Most of the time when I’m doing Enterprise Architecture, I have been working with large established companies, with lots of legacy, doing same things as usual.

Last year I described how we used EA in a small startup for film production.

This year, I have been working with Care by Volvo and it is quite different architecture assignment in several ways.

Before, you drove to a car dealer, bought a fossil fuel vehicle and paid with your money. This is the normal business model for automotive industry and have been for ages.

We are now establishing a new business model where you subscribe to a car on-line, directly from Volvo and you can have a fully electrical vehicle. Volvo owns the car and maintans it, you drive and recharge. If you l want, you can end the subscription period.

Huge changes to the business model have an enormous impact on legacy IT-systems, and how to solve this long term is really Enterprise Architecture.

I see that there are three different types of EA that starts in the same place, i.e. with the business model. Legacy modernization, startup (Spotify, Tesla) or disruption of existing business model (Netflix, Volvo etc)

It has been very clear this year that those who don’t understand different business models can’t propose solutions for a disruptive business.

Disruptive architecture