Improved Reuse of Assets Through Cross-Domain Collaboration for Home Appliance Producer
The challenge of fragmented data asset management
A large home appliance producer recognized that a lack of cross-domain collaboration was leading to missed opportunities for asset reuse and strategic demand planning. And while their enterprise architecture management (EAM) system supported risk assessment and IT security compliance workflows, it did not drive solution discovery for the AI team. This lack of collaboration with the AI team resulted in AI solutions being documented only in a fragmented way, leading to missed opportunities for asset reuse and duplicated efforts across domains.
Bridging the gap between architecture and AI
The fragmented approach to asset management created silos between enterprise architecture and AI development. The AI team often developed solutions without visibility into existing assets that could be reused, while Architecture Management struggled to maintain complete documentation of AI and analytics solutions. This disconnect led to inefficiencies, duplicated work, and slower time to value for AI initiatives.
These challenges highlighted the need for a unified approach that would enable transparent asset discovery during solution planning while maintaining comprehensive documentation across all domains. The organization needed to break down barriers between teams to achieve better collaboration.
Leveraging use case discovery in Mindfuel to guide asset reuse
Mindfuel's platform enables the different teams to explore available assets and identify reuse opportunities before committing to building new solutions from scratch. The comprehensive view of existing assets means that solution architects can make informed decisions based on what’s already available across the business.
To ensure seamless workflows with existing architecture management practices, Mindfuel was integrated with the EAM system. This integration exposes existing assets transparently for consideration in use case solution discovery within Mindfuel, while automatically streamlining information on newly developed products between the systems. This bidirectional flow eliminates manual documentation efforts and keeps architecture records current.
"The integration between Mindfuel and our EAM system has transformed how our AI team and Architecture Management collaborate. We're now building on existing investments rather than reinventing the wheel."
Architecture Leader, Home Appliance Producer
Measurable impact across domains
The implementation of Mindfuel and its integrations delivered significant benefits that extended beyond just the AI team.
Increased reuse of existing assets: By exposing existing assets during solution discovery, the AI team has significantly increased reuse, resulting in delivery cost savings and accelerated time to value. Solutions that previously would have been built from scratch now leverage proven components.
Improved collaboration: Reduced friction between the AI team and Architecture Management, and the avoidance of duplicated manual work create a more cohesive approach to solution development. Both teams now work from a shared view of available assets and planned initiatives.
More complete documentation: The EAM system now contains more complete documentation of key assets, particularly regarding AI and analytics solutions. The automated flow of information from Mindfuel ensures that architecture documentation stays current without adding administrative burden to the AI team.
This success demonstrates how integrating enterprise architecture tools with data and AI impact management can drive meaningful collaboration and efficiency gains. By connecting these worlds, they've created a unified ecosystem where asset reuse is natural, documentation is automatic, and cross-domain collaboration thrives.
If you're ready to improve collaboration between your architecture and AI teams, reach out to us and discover how Mindfuel can bridge the gap.