The 2024 Forrester Enterprise Architecture Awards have reached their second stage: EMEA. Just like the Americas award, we have partnered with The Open Group, who have contributed both publicity and judges. I am honored to announce the winner and runners-up from my home region.
Once again, the quality of the submissions this year was exceptionally high. We had a total of 11 judges, comprising experts from both Forrester and The Open Group, who assessed the enterprise architecture practices of the participating firms. Each company is unique, and we evaluated their enterprise architecture practices based on how they contribute to realizing the business’s strategy, their compliance with Forrester’s Outcome-Driven Architecture Model, their fundamental layers (foundational priorities), and their architecture capabilities. Our focus was on identifying evidence or facts that demonstrate how effective EA practices contribute to business growth.
DRÄXLMAIER Group’s submission truly stood out among the competitors, showcasing the company’s excellence. Founded in 1958, DRÄXLMAIER Group has a rich history of evolving its know-how and expanding its business across Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. In 2014, it was recognized as the fastest-growing company among the top 100 automotive suppliers. DRÄXLMAIER Group’s enterprise architecture practice reflects its core values: leadership, excellence, attitude, drive, empathy, respect, collaboration, and innovation.
Foundational Priorities
The enterprise architecture practice at DRÄXLMAIER Group has undoubtedly acted as an enabler and accelerator for the company’s business goals. Out of the six foundational priorities, the highest scores were achieved in influence, agility, and accountability. This demonstrates that the individuals within the enterprise architecture department possess not only technical competence but also demonstrate essential human values. This is at the heart of making the enterprise architecture discipline successful.
Architecture Capabilities
Within this layer, which includes people, practices, artifacts, and offerings, the people capability obtained an almost perfect score among the judges. DRÄXLMAIER Group has established career paths for each role, identified training gaps, and provided continuous training to ensure the best development for its EA team. It is also worth noting that architects at DRÄXLMAIER Group are internal resources who leverage their know-how. Additionally, the EA team collaborates closely with their senior IT leadership to define future needs and works hand in hand with human resources to establish architecture as an official position within the company.
Runners-Up
Roads & Transport Authority in Dubai secures second place, demonstrating a high level of maturity in its enterprise architecture practice. The judges awarded a high score for the collaboration foundational priority, highlighting the value of the EA team’s integration within the company. In terms of architecture capabilities, artifacts received the highest rating, indicating the EA team’s ability to produce tangible and highly valuable material.
BNP Paribas Bank Polska takes third place and has also provided evidence of its excellence in EA practice, receiving an almost perfect score in agility. Its enterprise architecture practice emphasizes the importance of time to market as one of its primary goals.
I would like to express our gratitude once again to The Open Group for their partnership in publicity and judging. The awards have greatly benefited from their participation, reach, and mindshare since establishing this partnership.
Learn More At Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA
If you’re interested in learning more about DRÄXLMAIER Group’s story, make sure to attend Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA, taking place in London and digitally from October 9–11. We hope to see you there!
