Question $3($Marks: $40)$

Read the following case study article and then answer the questions that follow:

This article explains how global company Haworth accelerated global growth with a modern

enterprise architecture management tool for business & IT$.$

Industry: Office furniture

Headquarters: Holland, Michigan, USA

Revenue: $1\mathrm{.}8$ bn

Results:

$$ Acceleration of critical finance projects

$$ High$-$quality IT inventory

$$ Global collaboration platform for business and IT

$$ Improved agility by allowing quicker access to information

$$ Easier roadmap planning

Haworth operates in $126$ countries, serves $650$ dealers and has one vision: to create beautiful,

effective and adaptable workspaces. Haworth$$s office concepts combine modern design principles

and latest science to sustainable workspace solutions. The company has experienced tremendous

growth over the last years. There were two main drivers for searching for an enterprise

architecture management tool. Primarily, their workspace product transformed from furniture

into integrated technology solutions that support collaboration in a digital world. Secondly, they

acquired a portfolio of brands in Europe and Asia.

Digital transformation and inorganic growth have increased the demand of business towards

corporate IT$.$ High$-$profile business projects frequently suffered from lacking transparency in IT$.$

The required effort to collect information manually was inefficient and inaccurate and therefore

impacted project timelines and budgets negatively. Challenges were especially very pressing in

finance, as improper consolidation after mergers had negative effects on daily operations as well

as on external stakeholders.

The Global Information Applications team around Gerald Winkler faced the challenge that the

business side demanded easy access to information about the IT landscape, which was scattered

in lots of Microsoft Office files across all regions and entities. $($continued on the next page$)$

$23$; $242023$

$$ The Independent Institute of Education $($Pty$)$ Ltd $2023$

Page $6$ of $7$

The existing self$-$built solutions were inflexible and lacked possibilities to collaborate. Attempts

with complex and heavy$-$weight expert tools had failed entirely in the past.

After a decade of global acquisitions, the integration of finance applications was a major

imperative for Haworth. Variations in standards, tools, and procedures have a negative impact on

external stakeholders, as well as on daily operations. To enable further global growth, the

challenges needed solving. As a baseline, the finance project managers requested an overview of

financial applications by finance capability and affected internal and external groups.

Haworth started with aligning company$-$wide business capabilities for the finance function. This

approach brought an immense advantage: business capabilities can be agreed on regardless of

the entities or complex supporting processes. Transparency in the complex finance IT landscape

was established very quickly, and several urgent projects critical for Haworth$$s global growth

could be accelerated. For the first time, the business side has access to an easy$-$to$-$use and

intelligent information platform concerning the IT landscape. Further functions, including

marketing & sales, look to benefit from this wealth of information.

Source: https:$//$www$.$leanix.net$/$en$/$blog$/$enterprise$-$architecture$-$case$-$study$-$merger$-$acquisitions$-$with$-$haworth

Note:

In your answers, you will be awarded more marks for integrating the theory and facts from the

case study than if you discuss them separately.

Q$\mathrm{.}3\mathrm{.}1$ Identify benefits achieved through IT$/$IS alignment with application to the

case study.

$(10)$

Q$\mathrm{.}3\mathrm{.}2$ Evaluate Haworth$$s selection of enterprise architecture framework. $(10)$

Q$\mathrm{.}3\mathrm{.}3$ Explain why global collaboration is a trend in global information

management, with application to the case study.

$(10)$

Q$\mathrm{.}3\mathrm{.}4$ Critically analyse challenges in exploiting ICT, with examples from the case

stud