As digitalization progresses, the relevance of the IT/OT architecture continues to increase. New processes, tools and methods are being introduced and networked with each other for end-to-end digitalization. This networking is easy to manage at first, but grows exponentially with each new process or tool. In order to enable further growth and not become an obstacle to your own strategic goals, the complexity must be kept manageable. Technical platforms (or platform architectures) that provide a centralized interface, communication channels and services are a key means of achieving this. They also increase the flexibility of the company's own architecture and enable the targeted integration of expert systems in order to support the individual business units in their service portfolio and offer digital business models before their competitors.

In recent years, IT has become an increasingly strategic factor in the success of modern companies. As a result, the work within IT is also changing and architecture management is taking on a central and strategic role. In addition to the reactive satisfaction of user and customer requirements, an active leadership role and the ability to provide impulses are also required.
UNITY brings all of this together in Architecture Management.                                                   It manages the company's entire digital performance and implements new possibilities quickly and independently.
To ensure this, those responsible must define and fill new roles and provide resources for the ongoing development of the IT/OT architecture. Cooperation with the individual business units and Enterprise Architecture Management is also essential.
With strong architecture management, companies can become the winners of the digital transformation and ensure a successful future.

Modern hyperscaler cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure provide new possibilities for IT/OT architecture. However, developing such architectures is not a sure-fire success and should be carefully considered and planned, as not every use case can be optimally implemented in the cloud. A detailed consideration of the individual use cases and their impact on the overall IT/OT architecture is essential here.
In addition to the technical evaluation, the cost side is also often an important driver. Here, it is important to compare the benefits and their costs and not just carry out a pure cost assessment. However, the benefits for the core business must first be identified and evaluated.
Despite all the challenges that the cloud offers, it is essential to consider the opportunities for a company through the targeted integration of cloud services and architecture elements. Different architecture and cloud models can then be used to develop a flexible and future-proof IT/OT architecture and use the cloud as a competitive advantage.