Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools

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Magic Quadrant for Enterprise ArchitectureToolsPublished: 3 October 2013

Analyst(s): Julie Short

The EA tool market continues to evolve toward delivering targeted businessoutcomes. Used effectively, EA tools enable leading organizations to meetthe demands of today's complex business environment by capturing,integrating, analyzing and communicating information to guide businessdecisions.

Market Definition/DescriptionTo provide significant value to organizations, the discipline of enterprise architecture (EA) mustdeliver business outcomes. Organizations that are past the getting-started stage are oftenchallenged with a number of problems that are beyond the capabilities that office productivity toolscan support. These challenges include managing a large number of artifacts; capturing the complexrelationships between many elements across those artifacts; conducting gap analysis, impactanalysis, scenario planning and modeling; and presenting information to stakeholders for makingstrategic investment decisions and supporting governance, risk and compliance (GRC). The EA toolmarket continues to evolve to produce tools designed to address these challenges.

Gartner redefined the EA tool market in March 2011, and this definition is still valid today. EA toolscapture, store, structure, analyze and present information pertaining to EA, and should facilitate theimplementation of a business strategy focused on business outcomes and risk mitigation. Theinformation must be presented to a variety of stakeholders set on operationalizing the future-statearchitecture across a number of viewpoints, including business, information, technology andsolutions. This is done to enable business change to support the direction and strategy of theorganization, while confronting many types of business disruptions. At a minimum, these EA toolsshould integrate with project and portfolio management solutions to ensure the best investment mixof projects to execute on business direction, vision and strategy.

EA tools must address the requirements of a variety of business and IT stakeholders in theorganization, and must contain:

A repository that supports, at a minimum, the business, information, technology and solutionviewpoints and their relationships. The repository must also support business direction, visionand strategy, as well as business disruptions.

Modeling capabilities that support the minimum viewpoints of business, information, technologyand solutions.

Decision analysis capabilities, such as gap analysis, impact analysis, scenario planning andsystem thinking.

Presentation capabilities that are visual or interactive to meet the demands of a myriad ofstakeholders.

Administration capabilities that enable security, user management and other tasks.

Configurability capabilities that are extensive, simple and straightforward to accomplish, whilesupporting multiple environments.

Support for frameworks and standards, often used while providing the flexibility to modify theframework.

Usability, including intuitive, flexible and easy-to-learn UIs.

See "Market Drives Gartner to Redefine the Enterprise Architecture Tool Marketplace" for moreinformation on the market definition.

EA teams are interested in other tools and occasionally use them. However, these tools do not meetthe Gartner definition of the EA tool marketplace and, as a result, are not included in this research.This Magic Quadrant focuses primarily on the vendor's placement in the market and not specificallyon the product functionality. One out of the 15 criteria in this Magic Quadrant is related to theproduct. The remaining 14 are focused on vendors and their ability to meet the requirements of thismarket.

For this Magic Quadrant research, Gartner received information from vendors, end-user customersand Gartner clients. We analyze company information databases according to the Gartner

methodology.1 Vendor evaluation against our defined evaluation criteria yielded vendor placement in

the Magic Quadrant figure. In the Vendor Strengths and Cautions section of this report, we have notattempted to mention all the strengths and cautions for each vendor. Rather, the purpose is toprovide guidance on the most important points to consider.

When evaluating vendors, enterprise architects should pay particular attention to the key strengthsand cautions analysis for each vendor. Placement on the Magic Quadrant is not an indicator ofappropriate fitness for the needs of a particular user organization, nor does it resolve the challengesof new, intermediate or advanced practitioners.

A Variety of Approaches Exist to Deliver Business Outcomes

This year has marked a significant departure from the traditional approach to EA tools. In the past,many tool providers focused on the technical aspects of their product suites, such as the strengthof their repository or the smoothness of their modeling tools. It was the era of EA tools for the sakeof EA. Gartner has seen a marked departure from this approach and a much-needed refocus ondelivering business outcomes.

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Some vendors have distanced themselves from the terminology of EA. They concentrate ondelivering solutions for operational excellence or enterprise portfolio management, or state that theynow focus on business architecture. EA, by any other name, is still the same discipline it was, andbusiness architecture has always been an integral part of that discipline. While the discipline hasalways been focused on delivering business outcomes, many EA practitioners have forgotten thatpurpose (see "EA Stage Planning: Target Business Outcomes" and "Define the Business OutcomeStatement to Guide Enterprise Architecture Efforts").

The overall market is improving its strategy to deliver business outcomes, as demonstrated by the

many inquiries Gartner receives from clients on this topic.2 Clients are demanding that these tools

have a short-term ROI so they can justify the investment. This is further evidenced by EA solutionproviders' ability to demonstrate an increasing number of business-outcome-related use cases thatrepresent the challenges organizations face today. The new focus on delivering targeted businessoutcomes, on integrating all the viewpoints of EA, and on use cases demonstrating this ability hasled to some significant vendor movement in the market this year. The criteria, weighting and usecases for the Magic Quadrant may change every year as this market continues to evolve.

