Content

Results

Cut planning time by replacing fragmented projects with a single, strategy-driven view.

Improved investment focus by ensuring every initiative ties directly to business goal

Challenges

  • Fragmented planning across multiple business units
  • No clear link between strategic goals and execution
  • Lack of transparency on priorities and investments
  • EA limited to documenting IT assets instead of steering change

Solution

  • Adopted a capability-based EA approach with ADOIT
  • Shifted from retrospective IT documentation to proactive target design
  • Mapped business capabilities as anchors between strategy and execution
  • Introduced executive-ready views with heatmaps to guide leadership decisions

When you’re running one of Europe’s biggest energy providers, every decision has a ripple effect. For Alpiq, steering hundreds of projects across markets wasn’t just complex; it was like trying to navigate a storm without a compass.

The company needed a way to cut through the noise, align strategy with execution, and give leaders the confidence to make bold decisions. That’s when enterprise architecture stepped out of the back office and became a true driver of business change.

The Initial Situation: Growing Complexity and Siloed Planning

As a major European energy provider, Alpiq operates across multiple markets in electricity production, trading, and sustainable energy solutions. But in such a dynamic and regulated environment, complexity was mounting quickly.

Hundreds of interconnected systems, units, and projects made it increasingly difficult to keep daily execution in sync with long-term goals.

“Most enterprises are made up of thousands, if not millions, of moving interconnected parts,” explained Ralfe Poisson, Enterprise Architect at Alpiq. “Touching one object has a ripple effect through this three-dimensional web.”

Initially, Alpiq’s enterprise architecture efforts focused only on IT documentation – servers, systems, and applications. But this backwards-looking approach couldn’t help the company reach its targets or steer large-scale transformation. What was needed was a more agile, forward-looking practice.

The Solution: Capability-Based Enterprise Architecture with ADOIT

To move from documentation to direction, Alpiq adopted a capability-driven EA approach with ADOIT. Their transformation unfolded in three key steps:

From retrospective to proactive EA
EA evolved from static documentation into a foundation for future planning. The team began shaping target architectures, conducting gap analyses, and reviewing designs before implementation – ensuring initiatives were well-aligned from the start.

Capabilities as anchors
“The capabilities ended up being the missing piece of the puzzle. They define the what to complement the why of the strategy,” said Ralfe. By mapping capabilities, Alpiq established a stable link between strategic goals and the underlying processes, applications, and systems.

Executive-ready heatmaps
By overlaying budgets, risks, and technical debt on the capability map, leaders gained an at-a-glance view of performance and priorities, making it easier to identify where to invest, where to scale back, and how to stay on course.

See how capability-based planning in ADOIT helps tackle these challenges.

Deployed Products

For capability-based planning, roadmapping, and executive-ready decision support.

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Provided services

  • Consulting

Methodological support for introducing capability modelling and aligning EA with strategy execution.

  • Technical support

Implementation of ADOIT, including integration of enterprise data and enablement of capability-based roadmapping.

  • Training

Workshops and hands-on training to ensure user adoption and effective use of ADOIT across business and IT teams.

Learn more →

Results & Successes: Strategy Execution at Scale

With ADOIT, Alpiq’s EA practice became a true accelerator for the business:

  • Faster decisions with clear visibility into priorities and gaps

  • Sharper investments by ensuring every initiative ties directly to strategy

  • Greater transparency through a single capability model uniting the enterprise

  • Top-down steering as initiatives now flow from strategy, not bottom-up issues

“Our capability map allows executives to both receive direction and communicate priorities. It’s become a central two-way tool.”

Poisson Ralfe
Enterprise Architect at Alpiq

Get proven tricks for building your capability map with our free poster.

The Outlook: EA as a Living Business Tool

For Alpiq, enterprise architecture is no longer a record of the past – it’s a dynamic tool for shaping the future.

With ADOIT’s AI-driven prioritization, automated requirement suggestions, and interactive planning workspaces, EA is now accessible beyond architects, enabling leaders and teams alike to collaborate on strategy execution.

Ralfe’s advice to others:
“Don’t strive for perfection. What’s more important than a perfectly accurate capability map is the process of ownership, review, and updates. Deliver value early – refine as you go.”

The company is continuing to expand ADOIT across departments and layering in real-time data – making strategy more actionable and change more deliberate.

Summary

Alpiq turned enterprise complexity into clarity with ADOIT. By anchoring strategy in capabilities, visualizing priorities with data, and driving projects top-down, they reshaped EA into a practical business tool. Today, their architecture practice empowers leaders, connects strategy with execution, and helps the enterprise adapt with confidence.

Want to dive deeper into Alpiq’s journey?
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