Roughly six different leaders had tried, over five to seven years, to stand up a lasting enterprise architecture function at this organization, and each attempt failed to take hold. The clearest example was a multi-million-dollar commissions system that failed two or three times because the organization treated it as a software problem and replaced the tool, without ever examining the data feeding it. The real issue was never a shortage of smart people. It was the absence of a framework for turning business priorities into a technology roadmap everyone could follow.
Case Study
Six failed attempts later, an enterprise architecture practice finally held.
This financial services organization had tried roughly six times over several years to build a lasting enterprise architecture function. We built the framework, governance, and habits that finally let it stick, and the organization has since brought the work in-house.
Engagement at-a-glance
Industry:
Financial Services and Insurance
Organization size:
~ 500-1,000 employees
Services:
Enterprise/Data Architecture
Technology Strategy & Portfolio Management
Technology Strategy & Portfolio Management
The Challenge
The commissions system wasn't broken by the software. It was broken by the data underneath it.
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Multiple leaders, no lasting framework
Roughly six different people had tried to lead the technology strategy and architecture function, and each effort failed to outlast its leader. Hiring one strong person was never going to be enough without a repeatable process behind them.
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A commissions system blamed on the wrong problem
A multi-million-dollar commissions system failed repeatedly because the organization diagnosed it as a software issue and replaced the tool each time. The actual driver was the data feeding the system, which no one had taken the time to unpack.
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An organization that said yes to everything
Without a way to prioritize, the organization tried to make incremental progress on every initiative at once rather than focusing on and completing one thing before moving to the next. The result was constant motion with very little that ever actually shipped.
Our Approach
Treating enterprise architecture as a business problem, not a technology one.
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1
Assessed the organization's enterprise architecture readiness
We evaluated how the organization understood and wanted to adopt an enterprise architecture framework, then grouped the pain points we heard into clear domains, such as advisor, client, and commissions, rather than trying to solve everything at once.
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2
Established governance for technology decisions
We stood up an Architecture Review Board so technology decisions were communicated, reviewed, and vetted against a shared direction instead of made in isolation.
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3
Co-created solutions with engineering and the business
We worked alongside engineering and business teams to define direction and preferred patterns, then let teams decide how to implement within those guardrails, rather than issuing top-down mandates the organization had resisted in the past.
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4
Built a technical debt KPI and dashboard
We built a technical debt KPI and a dashboard that let business leaders simulate how their decisions affected technical debt over time, connecting investment choices directly to their consequences.
Value Delivered
A framework that runs without a consultant in the room.
Turned millions in failed spend into delivery
The commissions project that had failed multiple times under the old approach was completed successfully once governance and data validation were in place.
Replaced ad hoc requests with a domain-based roadmap
Pain points across the organization were grouped into clear domains, each with its own roadmap, replacing a pattern of saying yes to everything and finishing very little.
Built a technical debt dashboard leadership uses
A Power BI dashboard now lets business leaders see how their choices affect technical debt, turning an abstract cost into something they can act on.
Handed the technology function to a full-time team
The organization has since hired a full-time enterprise architecture director and two architects to run the function going forward, work originally stood up under this engagement.
Results that reflect the work behind them.
$6 Million
In wasted spend turned into successful delivery
~14%
Technical debt reduction over 3 Years
3
Core business domains structured with clear roadmaps
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