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Magic QuadrantFigure 1. Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools

Source: Gartner (October 2013)

Vendor Strengths and Cautions

Atoll Technologies

Atoll Technologies (www.atollgroup.eu) offers System Architecture Management Utility (SAMU).


Strengths

Atoll continues its steady improvement as a global player, as evidenced by its recent NorthAmerican presence (see "News: SAMU is made available on the U.S. market"). In addition to itspresence in the Middle East, it has regional strength in Central and Eastern Europe, and canprovide strong support to these otherwise underserved markets.

Atoll is improving its focus on the business architecture aspects of EA to complement itstechnical product capabilities.

Atoll is providing configuration packs for new customers to make the setup of the repositorymore straightforward and easy to accomplish.

Cautions

Atoll has understood that EA includes business architecture and has introduced some limitedbusiness architecture capabilities. For comprehensive EA program support, especially in thearea of business architecture, additional tools may be required.

Atoll remains a small company with a primary focus on the technical architecture and solutionsarchitecture areas. As a result, large global organizations should ensure that sufficient usecases and technical support can be provided.

Avolution

Avolution (www.avolution.com.au) offers Abacus.

Strengths

Avolution's Abacus product provides advanced simulation capabilities, enabling decisionanalysis for portfolio and life cycle management of architectures using asset timelines and roadmaps alongside its fully configurable metamodel and XML base.

Avolution has demonstrated its understanding for addressing the needs of various stakeholdersby adding extensive reporting and business intelligence capabilities.

Cautions

Due to Abacus' flexibility and high degree of configurability, it is tempting for some tool users tobecome so enamored with the capabilities that they lose track of the tool's purpose: Helpenterprise architects deliver business outcomes.

Avolution began as an organization closely aligned with university research. Currently, itleverages its university research along with customer feedback to enhance its product offering.It is important to keep this in mind when engaging with this vendor.


BiZZdesign

BiZZdesign (www.bizzdesign.com) offers Architect.

Strengths

BiZZdesign is a young and fast-growing organization, with 140 employees. The vibrancy andcollaboration of this workforce are clearly influencing the look and feel of Architect in productssuch as the Business Model Canvas and Decision Modeler, which contains business logic.

BiZZdesign continued to focus on its international growth during the past year by partneringwith resellers in several South American and Eastern European countries.

Cautions

BiZZdesign has demonstrated limited success in moving from a purely academic-driven EAsolution. As a result, some product functionality is still missing, primarily in portfolio analysisand portfolio management.

Metamodel flexibility, which is required for meeting today's business challenges, continues tobe achieved through the use of a proprietary scripting language that adds data entry controlsand restrictions to the product. It is also used for some advanced reporting capabilities.Organizations considering BiZZdesign should understand the technical skills required andprepare for this incremental support effort.

Casewise

Casewise (www.casewise.com) offers Corporate Modeler and related products.

Strengths

Casewise continues to add product functionality, such as Casewise Harmony, a Web-based UIand platform for performing specific user tasks for decision analysis and collaboration, as partof its strategy to meet the needs of various stakeholders.

Casewise has improved its international coverage by adding partners from five South Americancountries and Canada.

Cautions

Casewise has reduced its number of product offerings and simplified its marketing message,but its future product strategy remains somewhat unclear. Customers should understand howCasewise plans to differentiate itself, other than to collaborate, share and govern EA data.

Casewise has signed a number of new partnerships in recent years to extend its reach to avariety of potential users. However, it needs to clarify how it will continue to support and deliverbusiness outcomes for users.


IBM

IBM (www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/systemarchitect/productline) offers Rational SystemArchitect.

Strengths

IBM has established a substantial presence, positive reputation and longevity in this market.Overall, Rational System Architect is a robust, feature-rich, mature product with configurabilityto meet user requirements, and an extensive business architecture capability.

IBM's global coverage and support structure make it a strong contender for clients that have aninternational user base, or are having difficulty finding an EA tool with support in their locations.

IBM continues to move forward with its strategy on the Rational Jazz platform, which includeslife cycle data management encompassing EA and portfolio analysis.

Cautions

IBM's global coverage and support structure does not always indicate that prices or licensingagreements are globally consistent. Potential customers should understand the limitations orconstraints that may be imposed in their particular regions.

Rational System Architect has historically been challenging to learn and administer. Potentialcustomers should consider this and prepare for a steep learning curve. However, IBM continuesto make efforts to improve this.

iteratec

Iteratec (www.iteratec.com) offers iteraplan (Enterprise Edition).

Strengths

Among the vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant, iteratec is unique in offering a productwith a software source code base that is publicly available for download (because theCommunity Edition is open source). The commercially licensed and supported EnterpriseEdition adds features such as support for MySQL, Oracle Database, users/roles/permissions,and data integration, as well as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) integration.Iteratec sells a SaaS-hosted alternative. No escrow agreements are necessary for the base(Community Edition) code; however, some customers may want to consider such agreementsfor the additional software unique to the Enterprise Edition.

