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During a packed session at DTW Ignite, communications service providers and their partners explored practical ways to address the challenge of aligning business strategy with pragmatic, scalable technology.
Why business architecture, and why now?
At DTW Ignite in Copenhagen, business and technology leaders gathered for an immersive masterclass tackling one of the telecom industry’s most persistent challenges: aligning bold business ambitions with pragmatic, scalable technology strategies. The Business Architecture Masterclass—delivered by experts from Bain & Company, NOS, Telekom Deutschland, and Huawei—offered both a strategic lens and practical tools to connect business and tech roadmaps.
Joann O’Brien, VP of Ecosystems and Business Architecture at TM Forum, kicked off the session with a brief history of the need for a business architecture practice and how the team has created the essential foundational building blocks in this areas for telcos.
The masterclass opened with a stark reminder: most technology strategies still aim to do everything, everywhere, all at once, resulting in bloated scopes, missed outcomes, and escalating costs. Bain’s Technology Strategy Survey, for example, found that only 11% of organizations report having a clearly aligned target state architecture. Even fewer—just 8%—have a clear ROI view for change initiatives.
Business Architecture isn’t just another framework—it’s the essential translator between business value and technology delivery.
Joao Marques Pombinho, Head of Enterprise Architecture, NOS, guided participants through the emerging discipline of business architecture with a compelling premise: begin with the end in mind.
One of the strongest takeaways? “Business Architecture is far from a solution looking for a problem.” It addresses real pain points: siloed decision-making, opaque ROI, and misaligned change efforts.
Karsten Thon, Senior Business Architect, Wholesale, Deutsche Telekom, illustrated how MIRA (Magenta IT Reference Architecture), their capability model derived from TM Forum standards, enabled:
The analogy that stole the show? Business Architecture is "the Babel fish for strategy"—helping business and IT understand each other in a common, value-oriented language.
Tony Chen, Senior Strategy Manager at Huawei Technologies, shared a compelling story of collaboration with a Turkish operator to shift from a process-centric to a value stream–driven model. By layering advanced AI, digital twins, and capability reuse on top of business architecture principles, they achieved:
Their formula: reuse capabilities, optimize touchpoints, and prioritize real-world impact.
Participants rolled up their sleeves and captured their strategic initiatives and tech enablers, which will be used to create an industry view of tech capabilities, to facilitate value driven, improved RoI roadmap planning 2.0 and as a stepping stone towards a full business architecture practice.
In addition the team covered how to get started with business architecture through, mapping tech capabilities, exploring implementation pathways, and referencing TM Forum’s latest tools (GB1029V, IG1277, and others). Whether your starting point is business roadmaps, tech delivery, or solution architecture, the masterclass provided a roadmap for embedding business architecture at any stage.
As industries accelerate digital transformation, those who master business architecture will lead the charge. It’s not about layering more frameworks—it’s about creating traceability from strategic intent to operational execution.
The masterclass didn’t just educate—it empowered. And in a field where alignment can make or break transformation, that clarity is golden.
For those who missed it: the TM Forum Business Architecture team offers extensive resources to get started—including comprehensive models, getting started guides, and collaboration projects.
Learn more here or contact jobrien@tmforum.org to join the effort.
