". . from backstage planning to main stage impact . ."
We’ve all seen it happen.
A bold new strategy is announced, Leaders nod in agreement, slide decks get applause, and then? Months later, the excitement has fizzled out. The vision is still on the wall, but nothing meaningful has changed on the ground.
This is the ‘vision gap’. The disconnect between strategy design and execution reality. And it’s one of the biggest challenges organisations face today.
So how do you stop strategy from becoming just another corporate poster?
The bridge between big ideas and real results
Think of Business Architecture as the blueprint that turns lofty ambitions into tangible outcomes. If strategy is the ‘what’ and execution is the ‘do’, then Business Architecture is the ‘how’.
It provides a structured way to map:
- Capabilities - what the business is able to do.
- Value streams - how those capabilities deliver value to customers and stakeholders.
- Stakeholder alignment - ensuring everyone from executives to delivery teams are moving in the same direction.
Without this connective tissue, strategy often drifts, and execution becomes a scatter of disconnected projects.
Business Capabilities - The building blocks
Imagine you’re designing a Lego city. You wouldn’t start stacking random bricks - you’d need to know what pieces you have and how they fit together.
Business capabilities are those pieces. They describe what the business does (or needs to do), independent of who does it or how it’s done.
For example:
- Customer Relationship Management is a capability.
- The CRM system you choose is an enabler of that capability.
By mapping capabilities, leaders can:
- Spot gaps (what do we wish we could do but can’t yet?)
- Prioritise investments (which capabilities give the biggest strategic bang for our buck?)
- Avoid duplication (how many different teams are reinventing the same wheel?).
Capabilities bring clarity. They’re the skeleton on which execution hangs.
Value Streams - Following the flow of value
Now let’s move from skeleton to lifeblood.
A value stream is the end-to-end flow of activities that delivers value to a stakeholder - whether that’s a customer, regulator, or employee.
Picture it as the journey of value creation. From a trigger (a customer request) through all the steps, to the outcome (a satisfied customer, a compliant report, a delivered product).
Why does this matter? Because strategies succeed when value actually flows more smoothly, quickly, or reliably.
By analysing value streams, organisations can:
- Identify bottlenecks or waste.
- Understand which capabilities need strengthening to keep the flow moving.
- Focus transformation efforts on what matters most to stakeholders.
It’s the difference between tinkering with isolated projects and orchestrating genuine, system-wide change.
Stakeholder Alignment - Everyone pulling the same rope
You can have perfect capability maps and beautifully designed value streams, but if stakeholders aren’t aligned, you’re still sunk.
Stakeholder alignment is about creating a shared understanding:
- Executives see how strategy translates into capabilities and value.
- Middle managers understand how their teams fit into the bigger picture.
- Delivery teams can trace their projects directly back to strategic intent.
This alignment creates energy and clarity. Instead of fragmented initiatives, you get coordinated execution that actually delivers on the vision.
Thinking outside the box - a quick analogy
Think of strategy-to-execution like hosting a massive music festival.
- Strategy is deciding the festival theme; ‘Sustainability Rocks!’
- Capabilities are your core ingredients; ticketing, crowd management, artist booking, food & beverage.
- Value streams are the audience’s journey; from buying a ticket, to rocking out, to leaving safely at the end.
- Stakeholder alignment is making sure the sponsors, artists, security, and staff are all in tune (pun intended).
Without Business Architecture, you end up with amazing ideas but no working toilets, long queues, and bands playing out of sync. With it, you deliver an experience that lives up to the vision - and keeps people coming back.
In a world of constant disruption, businesses can’t afford the vision gap. Shareholders, customers, and employees expect to see real change, not just strategy slogans.
Business Architecture provides the frameworks, models, and alignment that make strategy executable - creating the conditions where transformation actually sticks.
Entasis Partners sees Business Architecture as more than a discipline. It’s a bridge.
The structure that carries organisations from where they are today to where they aspire to be tomorrow.