Iteratec employs thought leaders on the topic of EA and aligns itself with several universities,which work on innovation of the product and the discipline of EA.


Cautions

Iteratec focuses on creating and maintaining premier partnerships in many regions. Potentialcustomers should ensure that the partner in their regions can deliver the same level of quality asiteratec is known for in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking region of Switzerland.

Large federated organizations should understand the ramifications that this federated structurepresents to iteraplan. Multiple repositories may be necessary and require more administrationthan originally thought. Federated organizations must understand the level of information theyneed to maintain, as well as to federate.

Mega

Mega (www.mega.com) offers Mega Suite.

Strengths

Mega has a clear identification and understanding of stakeholder expectations across the entireorganization. This enables it to manage information that provides business value across thisspectrum of stakeholders.

Mega uses the Holistic Operational Excellence (HOPEX) platform, a Web-based integratedplatform that includes EA, GRC, and application portfolio management, and delivers anintegrated set of solutions that deliver operational excellence for organizations facing complexintegration issues with business and technology. The platform enables organizations to useassessments, campaigns and surveys, and to base business-technology decisions on businessperformance results expressed by a variety of business stakeholders.

Mega consistently integrates industry best practices in many aspects of its product offering.One example is the Object Management Group's Meta Object Facility (OMG MoF 2)-compliantrepository that provides underlying support for the reporting and decision-making capabilitiesby adding any object/relationship type to the metamodel and making it available to end usersfor query and reporting. Another example is the rich out-of-the-box modeling capabilities. Bothdemonstrate the rigor Mega applies to its product and to the company.

Cautions

Mega is a rigorously run organization with a strong management team and excellent resourcesin many key roles. Its strategy on retaining resources and providing recognition and incentivesmakes it a good candidate for acquisition.

Federated organizations can be handled using several methods in the Mega Suite. As a result,potential customers must understand how they want to implement it in their organization, byarticulating specific use cases.

OpenText

OpenText (www.bps.opentext.com) offers OpenText ProVision for Enterprise Architecture.


Strengths

The ProVision product is positioned primarily as a business architecture tool for deliveringbusiness transformation, such as large ERP implementations, mergers and acquisitions (M&As),and process excellence initiatives. Organizations intent on transformation with a strongbusiness architecture focus should consider ProVision.

OpenText has positioned ProVision as a strategic tool for organizations to approach theirenterprise information management strategy, helping to connect enterprise contentmanagement (ECM), business process management (BPM) and customer experiencemanagement (CXM).

Cautions

Since acquiring Metastorm in 2011, OpenText has made a strong effort to distance the productfrom the EA discipline and focus it primarily on business transformation capabilities. Potentialcustomers are strongly encouraged to provide specific use cases to determine whether theproduct can meet their needs.

Customers report some technical issues and insufficient guidance when using ProVision toavoid setting up too many repositories or not taking advantage of all the capabilities of theproduct.

QualiWare

QualiWare (www.qualiware.com) offers QualiWare Product Suite.

Strengths

QualiWare has continued its efforts to improve its product positioning and marketing, productusability, and quality of visual tool output, which have resulted in a positive market reaction.

QualiWare has focused on extensive collaboration capabilities in the design of its offering.Organizations requiring consensus building to ensure effective EA and decision making shouldstrongly consider including QualiWare on their shortlists.

Cautions

QualiWare has enjoyed considerable success in its Nordic-based region and has successfullyestablished a presence in many locations outside this area. Potential customers should ensurethey have adequate support from QualiWare to support their product implementations.

QualiWare has historically co-created industry-specific solutions with its clients and thenmaintained ongoing support for these solutions. Prospective customers should ensure thissupport continues to be in place and understand how enhancements will be made.


SAP-Sybase

SAP (www.sap.com/solutions/technology/database/model-driven-architecture/index.epx) offersSAP Sybase PowerDesigner EnterpriseArchitect.

Strengths

The SAP approach to EA sets it somewhat apart from the other vendors in this research. Itsfocus is on data and information, resulting in an in-depth approach to information modeling andarchitecture that is unsurpassed in the EA tool marketplace. Clients that need this functionalityare well-advised to look at this product, especially because of its integration with other EAtools.

SAP Sybase PowerDesigner EnterpriseArchitect is fully integrated into the SAP family andenjoys the same level of commitment, marketing and sales support as the rest of the SAPproducts. SAP's EA consultants will use this product in their consulting engagements, whichillustrates an approach consistent with the "SAP runs SAP" marketing efforts.

Cautions

Although SAP has strong information architecture functionality, it may not provide the richfunctionality required for a mature EA team in terms of dashboards and visualizations thatinclude the other architecture viewpoints. Generating output from the tool to enable decisionmaking is not handled natively in a user-friendly manner. Data must be exported into aspreadsheet or report writer tool and formatted as desired. Some "export to Excel" examplesare provided.

