People, adoption and introduction of EAM

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has emerged from a fairly technical perspective on enterprises, and did not initially fully realise the importance of ‘soft’ human factors. Consequently, EAM practices were developed and implemented without significant attention to the needs and perspectives of EAM practitioners and the relevant stakeholders. Neglecting these individuals’ requirements sometimes leads to the implementation of EAM practices considered unsuitable, which are then rejected by their stakeholders. In short, because key users and important EAM stakeholders are the ones who eventually decide a new management approach’s success or failure, aligning EAM practices with stakeholders’ needs is a critical success factor. We find that, among other things, we need to ensure that EAM practices are perceived to be useful to and by the actual stakeholder. Furthermore, EAM practices should be recommended by influential colleagues and managers to generate positive word of mouth. We also find that the use of EAM practices can be increased through organisational support in the form of training and technical assistance. Such training and assistance will reduce people’s doubt that they are capable of using such practices properly. Providing incentives and making the techniques fun to use are further ways to encourage individuals to apply EAM practices. Based on these insights, organisations can develop specific change strategies to foster the organisational adoption of EAM and to integrate these strategies into a cyclic process of introducing EAM. Such an introduction process consists of ten steps from identifying the project sponsors to the final roll-out and continuous improvement of EAM practices. Each process cycle should not take longer than three to nine months, allowing for the quick realisation of benefits and an ongoing improvement of EAM practices. In order to avoid working in an ivory tower, management should adopt a pragmatic 80/20 approach, combined with a strong stakeholder orientation. This strategy also ensures a lasting impact.