The Operating Model Canvas is a strategic framework that visualizes how an organization creates and delivers value through its operations, processes, technology, and organizational structure. It typically includes elements such as value propositions, key processes, organization design, location strategy, information systems, and supplier relationships that collectively define how the business functions.
For enterprise architects, the Operating Model Canvas provides crucial context for technology and capability planning. It helps identify critical dependencies between business operations and enabling technologies, guiding architectural decisions that support the organization’s value delivery mechanisms. By understanding the operating model, architects can better align technology investments with the core business functions they enable.
Modern operating models have evolved significantly with digital transformation, shifting from traditional siloed functional structures toward more integrated, customer-centric designs. Platform-based operating models, product-oriented delivery teams, and ecosystem orchestration approaches require fundamentally different architectural patterns than traditional models. This evolution challenges architects to design more modular, adaptable technology landscapes that can evolve incrementally while maintaining overall coherence.
The concept of “operating model as a product” has emerged as a powerful approach for architectural governance. Rather than creating static reference architectures detached from business realities, leading organizations now treat their operating model as a continuously evolving product with clearly defined capabilities, interfaces, and service levels. This product-centric approach to operating model design allows architects to apply agile principles to enterprise design itself, creating feedback loops that drive continuous refinement of both business operations and the technology systems that enable them.
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