The benefits of SAP are primarily recognized through a specific configuration to meet clients'needs. Potential buyers must be aware of this and plan for the time and money required toachieve such a configuration.

Software AG (alfabet)

Software AG offers alfabet's product suite called planningIT (www.alfabet.com).

Strengths

Alfabet continued to grow and expand into the EA tool market by increasing sales andbecoming an attractive target for Software AG, which acquired alfabet in June 2013.

Alfabet focuses on providing Integrated IT Portfolio Analysis (IIPA) and contains all the EAcomponents and viewpoints to support that analysis.

Alfabet states it will continue to focus on product releases every six months and to support anengaged and committed user community, which includes midsize organizations needing aquick-start configuration.


Cautions

Customers of alfabet, a strong individual player in the EA tool market, should understand howthe organization's expertise and experience will be integrated and positioned in the SoftwareAG product suite.

Some aspects of the customer experience decision analysis are accomplished outside the toolfunctionality. Customers should know what decision analysis is included in the product.

Software AG (Aris)

Software AG (www.softwareag.com/ea) offers Aris.

Strengths

Software AG has complemented the Aris product with the Aris MashZone product to enableinformation sharing with senior business stakeholders via dashboards.

Software AG is well-known for its long-standing, solid participation in the business processanalysis (BPA) market, and for its rich modeling and analysis capabilities. This makes it well-suited for organizations that want to use the same tool for EA and BPA.

Software AG has understood the impact of the digital organization challenges and plans toengage with business consultants to ensure its approach is more business-based in the future.

Software AG has acquired alfabet, which also participates in the EA tool market. The potentialsynergy of these two offerings may provide the market with some interesting alternatives.

Cautions

Since the acquisition of alfabet in June 2013, customers should strive to understand how thealfabet product will be positioned.

Some Software AG products can be challenging to use without the assistance of the company'sconsulting practice. Potential customers should understand that implementing these complexsolutions likely will require consulting services, and should consider the cost and effort required.

Sparx Systems

Sparx Systems (www.sparxsystems.com) offers Enterprise Architect.

Strengths

Sparx Systems has a unique offering in this Magic Quadrant as a vendor that provides a low-cost product license for immediate online download.

Sparx Systems' product has broad EA capability and functionality that is commonly required bysoftware engineers (requirements management and requirements engineering) for delivering


new applications. Customers have acquired Sparx for this reason, and supplement it with othertools needed for more strategic decision-making capabilities.

Cautions

Sparx Systems is an Australian company, and as a result, its technical support comes primarilyfrom Australia. Therefore, response to a technical problem is usually provided by email, and itmay take several rounds of emails to resolve the problem if it is a complex one.

Sparx Systems has a limited number of sister companies in several regions of the world andprimarily focuses on training partners to help its user base understand how to use the product.Potential customers should ensure there is sufficient training support available in their regions.

Troux

Troux (www.troux.com) offers Troux Enterprise Portfolio Management Suite.

Strengths

In addition to serving the traditional EA tool market, Troux has expanded its marketing toinclude positioning the tool for what it calls "Enterprise Portfolio Management" to expand itsaddressable market to other roles, including business leaders. This approach has led to someinitial success, with a significant increase in sales.

In response to providing support to a variety of stakeholder concerns, Troux recently updatedits product suite by adding a powerful Web-based analytic capability (Insight) in addition to itsintegrated visual modeling client (Architect) and Web-based information portal (Navigate),integrating modeling and enterprise portfolio management use cases. Troux has understoodthat investment decisions in organizations are not made purely on the basis of strategy and arenow focusing more strongly on a portfolio analysis approach.

Troux has moved to align product strategy, product development and marketing under oneresponsible manager. This approach has strengthened the company's ability to deliver anintegrated, whole product to the market. This effort, along with its renewed focus on expandingits geographic coverage, has resulted in more global market coverage than previously.

Cautions

Customers should be aware that Troux uses the term "enterprise portfolio management"instead of "enterprise architecture" to attract a target market other than traditional enterprisearchitects.

Customers have remarked that there have been some technical problems with the SaaSoffering. Because this is a key part of Troux's go-to-market strategy, potential customersshould evaluate this offering carefully.


Troux may be a candidate for acquisition, given its innovative thought leadership in the EAdiscipline, and that it has been a consistent leader in the EA tool market with its attractiveproduct capabilities and growing global presence.

Vendors Added and Dropped

We review and adjust our inclusion criteria for Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes as marketschange. As a result of these adjustments, the mix of vendors in any Magic Quadrant orMarketScope may change over time. A vendor's appearance in a Magic Quadrant or MarketScopeone year and not the next does not necessarily indicate that we have changed our opinion of thatvendor. It may be a reflection of a change in the market and, therefore, changed evaluation criteria,or of a change of focus by that vendor.

