Architecture Strategy

Software Architecture – built around your business goals.

Architecture as a business enabler

We help you evolve your software architecture strategically while keeping your business objectives in view. Those objectives are often the reason to take a closer look at how your architecture should develop. Three recurring drivers we see in practice:

Continuity

Technology moves on – and so does your architecture. We support you in modernizing existing systems proactively and with foresight.

Growth and Scaling

If new requirements take too long to implement, your business loses momentum. We help you improve time-to-market – both technically and organizationally.

Cost Optimization

Instead of simply running existing structures more cheaply, we rethink them. With clear software architecture, we help you reduce cost and effort.

Our Services

Architecture strategy is about making decisions: cloud providers and platforms, dependencies, team structures, delivery capability – and what you should build yourself versus buy. We support you with analysis and advisory services and, if desired, hands-on implementation.

Decision confidence

Which IT investment will deliver the greatest impact on your business objectives – and what risks come with it? We create decision confidence through a structured assessment of your current state. You get clarity on technical risks, critical dependencies, and required actions – fully prioritized.

Cloud and platform strategy

AWS, Azure, or a European alternative? How much vendor lock-in can we afford? These decisions have long-term consequences – especially in times of new regulatory requirements and shifting geopolitical realities. We help you ask the right questions: Where is provider independence essential, and where does it make sense to commit? Based on that, we develop platform strategies tailored to your situation – with the right balance of agility, control, and cost effectiveness.

Architecture for digital sovereignty

Digital sovereignty isn't determined only by your choice of cloud provider – it's shaped by your software architecture. We evaluate your systems and structures: Where do dependencies emerge – through frameworks, supply chains, or interfaces? Which are deliberate, and which have evolved over time? And what risks do they create? The result: you can actively manage dependencies and act with confidence.

Defining autonomy boundaries

Why isn't our time-to-market improving even though the team is growing? Often, it comes down to structure: when applications and services are too tightly coupled, teams end up blocking one another. We help you define meaningful boundaries – between domains, services, and teams. Using methods such as domain-driven design and Team Topologies, we create boundaries that are rooted in the business and enable effective, independent delivery.

Scaling delivery capability

The business expects results – but our modernization efforts aren't paying off yet? We analyze what's holding back your delivery capability and focus on the levers that have immediate impact. That might be better alignment, a different team setup – or additional engineering capacity through our consultants. This way, you improve time-to-market during the transformation, not only after it.

Make or Buy

Where is standard software enough, and where do you need targeted custom development? Standard software is essential. It allows you to focus resources on the areas where real differentiation is created. Using methods such as Wardley Mapping, we make it clear where custom development creates competitive advantage – and where standard solutions are the better choice.

Why INNOQ

With more than 20 years of project experience, we've learned one thing: software architecture only has real impact when it works hand in hand with organization and business. That's why we never look at systems in isolation, but always in the context of your goals and structures. We use technology as a tool to solve concrete problems and design architectures so they can keep evolving – driven by you and your team.

Under­standing

Before we advise, we listen. Architecture strategy starts with understanding your specific situation – technically, organizationally, and commercially. We take the time to understand your challenges, analyze existing structures, and work with you to identify the real levers for change. We don't deliver a standard blueprint, but tailored solutions.

Pragmatic Decisions

Technology is not an end in itself. We don't recommend the latest technology just because it's new – we recommend what fits you. Whether proven patterns or innovative approaches – the key is what supports your goals and fits your organization. Sometimes the best architecture decision is to evolve existing systems in a targeted way instead of rebuilding everything from scratch.

Enabling

As long as necessary, as short as possible. Our goal is your autonomy. We enable your teams through knowledge transfer, hands-on collaboration, and tailored training. From strategic vision to practical implementation, we help you build the capabilities you need to evolve your architecture independently.

Vendor-neutral

We advise independently, with no hidden agenda. No commissions, no exclusive partnerships that influence our recommendations. Our consulting is guided solely by your requirements. Whether cloud providers, frameworks, or tools – we assess them neutrally and select, from the entire market, what best fits your specific situation.

Many years of experience

More than 20 years of project experience shape our consulting. Our consultants have designed, modernized, and transformed architectures in a wide range of industries and contexts. From mainframe migration to cloud-native, from startups to large enterprises - we know the patterns behind successful architecture strategies and the pitfalls to avoid.

A holistic view

Organization, business, and technology are inseparably linked. Sustainable architecture strategy takes into account not just technical aspects, but also team structures, processes, and business goals. We think sociotechnically: how do organization and architecture need to evolve together? This holistic perspective is what makes transformations successful.

How we have supported our clients

Software architecture only works when people can understand it and keep evolving it. In our projects, we combine technical expertise with enablement – and show how good architecture can drive sustainable change. Many of our clients have already seen the benefits.

