January 08, 2009 10:23 AM Eastern Time 

alfabet Study Shows Enterprise Architecture Management Helps Standardize IT Processes and Technologies and Shortens Planning and Decision Making Processes

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The implementation of an IT business management solution including enterprise architecture management (EAM) generates many benefits, according to a recent study conducted by alfabet AG at its international planningIT eXchange 2008 event in November 2008 in Berlin, Germany.

Based upon 100 survey responses received from European and North American attendees, some 25% said that EAM offers them the greatest value in the area of standardization of IT processes, technologies and application landscape, while 18% reported shortened and/or safer planning and decision-making processes. Another 18% indicated that EAM’s greatest benefit is helping them identify synergies between parallel running projects. Among other leading responses, some 14% identified IT cost reductions as the top benefit, while another 11 percent reported improved risk management due to greater transparency.

The annual planningIT eXchange event brings IT leaders together from around the globe to share best practices and experiences. It enables attendees to stay on top of today’s IT-business management, IT planning, enterprise architecture management, SOA, IT cost management and performance issues.

Respondents from the event also identified the six top issues most critical to their IT organization as consolidating the application landscape, making IT more flexible (e.g. SOA), risk management/compliance, standardization, innovation initiatives and reducing IT costs.

While respondents clearly recognized the benefits of EAM, they pointed out that an insufficient maturity level of planning processes and EA within the IT organization was the biggest challenge they faced to establishing effective IT planning and management.

“Our survey confirms that EAM is being used as a strategic lever to make the IT support for the business more agile, innovative, cost efficient and standardized,” said Erik Masing, CEO of alfabet. “For the IT organization itself, EAM plays an important governing and compliance role and brings about greater transparency in people, processes, technology and information that make up the enterprise architecture.”

About alfabet (www.alfabet.com)

alfabet enables companies to see, analyze, control and align IT initiatives with business priorities continuously. Its planningIT® software is unique in tightly coupling business priorities and IT returns with current and future initiatives. Competitive point solutions offer modeling or repository functions with a static view of priorities, architecture and infrastructure. alfabet provides a holistic, integrated and collaborative approach that offers continuous transparency into how IT and business information, processes and roles are changing and need to be managed over time.

The company serves a global user community of 16,000 IT professionals in more than 40 countries in a variety of industries, including automotive, financial services, telecommunications, logistics, high-tech and others. Its customers include international corporations such as AMB Generali, BP, Daimler, Deutsche Bahn and T-Systems. Founded in 1997, alfabet is based in Berlin with U.S. headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

All companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.