Added

None.

Dropped

Future Tech Systems has been dropped as a result of not meeting the inclusion criteria for marketpresence (subsidiary or official partner) in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region, as wellas clients in two of these regions. As this market continues to evolve and mature, it is increasinglyimportant for these vendors to support global organizations.

Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaTo be included in this Magic Quadrant, vendors must:

Have tools that are positioned to address the Gartner-defined EA tool marketplace and possessthe critical capabilities described in the Market Definition/Description section.

Have customer production deployments in at least two vertical industries.

Have a presence (office or official partner) in North America, Europe and the Asia/Pacific region.

Have customers in production for at least two of the three regions mentioned above.

Enable Gartner to acquire survey data from at least three users/customers not necessarilyprovided by the vendor (during the customer survey period executed as part of the MagicQuadrant research process) that demonstrate that the tool meets these criteria.

Have a substantial presence in this market. This will be determined by the number of active userlicenses and the vendor's client references that are: (1) using a current release of the product inproduction, and (2) using the product to do EA as described in Gartner's definition of the EAtool market.


Evaluation Criteria

Ability to Execute

Vendors are evaluated on their Ability to Execute the ability to compete effectively, impactrevenue to a positive degree, and deliver solutions to clients that create vendor-client win-winrelationships.

Here are the Ability to Execute criteria:

Product/Service: This includes the core products/services offered by the vendors thatcompete in this market. We looked in detail at 11 aspects of a vendor's EA product suite:

Repository/metamodel

Modeling

Decision analysis

Presentation

Administration

Configurability

Frameworks and standards

Technical

Interfaces

Usability

Differentiators

Overall Viability: An assessment of the vendor's financial health, the strength of its customerbase and its presence in the market. For large vendors (IBM, SAP-Sybase and Software AG),we also evaluated the relevant business units and the likelihood that the vendors will continueto invest in and sell their products.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The overall effectiveness of the sales channels and product pricing,including the cost of training and consulting.

Market Responsiveness/Record: The ability to respond to changes in the market as customerneeds evolve and market dynamics change, recognizing the vendor's history of responsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The effectiveness of programs that communicate the organization'smessage to the market to increase awareness of its products, and to establish a positiveidentification with the product or brand and the organization among buyers.

Customer Experience: The customer's experience with the vendor and its products.


Operations: The organization's ability to meet its goals and commitments, including thevendor's technical support, training and consulting operations (see Table 1).

Table 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation Criteria

Criteria Weight

Product or Service High

Overall Viability High

Sales Execution/Pricing Medium

Market Responsiveness/Record Medium

Marketing Execution High

Customer Experience High

Operations Medium


Completeness of Vision

Vendors are also evaluated on their Completeness of Vision their ability to articulate logicalstatements about current and future market direction, innovation, customer needs and competitiveforces; how consistently they map their strategies and plans to their stated vision; and thepracticality of that vision. Ultimately, vendors are rated on their understanding of market forces andtheir plans to exploit the market.

Here are the weighted Completeness of Vision criteria:

Market Understanding: The ability to understand and accurately forecast buyers' needs in theEA environment, and to translate those needs into products and services.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages communicated consistentlythroughout the organization and externalized through the website, advertising, customerprograms and positioning statements, consistent with the market understanding.

Sales Strategy: The strategy that uses the appropriate network of direct and indirect saleschannels, coupled with marketing, service and communication affiliates that extend the scopeand depth of market reach for selling products and services.

Offering (Product) Strategy: A vendor's approach to product development and delivery thatemphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and features as they map to users'requirements.


Business Model: The soundness and logic of a vendor's underlying business proposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings tomeet the specific needs of individual industries.

Innovation: The direct, related, complementary and synergistic allocation of resources,expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings to meetthe specific needs of geographies outside its "home" region directly or through partners,channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for those geographies and markets (see Table 2).

Table 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria Weighting

Market Understanding High

Marketing Strategy Medium

Sales Strategy Medium

Offering (Product) Strategy High

Business Model Medium

Vertical/Industry Strategy Medium

Innovation High

Geographic Strategy Medium


Quadrant Descriptions

Leaders

Leaders provide mature offerings that meet market demand, and demonstrate the vision necessaryto sustain their market position as requirements evolve. The hallmark of Leaders is that they focuson and invest in their offerings to the point that they lead the market and can affect its overalldirection. As a result, Leaders can become the vendors to watch as you try to understand how newofferings might evolve. Leaders typically possess a large, satisfied customer base (relative to thesize of the market) and enjoy high visibility within the market. Their size and financial strengthenable them to remain viable in a challenging economy. Leaders typically respond to a wide marketaudience by supporting broad market requirements. However, they may fail to meet the specificneeds of vertical markets or other more specialized segments.


In this Magic Quadrant, the Leaders have a broad range of capabilities to support EA, combinedwith the ability to deliver these capabilities to a diverse group of stakeholders. Although each of theLeaders has different strengths, they all provide good capabilities to assist the EA mission totranslate business vision and strategy into effective enterprise change. In addition, they have a clearvision of the direction and maturation of the EA discipline.

