known concepts of extended enterprise architecture and federated architectures, we define five stages of extended architectures. Additionally, we describe challenges and existing solutions, which are relevant for this extended perspective.

Ecosystem Architecture Management in the Public Sector – From Problems to Solutions

“…[10]) for a thorough review, see [11]) have discussed Extended Enterprise Architecture. Further, Drews and Schirmer [12] propose a plausible idea of how intra-organizational EA should evolve to respond the organizations' interconnectedness. Still, the means of extending the focus of enterprise architecting from intra-organizational to the ecosystems level is an area not yet sufficiently studied.…”

“…[16], [17]), as well as the anticipations of the future EA in business ecosystems, (e.g. [12]). Based on these explorations, our objectives are the following.…”

Enterprise Architecture for a Facilitated Transformation from a Linear to a Circular Economy

“…In the sense of EA representing the systems and applications of the enterprise, it is closely related to (strategic) software systems' portfolio management and thereby also decisive in the selection of the technological elements of the enterprise's operating model. EA is discussed in initiatives on inter-organizational relationships [28,29] and technological interoperability [30]. As the EA is derived from the single organization's strategy, there are limitations to the ability to enact technological design in other enterprises, although most levels of the EA model rely on external relationships anyway, for example parts from suppliers, products for the market, and data sent to and from relevant parties.…”

“…As the EA is derived from the single organization's strategy, there are limitations to the ability to enact technological design in other enterprises, although most levels of the EA model rely on external relationships anyway, for example parts from suppliers, products for the market, and data sent to and from relevant parties. Drews and Schirmer [28] suggest that EA can be a positive driver for the creation of business eco-systems.…”

“…The contemporary socio-economic model is referred to in the literature as the linear economy model [35,36] (see Figure 2) in comparisons with other models, especially the CE model (see Figure 3). Its most obvious characteristic is the discarding of a product after its use, which implies illusionary EA is discussed in initiatives on inter-organizational relationships [28,29] and technological interoperability [30]. As the EA is derived from the single organization's strategy, there are limitations to the ability to enact technological design in other enterprises, although most levels of the EA model rely on external relationships anyway, for example parts from suppliers, products for the market, and data sent to and from relevant parties.…”