An Enterprise Architecture strategy to support divestment and growth for a leading global assurance provider

Since early 2022, Mason Advisory has partnered with a leading global assurance provider to support them through a private equity funded divestment. Our client’s ambition was to separate from their parent company and become an independent, market leading, digitally enabled assurance firm. The divestment depended on meeting critical targets to separate, stabilise and future-proof the company’s technology estate, to create the conditions for rapid digital transformation and accelerated value.

We provided this client with end-to-end support to structure, assure and deliver the right strategy and roadmap for a successful divestment. One of the key programmes was the design, implementation and resourcing of a new Enterprise Architecture (EA) function, establishing an appropriate level of EA maturity to underpin the digital transformation needed to achieve our client’s ambitions.

This case study focuses specifically on the Enterprise Architecture programme. You can read about our full programme of work for this client here.

Challenge

This organisation employs thousands of staff, operating across hundreds of global locations. So, preparing for, implementing, and assuring the divestment was a complex portfolio of work. The company faced multiple challenges, not just to meet investor requirements, but also to lay firm foundations for technology transformation and rapid growth to secure market-leading status as a digitally enabled assurance firm.

With our input, the leadership team recognised that a structured Enterprise Architecture (EA) function would be crucial to accelerate value, while appropriately managing risk. But, at the time of our engagement, the company lacked any internal EA capability or resourcing below leadership level. Our client needed to understand how building EA maturity could support the growth and change agenda. They also needed guidance to plan and implement a target capability model and technology strategy, plus the roadmap, skills and resources to drive the journey.

Solution

Given the scale and complexity of the divestment programme, it was important to take an approach that would deliver robust EA capability but remain manageable within the wider portfolio. We understood our client’s need to work rapidly to meet separation and divestment deadlines. The company also wanted to ensure a flexible, agile working approach, to support market growth in the fast-moving digital space. This required prioritisation to help the company achieve ‘quick wins’ in line with investment targets, while also working to deliver the longer-term EA strategy.

Our first step was to baseline any current EA capability. We used Mason Advisory’s Maturity Assessment Model to help senior leadership understand where the gaps were, what a target capability model should look like, and which areas needed most attention for early traction. Using this assessment, we worked with our client to embed an organisational understanding of basic EA principles. Initially, we helped them establish a light-touch forum to consider IT change requests and introduce a cultural awareness of the importance of change governance. Over just a few months, we built this out to a Technical Design Authority, then an Architecture Review Board at executive level. We supported our client in continuously assessing and improving these initiatives to ensure that they aligned with the business strategy, as well as the Portfolio Management Office’s governance frameworks.

In parallel, we worked closely with the Chief Technology Officer and Head of Digital Delivery to create a full EA target capability model, with a supporting technology strategy and roadmap. These incorporated a framework of twelve overarching design principles, establishing ways of working that will support people, process, and technology across current and future activities.

To deliver the proposed work, our client needed to fill resourcing and skills gaps as quickly as possible. So, we helped them to identify and articulate the required roles and negotiate an appropriate contract with a specialist recruitment agency. In the interim, we acted as a hands-on resource to maintain momentum. We provided practical architecture expertise to lead supplier reviews, offering a healthy challenge to current ways of working and negotiating new, more beneficial processes. Recognising that our client would inherit legacy technology as a result of the divestment, we performed a rapid risk assessment of key platforms. We then recommended risk mitigations as well as a suitable network strategy for end-of-life services.

We built all of this into a business case for the recommended target model, technology strategy and roadmap, so that the executive leadership could take informed decisions and prioritise funding for programmes of work.

Outcome

Our client successfully separated at the end of 2022, meeting all deadlines, targets, and contractual obligations. Establishing an EA capability was a critical element in this separation and divestment portfolio. With our support, this client has now established a clear and realistic EA target capability model, technology strategy and roadmap which are now being implemented. Governance frameworks are in place, skills and resourcing gaps have been clarified, and a recruitment programme is underway to fill those gaps. An understanding of the importance of EA and its role in delivering the business objectives has been embedded across the organisation.  The executive leadership has a clear picture of where immediate and long-term opportunities and risks lie, equipping them to steer a clear path moving forwards.

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