Challengers

Challengers have a strong Ability to Execute, but may not have a plan that will maintain a strongvalue proposition for new customers. Although Challengers typically have significant size andfinancial resources, they may lack a strong vision, innovative ideas/plans or overall understanding ofmarket needs. In some cases, Challengers may offer products nearing the end of their lives thatdominate a large, but shrinking, segment. Challengers can become Leaders if their vision develops.Large companies may fluctuate between the Challengers and Leaders quadrants as their productcycles and market needs shift.

Visionaries

These vendors have shown a thorough understanding of the necessary attributes required in thenew definition of the EA tool marketplace. Visionaries align with Gartner's view of how a market willevolve, but they have fewer proven capabilities to deliver against that vision. They may reflect acompetitive strategy for a smaller vendor such as selling an innovation ahead of mainstreamdemand or a larger vendor trying to break out of a rut or differentiate itself. For vendors andcustomers, Visionaries fall into the higher-risk/higher-reward category. They often introduce newtechnology, services or business models, and may need to build financial strength, service andsupport, as well as sales and distribution channels. Visionaries may become Challengers orLeaders, depending on whether companies accept the new technology, or whether the vendors candevelop partnerships that complement their strengths. Visionaries sometimes are attractiveacquisition targets for Leaders or Challengers.

Niche Players

Vendors in the Niche Players quadrant tend to have strengths in numerous aspects of EA, but maybe relatively deficient in functional breadth, global presence, industry breadth or market focus.However, they may also have expertise in a particular niche market, which actually makes them thevendors of choice for that market. Niche Players do well in a segment of a market, or they have alimited ability to innovate or outperform other vendors. This may be because they focus on afunctionality or geographic region, or because they are new entrants to the market. Alternatively,they may be struggling to remain relevant in a market that is moving away from them. Niche Playersmay have reasonably broad functionality, but with limited implementation and support capabilities,and relatively limited customer bases. They have not yet established a strong vision for theirofferings. A Niche Player may be a perfect fit for your requirements. However, if the vendor goesagainst the direction of the market even if you like what it offers then it may be a risky choice,because its long-term viability will be threatened.


ContextThe EA tool market continues to incrementally evolve as EA teams, CIOs and tool providers grapplewith unique challenges. For EA teams, these challenges include the growing need to:

Present analyses, recommendations and scenarios to multiple stakeholders that requiredifferent levels of detail and context setting

Support their analyses and recommendations with increasingly sophisticated forms of decisionanalysis

Run and test a range of possible scenarios that describe alternative investment plans

Chief architects and CIOs face the additional challenge of demonstrating the business value that EAefforts provide. EA tool providers are challenged to respond to a dynamic market that supportsenterprise architects in their effort to show results by delivering targeted business outcomes.

Against the backdrop of these market trends, this Magic Quadrant addresses the concerns of new,intermediate and advanced EA practitioners regarding the use of tools to support their EAprograms. These concerns include the selection, adoption, implementation and subsequent use ofthe tools to support needs that are specific to EA, and often to support complementary efforts, suchas planning, compliance, BPM, data management and portfolio management. Organizationsrequiring integrated functionality across these areas should include integration/functional supportcriteria in their vendor/product evaluations.

A Magic Quadrant reflects the scoring and weighting that have been performed by analysts. ThisMagic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools reflects the positioning of a technology providerand is not primarily an analysis of its product's functionality. Of the 15 evaluation criteria, only oneactually pertains to the product. The remaining 14 criteria evaluate the technology provider againstthe definition of the EA market. Gartner recommends that clients:

Review the Magic Quadrant research to help narrow the list of the most likely technologyproviders to meet the organization's requirements.

Use associated Gartner Recommended Reading on EA tools and the selection process.

Select a vendor/product using use cases and capabilities that meet their functional andnonfunctional requirements.

This Magic Quadrant describes a diverse market, but EA teams must consider that the best vendorfor a given organization might be outside the Leaders quadrant. Niche problems may require nichesolutions. When selecting an EA tool, organizations should consider a range of criteria and weightthem according to their current and future needs. Given the continuing global economic uncertainty,organizations should consider the viability of their preferred vendors. Additionally, organizationsshould ensure that there is adequate support for a given tool in their geographic region.


Key Requirements of Enterprise Architects

In 2013, our focus on reviewing products has remained on capabilities that support and assist anEA team in its day-to-day activities. Some of these activities include modeling, future-state analysis,road mapping, presentational aids, dashboard analysis and scenario planning.

Although an EA team is likely to start off using drawing tools, spreadsheets, and other officeproductivity and content management tools to document and share the EA, this approach becomesextremely difficult once artifacts required for complex decision making appear in multiple places orhave complex relationships. For example, representations of an application might appear on adiagram depicting a server, a business process and the application's interfaces all on differentcontent management systems, spreadsheets or diagrams. Changes to the application might requireupdates in all locations of this data, introducing additional complexity and opportunities forinconsistency and inaccuracy.

