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Envision

  • shared EKG vision
  • why EKG is critical for long-term business health
  • shared strategy to realize that vision

Create a shared vision: where do we think that our organization should be three to ten years down the road, and how do we leverage our unique data and knowledge to become, or stay, a leader in our markets? Translate this to a (long term) integrated business, data and technology strategy, and identify primary stakeholders and an agreed scope.

That scope can range from an enterprise-wide transformation, to a single business unit or region, down to one critical use case or system that needs to be replaced or improved. There is no golden rule. In this phase it is important to think big first and allow everyone to "dream a little"—some “pie in the sky thinking” should be tolerated to explore what could be possible, before converging on a pragmatic initial scope and direction that everyone can commit to.

At the same time, generative AI has become a board-level priority: organizations that fail to learn how to safely and effectively leverage GenAI risk becoming irrelevant. A virtual Enterprise Knowledge Graph is a critical enabler here. Without an EKG as a trusted semantic layer, GenAI agents are forced to interact directly with a patchwork of legacy systems, APIs, and data sources of unknown quality—often a recipe for fragile, unexplainable behaviour. With an EKG in place, GenAI agents can work against a coherent, well-governed, business-aligned knowledge layer, dramatically improving reliability, explainability, and long-term agility.

Clarify the potential of knowledge graph for your enterprise and help position it as part of your overall data and technology strategy. Frame the value of knowledge graph and demonstrate how it can solve your most complex data problems. Facilitate the understanding of core concepts, help your organization to leverage the full potential of precisely-defined and fully-connected data.

Approach

Conduct interactive workshops with senior stakeholders to explore the realities of becoming a ”data-centric” organization. Concentrate on the key EKG principles of identity, precision of meaning, reuse and scalability. Apply state-of-the-art architectural thinking to craft a revised strategy, where knowledge graph takes its place as a key component in the data and technology landscape.

Audience

The envision-phase covers topics that are of interest to representatives of all four capability domains (Business, Data, Technology and Organization) but focuses on the benefits for the business as a whole.

  • Executive Management (Business-side and CDO, CIO, CTO, CRO, CFO or their directs)
  • Business Representatives
  • Key stakeholders in a given scope

Outputs

  1. Shared Strategy document.
    A shared data and technology vision that bridges perspectives among across business, technology and data executives.
  2. Ability to demystify fundamental concepts associated with semantic technology and Enterprise Knowledge Graphs.
  3. Detailed understanding of the functions and capabilities of the EKG and how it can be leveraged within your business.
  4. High-level view of architectural alternatives for knowledge graph deployment.

The Shared Strategy document is the final tangible deliverable of the Envision phase that serves as input to all subsequent phases.

Topics

Vision

  • What is EKG and why is it the way forward?
  • Discuss and capture your current long-term vision, how is your business creating a competitive advantage leveraging its data and knowledge. Get key-stakeholders involved, capture their view on the business vision and how they think that data management, technology and organization will or should support that vision.
  • Trends in information-intensive industries and their impact on business data, technology, and organizational structure and culture.
  • Explanation---in business terms---of what an EKG is and what business benefits it could deliver.
  • Assess the impact of EKG, i.e. capturing all knowledge that is currently siloed and captured in all the various systems in a given scope and ecosystem on business data, technology and organization.
  • Do an initial discovery of the “strategic use cases”---that cannot be realistically done today---and choose the initial focus area giving scope for all subsequent phases.

Paradigms

Key Paradigm Changes (in non-technical business terms) such as:

Key Success Factors & Lessons Learned

  • Learning from mistakes, what to do differently, how to set up for success
  • Why a traditional Proof-of-Concept (PoC) does not work with EKG

Method Summary

  • Explain (in business terms) what “the method” is, why it is essential to have an agreed, standardized and measurable approach. How can one EKG serve all agendas across the enterprise successfully?
  • Use Case Trees (Summary)
  • Maturity Model (Summary)
    • EKG Maturity Levels in the Business realm
    • EKG Maturity Levels in the Organization (in general) realm
    • EKG Maturity Levels in the Data realm
    • EKG Maturity Levels in the Tech realm
  • EKGOps/DataOps (Summary)

Shared Strategy

Development of a “shared strategy” where all key stakeholders agree to align on a shared vision and how to get there. One could say---in the context of EKG---that Business Strategy should drive Data Strategy which in turn should drive Tech and Org Strategies1. The Shared Strategy document is the final tangible deliverable of the Envision phase that serves as input to all subsequent phases.

  1. See "Align with Business Strategy" ↩

Author: Jacobus Geluk