Big changes are underway in the enterprise architecture market with the announcement of a merger between Bizzdesign and Mega International, along with a third unnamed vendor.
Without concrete details about the future direction of this complex merged business, customers of these companies may be apprehensive about the potential impact on their EA practices.
Questions remain about the product roadmaps, the continuity of support, and pricing and integration challenges that arise from this type of merger.
Avolution and ABACUS are not involved in the merger, and remain an independent provider of enterprise architecture software, committed to supporting architecture professionals and their colleagues globally.
Bizzdesign Horizzon or Mega HOPEX Aquila: Product Support & Integration?
One of the motivations behind this type of merger is often cost savings, through consolidation of operations, support, product and other functions.
A significant question for customers is whether the Bizzdesign Mega merger will mean the company discontinues support for certain products or features.
Notably, there was no mention of Mega’s HOPEX Aquila platform (released in October 2023) in the merger announcement.
Industry analysts are speculating. For example Mark McGregor – Former Research Director at Gartner and EA Tools Analyst says:
“I expect one or both existing platforms [Bizz and Mega] to disappear over time…They will have three “products” with three different types of repositories, and any new product will require a different “fourth”. So going forward customers are likely to be asked to migrate anyway at some point.”
Commentators have also observed that the combined tool offering of Bizzdesign and Mega will double up on a lot of functionality, while remain lacking in data-driven and analytics capabilities.
Migrating from Bizzdesign Horizzon or Mega HOPEX Aquila
A primary concern for customers about the Bizzdesign Horizzon and Mega HOPEX Aquila is the potential for forced migrations. Such transitions can cause significant commercial uncertainties for companies, including changes in pricing, contract terms, and the complexities of integrating with existing systems.
Any tool migration requires investment in configuration and data management. Architects who have carefully set up reporting, permissions structures and other arrangements may find that these need to be reworked. Migration will also often requires additional training for users.
With three different pricing models to consolidate in the new Bizzdesign entity, customers could also face changes in their licensing costs.
Alternatives to Bizzdesign and Mega: For Modeling, ArchiMate, BIAN
For architects assessing alternatives, the post-merger landscape presents both challenges and opportunities.
ArchiMate users: As Bizzdesign Horizzon only supports ArchiMate modeling functionality, the merger creates uncertainty for those who rely on this standard. While free and basic drawing tools exist, they often lack the features and repository capabilities of dedicated EA platforms. Fortunately, several other ArchiMate-certified tools offer strong alternatives. ABACUS has been certified for ArchiMate by the Open Group for over a decade.
The needs of modern enterprise architects generally extend beyond a single framework. While TOGAF remains a valuable reference, many architects also want a broader feature set. Here’s what architects might prioritize in a tool:
- Cloud Modeling Resources: the ability to model cloud-based resources including AWS or Azure diagrams as part of enterprise architecture planning can lead to real time efficiencies
- Cybersecurity Standards: Integration with relevant cybersecurity frameworks supports secure and compliant architectures.
- Industry-Specific Functionality: industry-specific frameworks like BIAN (Financial Services) can accelerate modeling efforts.
- Configurable Graph Database Repository: provides flexibility to adapt the metamodel to business and technical priorities, and to add frameworks easily.
By evaluating these functionalities and industry-specific needs, architects can identify alternative tools that meet their requirements. For modern architecture professionals this presents challenges but also opportunities to explore new solutions which can deliver value to their organizations.
Cloud-based Modeling and Diagrams
Modeling and drawing tools remain important for enterprise architects, solution architects and for process modeling tasks. Diagrams are a valuable part of effective communication, and pictures can be worth a thousand words. However, teams who have used tools like PowerPoint, Visio or Lucid to model and visualize architectures often find standalone diagramming tools fall short for managing large enterprises.
Architecture tools requirements going forward now include first and foremost, a business outcomes mindset with strong data-driven and reporting functionality. Cloud-based modeling and process modeling, plus planning and standards are core to good architecture. Without these capabilities, architecture is often limited to managing current-state application portfolios.