Adoption of an EA tool, together with the discipline of providing the right processes and security tokeep it up-to-date, can help enterprises maintain all the artifacts in sync by designing andimplementing an environment that enables changes to be reflected across all perspectives orviewpoints in the entire architecture. EA practitioners that contribute to business outcomes mustcreate enabling, operational, diagnostic, actionable and measurable deliverables (see "EA StagePlanning: Frame EA Deliverables"). EA tools provide some of the diagnostic deliverables (decisionanalysis) and actionable deliverables (road maps) to enable the organization to realize businesschange.

Enterprise architects should realize that additional tools outside this market may be required tosupport business outcomes. Organizations make investment decisions based on various criteria,which may or may not be linked to strategy. Gartner research shows that 80% of organizations failto execute their strategies (see "Using Risk-Adjusted Value Management to Close the Strategy Gapand Gain Competitive Advantage"). One reason is that many organizations treat strategydevelopment and strategy execution as two distinct processes. This approach leads to a gap inunderstanding and a failure to reach desired goals i.e., organizations do not necessarily executewhat is strategically important. Gartner finds that application portfolio management and projectportfolio management are becoming more important and influential in the investment decision-making process. However, without the full EA perspective to support their functionality, thoserecommendations are limited. At the same time, enterprise architects should be ready toaccommodate those decisions if they deviate from the strategic road maps that EA produces.Enterprise architects must be ready to reflect these new decisions in their road maps at a moment'snotice.

Market OverviewAlthough there is a wide spread of vendors across the quadrants, vendors are primarily in theLeaders and Niche Players quadrants. This is a reflection of the spread of functionality provided byvendors and their business models. There has also been significant movement by several vendors;


these moves demonstrate their understanding of how EA tools deliver targeted business outcomesto their customers.

New Demands for EA Tools and Vendor Responses

Organizations are continuing to scrutinize their investments in technology, and often have anincreasingly difficult time determining how to plan their investments. Adoption of EA tools hasreflected the need to provide better management, analysis and communication capabilities todemonstrate the value EA brings to an organization (see "CEO Survey 2012: Executive SummaryReport: The Year of Living Hesitantly").

The chief architect and EA team are not the only stakeholders benefiting from an EA tool. EA toolvendors have responded to this demand, and most of the vendors reported continued revenuegrowth in 2012. Those reporting product revenue increases said the increases ranged from 20% to42% during 2012, compared with 2011.

Additional Focus Areas for EA Tools

Historically, many EA tools were used to do modeling. As the use of EA tools matured,organizations implemented analytical techniques (enabled through modeling) to closely match theanalytical needs of enterprise architects. However, the functionality of tool capabilities hascontinued to expand, particularly in areas that enable EA tools to support an array of associatedactivities with high affinity to EA including task management, GRC, communication andcollaboration, and integrated IT portfolio analysis while maintaining a common repository. Severalvendors mentioned in this Magic Quadrant also participate in other markets.

Here is a summary of the EA tool vendors that participate in other Magic Quadrants:

Enterprise GRC platforms: Mega and Software AG (Aris) (see "Magic Quadrant for EnterpriseGovernance, Risk and Compliance Platforms")

BPA tools: Casewise, IBM, Mega, OpenText, Software AG (Aris) and Sparx Systems

Integrated IT portfolio analysis: Software AG (alfabet) (see "Magic Quadrant for Integrated ITPortfolio Analysis Applications")

Acquisitions

Software AG acquired alfabet in June 2013 subject to the German federal cartel office's antitrustapproval. It was subsequently approved by the German federal cartel's office on 24 June 2013. Thiswas a significant acquisition, as alfabet is a strong player in the EA tool market and recentlyexpanded its role in the IIPA market as well. Gartner clients should speak with a Gartner analyst tofind out the current status of a vendor if they are concerned about possible acquisitions, mergers orother issues.

Additional research contribution and review: Chris Wilson.


Gartner Recommended ReadingSome documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

"How Gartner Evaluates Vendors and Markets in Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes"

"Market Drives Gartner to Redefine the Enterprise Architecture Tool Marketplace"

"Gartner Assessment of Enterprise Architecture Tool Capabilities"

"Toolkit: Use Cases for EA Tools That Deliver Business Value"

"Enterprise Architecture Tools Are Positioned to Deliver Business Value"

Evidence

1 Extensive research based on the Gartner methodology approach was conducted on the EA toolmarketplace to produce this Magic Quadrant. Information was acquired and analyzed for 14vendors, including:

Vendor-specific responses to all 15 evaluation criteria that define the Magic Quadrant

Vendor-specific responses to 11 tool capabilities, including tool differentiators in thismarketplace

Vendor briefings

Vendor presentation of tools that support two common use cases, which address the use of thetool in performing complex decision analysis and providing information back to keystakeholders about strategic road maps

At least three customer responses per vendor to a survey, including 18 questions on their useand opinions of vendor tools

Client inquiries and comments received by Gartner during the past year regarding any of thetools and the EA tool marketplace in general

2 During the past year, Gartner conducted 232 inquiries with Gartner clients about their challengesneeding EA tool support, EA tool usage and functionality. Gartner conducted more than 50 face-to-face discussions with clients and vendors. These client inquiries represented a broad cross sectionof organizations of every size worldwide. Gartner had more than 14 in-depth briefings with EAvendors.

