Technology leaders across North America are under pressure to help their organizations grow, adapt, earn trust, and turn emerging technologies (especially AI) into measurable business value, along with delivering resilient systems and efficient operations. Forrester’s Technology Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate how technology can become a true business catalyst. This year, Forrester is recognizing winners across two award categories: Technology Strategy Impact and Enterprise Architecture. 

The Technology Strategy Impact Award recognizes IT organizations that drive measurable business results through technology strategy. The award evaluates how IT leaders align technology investments with business goals and deliver outcomes that matter by using Forrester’s high-performance IT lens of alignment, trust, and adaptivity. 

The Enterprise Architecture Award recognizes organizations with enterprise architecture (EA) practices that help the business make better technology decisions, strengthen strategic alignment, and create sustained business value. Winning teams demonstrate that enterprise architecture is not just a governance function but a strategic capability that connects business outcomes, technology choices, operating models, and future-state transformation. We want to extend our appreciation to The Open Group, author of the TOGAF® Standard, for partnering and co-judging this year’s submissions. 

Congratulations to the 2026 North America winners: 

  • Technology Strategy Impact: JPMorganChase 
  • Enterprise Architecture: GM Financial 

Each winner demonstrates a different dimension of technology leadership, whether high-performance IT strategy, outcome-focused architecture, or scaled data and AI impact. 

Technology Strategy Impact Award: JPMorganChase 

JPMorganChase wins for transforming genAI from a collection of experiments into an enterprise capability through its LLM Suite platform. Recognizing that AI adoption would require more than access to large language models, JPMorganChase developed a secure, model-agnostic AI operating layer that balances centralized governance and risk management with decentralized innovation. The platform provides AI capabilities that can be integrated into business workflows, connects to internal and external data sources, and enables employees across the firm to build and deploy AI-powered solutions at scale. What began as a chatbot serving approximately 1,000 employees evolved into an enterprise platform supporting roughly 320,000 employees and thousands of business-specific use cases across front-office and back-office functions, enabling teams to work more efficiently while maintaining appropriate human oversight. 

JPMorganChase’s strategy focused on three critical priorities: 1) Building trust through embedded governance and controls; 2) Scaling AI through reusable enterprise services; and 3) Democratizing access so business users could safely create solutions without relying exclusively on technical specialists. The platform now supports more than 80 connections to enterprise data sources, applications, and processes, helping employees embed AI to augment and streamline activities such as research, knowledge management, document analysis, and workflow automation. Adoption has been reinforced through training programs, executive engagement, global roadshows, and a certification program that develops business users into AI solution builders.  

The results demonstrate how a disciplined technology strategy can accelerate innovation while maintaining governance. LLM Suite has achieved an 85% weekly retention rate and an 89% customer satisfaction score while providing a foundation for enterprise-scale AI adoption. By treating AI as a strategic platform capability rather than a collection of isolated tools, JPMorganChase created a repeatable model for innovation that combines business alignment, workforce enablement, and responsible governance. Its approach shows how technology leaders can build the organizational, architectural, and operational foundations needed to turn AI from a promising technology into a durable source of business value. 

Enterprise Architecture Award: GM Financial 

GM Financial wins for transforming enterprise architecture from a governance and standards function into a measurable, outcome-driven capability that directly influences technology investment, modernization, and risk reduction decisions across the business. At the center of this transformation is the North Star Architecture, a set of enterprise principles, standards, and reference patterns, and the North Star Maturity Index (NSMI), a portfolio-wide measurement system that gives leaders a transparent, data-driven view of application health, modernization readiness, operational stability, security posture, and architectural alignment. Together, these capabilities created a closed-loop operating model that connects business strategy, architectural direction, portfolio management, and delivery execution. 

Rather than relying on mandates and review boards alone, GM Financial embedded architects across domains and delivery teams, making architecture guidance available early in the development lifecycle while providing teams with reusable patterns, standards, and enterprise services that accelerate delivery. The architecture organization supports more than 700 applications through portfolio-level visibility, measurable modernization targets, and evidence-based decision-making. By anchoring architectural health to executive objectives and operating reviews, GM Financial increased the percentage of critical applications meeting maturity targets from 55% to 70%, achieved sustained portfolio maturity improvements, and helped business and technology leaders prioritize modernization investments using shared facts rather than anecdotal assessments. 

The program also established a scalable foundation for innovation by creating safe pathways for experimentation, including genAI initiatives and reusable enterprise services, while maintaining alignment to long-term architectural direction. Through embedded collaboration, transparent measurement, and architecture-by-influence practices, GM Financial has demonstrated how a modern enterprise architecture function can improve technology health, reduce risk, accelerate modernization, and strengthen business outcomes across a complex global organization. 

Meet The Winners At Technology & Innovation Form East 

Join us at Forrester’s Technology & Innovation Form East in New York from November 4 – 5, where you’ll hear directly from our winners. The sessions celebrating our winners take place on Thursday, November 5th from 11:05-11:35am EST.  

Joseph Schiavone, Principal Analyst at Forrester, will lead a panel discussion with JPMorganChase’s Derek Waldron, Chief Analytics Officer, and Dr. Biswa Sengupta, Managing Director of Generative AI Solutions, on how the team built and drove adoption of the LLM Suite platform.  

Charlie Betz, VP, Principal Analyst at Forrester, will lead a panel discussion with GM Financial’s Shawn Shen, Senior Technical Principal, and Julie Kiley, Head of Enterprise Architecture, on how they drove change through North Star Architecture and North Star Maturity Index (NSMI). 

We’re inspired by the ways that technology leaders are catalyzing effective decision-making to drive business outcomes for their organizations. If you’re inspired, start thinking about your story and submission for the 2027 Tech Awards! 

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