Celebrating Excellence: The 2025 Enterprise Architecture Awards

Forrester is thrilled to announce the opening of nominations for the 2025 global Enterprise Architecture Awards. In partnership with The Open Group, this year’s awards will again celebrate exceptional enterprise architecture (EA) practices that drive business transformation, enhance risk management, and improve customer experiences.

As we embark on a new year of technological advancements, the importance of enterprise architecture in shaping organizational success has never been clearer. The awards recognize organizations that demonstrate how their EA frameworks have helped navigate challenges and fueled innovation. The EA Awards are part of Forrester’s global Technology Awards, which spotlight organizations pushing the boundaries of technology to drive business growth, and remain one of the key accolades in enterprise architecture.

A Legacy Of Excellence

The Enterprise Architecture Awards have been an integral part of Forrester’s awards program since 2010. Last year’s winners, including Scotiabank in North America, DRÄXLMAIER Group in EMEA, and Contact Energy in APAC, demonstrated the depth of impact that a strong EA practice can have on an organization. These organizations were recognized for their ability to use EA to streamline operations, improve agility, reduce costs, and enhance customer and employee experiences. They exemplify the core pillars of successful enterprise architecture: accountability, collaboration, agility, and innovation.

As we move forward into 2025, we continue to see a shift in the role of EA from a disengaged ivory tower to a hands-on, outcome-driven practice. In an era of rapid technological evolution, organizations with strong EA capabilities can better align their IT strategies with business objectives, empowering them to stay ahead of the curve.

The Award Categories

The 2025 Enterprise Architecture Awards will focus on the following criteria:

  • Risk management: how effectively the EA practice manages and mitigates organizational risks, ensuring business continuity and compliance
  • Cost efficiency: the impact of EA in driving operational savings, reducing waste, and maximizing resource allocation
  • Customer experience and employee experience: the role of EA in improving both customer-facing services and internal organizational operations
  • Business transformation: demonstrating how EA has supported the transformation of business models, technologies, and organizational processes to achieve measurable outcomes

The awards will also feature special categories for innovations in generative AI and platform engineering, which are becoming increasingly vital in modern enterprise architectures.

Last Year’s Winners

In 2024, Forrester, in collaboration with The Open Group, recognized outstanding EA practices in three global regions. For example, Scotiabank in North America earned accolades for its use of EA to support its digital transformation, aligning its architecture with business goals to streamline operations and reduce costs. The DRÄXLMAIER Group in EMEA stood out for its commitment to agile, accountable, and influential EA practices, while Contact Energy in APAC demonstrated how EA can be a strategic enabler of both operational efficiency and business growth​.

Steve Nunn, president and CEO of The Open Group, shared his thoughts on the importance of EA, saying, “The importance of enterprise architecture is as great as it has ever been, so we are glad to be part of celebrating best practice in the discipline. We look forward to seeing the innovative entries submitted this year and rewarding the outstanding work being done.”

Why Enter?

Winning the Enterprise Architecture Award not only brings global recognition but also provides valuable exposure to peers, industry experts, and stakeholders. It’s a chance to highlight the hard work, innovation, and transformation driven by EA teams. The 2025 winners will set the standard for excellence in the discipline, showcasing the vital role of EA in modern business operations.

For more information and to submit your nomination, visit Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit websites for your region.

How To Apply

Organizations worldwide that have demonstrated success in applying outcome-driven enterprise architecture are encouraged to submit their nominations. The awards are open to companies with 1,000 or more employees, and submissions will be evaluated across the North America; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions. Note that you do NOT need to be a Forrester customer or Open Group member to apply! The nomination deadline for each region will be as follows:

  • APAC. Organizations in APAC can visit here to apply for Forrester’s Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture Awards, with a submission deadline of May 27, 2025. Award recipients will be announced prior to and honored at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit APAC, being held in Sydney and digitally, August 19, 2025.
  • EMEA. Organizations in EMEA can visit here to apply for Forrester’s Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture Awards, with a submission deadline of July 16, 2025. Award recipients will be announced prior to and honored at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit EMEA, being held in London and digitally, October 8–10, 2025.
  • North America. Organizations in North America can visit here to apply for Forrester’s Technology Strategy Impact, Enterprise Architecture, and Data & AI Impact Awards, with a submission deadline of July 16, 2025. Award recipients will be announced prior to and honored at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summit North America, being held in Austin, Texas, and digitally, November 2–5, 2025.

Winners will be announced at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summits in each region later in the year. We invite technology leaders, including chief information officers, enterprise architects, and chief technology officers, to submit their entries and share how their EA practices have contributed to their organizations’ success.

Resources

  • Learn more about Forrester’s 2025 Technology Awards program.
  • Register to attend Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Summits this year in North America, EMEA, and APAC.

About Forrester

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) is one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. We empower leaders in technology, customer experience, digital, marketing, sales, and product functions to be bold at work and accelerate growth through customer obsession. Our unique research and continuous guidance model helps executives and their teams achieve their initiatives and outcomes faster and with confidence. To learn more, visit Forrester.com.