Evaluation Criteria Definitions

Ability to Execute

Product/Service: Core goods and services offered by the vendor for the definedmarket. This includes current product/service capabilities, quality, feature sets, skills


and so on, whether offered natively or through OEM agreements/partnerships asdefined in the market definition and detailed in the subcriteria.

Overall Viability: Viability includes an assessment of the overall organization's financialhealth, the financial and practical success of the business unit, and the likelihood thatthe individual business unit will continue investing in the product, will continue offeringthe product and will advance the state of the art within the organization's portfolio ofproducts.

Sales Execution/Pricing: The vendor's capabilities in all presales activities and thestructure that supports them. This includes deal management, pricing and negotiation,presales support, and the overall effectiveness of the sales channel.

Market Responsiveness/Record: Ability to respond, change direction, be flexible andachieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act, customerneeds evolve and market dynamics change. This criterion also considers the vendor'shistory of responsiveness.

Marketing Execution: The clarity, quality, creativity and efficacy of programs designedto deliver the organization's message to influence the market, promote the brand andbusiness, increase awareness of the products, and establish a positive identificationwith the product/brand and organization in the minds of buyers. This "mind share" canbe driven by a combination of publicity, promotional initiatives, thought leadership,word of mouth and sales activities.

Customer Experience: Relationships, products and services/programs that enableclients to be successful with the products evaluated. Specifically, this includes the wayscustomers receive technical support or account support. This can also include ancillarytools, customer support programs (and the quality thereof), availability of user groups,service-level agreements and so on.

Operations: The ability of the organization to meet its goals and commitments. Factorsinclude the quality of the organizational structure, including skills, experiences,programs, systems and other vehicles that enable the organization to operateeffectively and efficiently on an ongoing basis.

Completeness of Vision

Market Understanding: Ability of the vendor to understand buyers' wants and needsand to translate those into products and services. Vendors that show the highestdegree of vision listen to and understand buyers' wants and needs, and can shape orenhance those with their added vision.

Marketing Strategy: A clear, differentiated set of messages consistentlycommunicated throughout the organization and externalized through the website,advertising, customer programs and positioning statements.


Sales Strategy: The strategy for selling products that uses the appropriate network ofdirect and indirect sales, marketing, service, and communication affiliates that extendthe scope and depth of market reach, skills, expertise, technologies, services and thecustomer base.

Offering (Product) Strategy: The vendor's approach to product development anddelivery that emphasizes differentiation, functionality, methodology and feature sets asthey map to current and future requirements.

Business Model: The soundness and logic of the vendor's underlying businessproposition.

Vertical/Industry Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills andofferings to meet the specific needs of individual market segments, including verticalmarkets.

Innovation: Direct, related, complementary and synergistic layouts of resources,expertise or capital for investment, consolidation, defensive or pre-emptive purposes.

Geographic Strategy: The vendor's strategy to direct resources, skills and offerings tomeet the specific needs of geographies outside the "home" or native geography, eitherdirectly or through partners, channels and subsidiaries as appropriate for thatgeography and market.


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Market Definition/DescriptionA Variety of Approaches Exist to Deliver Business Outcomes

Magic QuadrantVendor Strengths and CautionsAtoll TechnologiesStrengthsCautions

AvolutionStrengthsCautions

BiZZdesignStrengthsCautions

CasewiseStrengthsCautions

IBMStrengthsCautions

iteratecStrengthsCautions

MegaStrengthsCautions

OpenTextStrengthsCautions

QualiWareStrengthsCautions

SAP-SybaseStrengthsCautions

Software AG (alfabet)StrengthsCautions

Software AG (Aris)StrengthsCautions

Sparx SystemsStrengthsCautions

TrouxStrengthsCautions

Vendors Added and DroppedAddedDropped

Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaEvaluation CriteriaAbility to ExecuteCompleteness of VisionQuadrant DescriptionsLeadersChallengersVisionariesNiche Players

ContextKey Requirements of Enterprise Architects

Market OverviewNew Demands for EA Tools and Vendor ResponsesAdditional Focus Areas for EA ToolsAcquisitions

Gartner Recommended ReadingList of TablesTable 1. Ability to Execute Evaluation CriteriaTable 2. Completeness of Vision Evaluation Criteria

List of FiguresFigure 1. Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools

Documents

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Architecture Tools