Architecture Advisory

The foundation of software engineering

The right software architecture enables seamless interaction between information technology and core business activities. In addition to functional suitability, performance efficiency, compatibility, and usability, we also focus on reliability, security, maintainability, and portability.

Your strategy and business processes need to be better aligned with the underlying data, application, and technology architecture. Optimisation of your software architecture is critical to achieving this goal.

To ensure this, we are happy to evaluate and assess your architectural approach and the documentation of your systems through architecture reviews and audits. Based on the identified as-is situation, we work with you to develop an enterprise architecture or recommendations to streamline and optimise your status quo.

What we do

Architecture Review

Software solutions are confronted with many technical decisions throughout their lifetime that can have significant project impacts. These decisions are critical for business success, and suboptimal outcomes bear a large risk. Yet they cannot always be made by the technical team, e.g. due to lack of time, expertise, or confidence.

We support you carrying out an independent review to assess technology selection, evaluate technical compliance with regulations (e.g. based on GDPR, NIST 800-53, or ISO 27001), ensure future-proof architecture, and assure non-functional requirements are guaranteed (e.g. ISO 25010 based cybersecurity, compatibility, or maintainability), among many others.

We ensure “fit-for-purpose” by using the appropriate review method, e.g. by using TARA (tiny architecture review approach), CBAM (cost-benefit analysis method, or the heavy-weight ATAM (architecture trade-off analysis method).

IT Procurement

Make-or-buy decisions can significantly improve cost and delivery objectives. Oftentimes, companies also do not have the expertise or resources available, or would it make sense to develop a solution themselves but rather get it from a supplier. This could be done through licensing or outsourcing. Deciding for the right supplier and solution is not easy, with the risk of supplier lock-in looming.

We support you in the procurement of IT services and software through RfI, RfP, and RfQ tenders. This includes review of technical offers, evaluation of technical competence of candidate suppliers and assessment of software, solutions, tools, infrastructure and middleware. This is done with costs vs benefits and solution fit in mind. We also provide guidance on the procurement process itself.

Technical Due Diligence

Companies that pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) must get the bang for their buck. On the surface a prospecting target company may look good, a thorough and sound review of the company’s internal viability.

We provide technical due diligence services to identify the technical maturity, scalability and growth opportunities, and technical risks that impact the business. We do this by evaluating the fit-for-purpose of the company to your business plans. This review includes technology and product strategy, the products and solutions, the technology organisation and its people, the development processes, governance structures and cybersecurity resilience, and the supporting infrastructure.

Typical shortcomings are technical debt and inabilities to scale that hamper growth plans, lack of strategic alignment, and gaps in cybersecurity measures. We therefore put particular emphasis on quality, compliance to standards, and future-proofness.

Enterprise Architecture Consulting

A good balance between strategic technology alignment and independence is essential for large companies to reap synergy benefits and stay agile, and keep their competitive advantage. Enterprise architecture is the glue between the business, senior management and technology departments and teams. It provides technology direction, ensures strategic alignments, enabled through appropriate governance.

We support you in setting up, adjusting, and implementing your enterprise architecture organisation and direction. This work is many-facetted, and can include technology strategy definitions, technology roadmap development for products and services, identification and documentation of existing and future capabilities along your value streams, definition of business, information, and technology architectures, and the established of good practices (GxP). We orient ourselves along the TOGAF and Zachman standards.