B2B, E-commerce

Creating a “Best in Industry” E-Commerce Platform with Self-Contained Systems

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E-commerce

Fleurop: A modern architecture for reliable floral greetings

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INNOQ played a very big part in us taking on this project in the first place. We have completely turned the IT system of our company inside out. We wouldn't have entertained this idea without a partner whose expertise gave us the necessary confidence to take this risk.

Zalij Alek BajdaHead of IT, Fleurop AG

The methods we work with

Architecture strategy needs the right tool at the right time. We work with a broad spectrum of proven methods. Some of them we helped develop ourselves – such as arc42, aim42, and Self-contained Systems. Others we've been using successfully in projects for many years. This mix of method development and extensive real-world experience enables us to select exactly the approaches that fit your organization – together with you.

arc42

arc42 is a pragmatic template for designing, documenting, and communicating software architectures. It comes from real-world practice and is based on experience from international architecture projects and feedback from many practitioners.

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aim42

aim42 – the Architecture Improvement Method – offers a structured approach for analyzing, assessing, and incrementally improving software architectures, from establishing the current state through root-cause analysis to action planning. It's especially valuable when legacy systems need to be modernized step by step.

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Self-contained Systems

Independent systems instead of monolithic complexity. Self-contained Systems split applications into autonomous units that can be developed and deployed independently. Each system has its own UI and data storage. This is the pragmatic middle ground between monoliths and microservices – ideal if you want to decouple development teams while still keeping complexity under control.

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Domain-driven Design

Domain expertise at the heart of the architecture. Domain-driven Design (DDD) models complex system landscapes starting from real business challenges. The method structures organizations into clearly defined domains and manages complexity through bounded contexts. The result: software that speaks your business's language and aligns with domain boundaries.

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Team Topologies

Team Topologies helps you structure software teams so they can work faster and with more focus. The model distinguishes four fundamental team types and defines clear interfaces between them. The goal is to shape communication flows deliberately, reduce dependencies, and increase the adaptability of the entire organization.
Whether platform, stream-aligned, or enabling team – Team Topologies creates a shared vocabulary for architecture and organization. It helps align technical systems and team structures and lays the groundwork for sustainable software development.

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Socio-technical architecture as a competitive advantage

In today's business world, technological progress is not just about increasing efficiency—it also unlocks entirely new business opportunities that would be unthinkable without these technologies. As a result, leveraging new technologies effectively has become a key competitive advantage. However, IT decision-makers are increasingly realizing that technology alone is not enough. Instead, companies must understand themselves as socio-technical systems, where technical systems and human interactions are deeply interconnected. This article explores why socio-technical architectures matter for IT decision-makers and how they can create a competitive edge for organizations.

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Workshops that make a difference

Architecture is a strategic concern – and good decisions need space. Our workshops create that space for IT and business decision-makers looking for clarity and confidence. Together, we build a shared understanding of how architecture supports your business goals. Whether you're shaping strategy, modernizing legacy systems, or defining system boundaries, we help you set priorities, evaluate options, and make sound decisions that deliver results.

Architecture review

There are many reasons to commission an architecture review. INNOQ is your partner – whether you need confidence in major IT investments or help diagnosing stubborn issues in smaller systems. Our architecture reviews combine deep technical expertise with strategic perspective. Together with your teams, we assess the current landscape, pinpoint weak spots, and develop clear, actionable options. We focus on what works in practice – not on theoretical ideals – so the recommendations fit your organization. The result: a clear roadmap for your architecture decisions and the confidence to take the right next steps.
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Legacy modernization with aim42

Many organizations rely on systems that have grown over many years – stable, but hard to change. aim42 offers a structured approach to modernize such systems deliberately and secure their future viability. In this workshop, you'll learn how to make technical debt visible, assess risks, and prioritize investments. Together, we develop strategies to evolve existing systems safely – without putting ongoing operations at risk.
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Making architecture decisions

Software architecture is the sum of the decisions made – and the quality of those decisions determines the quality of the resulting software architecture. In this training, you'll learn how to make sound software architecture decisions – or facilitate them effectively. For software architects, developers, IT leaders, IT project managers, product owners, Scrum Masters, and agile coaches.
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Wardley Maps for software architecture

In this interactive workshop, you'll get to know Wardley Maps as strategic maps for complex software systems. This evolving visualization method creates situational awareness and helps answer key questions: How do business and systems connect? What do we build, what do we buy? Which practices do we use? With Wardley Maps, you'll not only understand your current system landscape better – you'll also be able to plan strategic evolution paths. The method provides concrete navigation aids for architecture decisions and for dealing with legacy systems.
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Domain-driven Design for managers

This workshop gives managers a concise and practical overview of Domain-driven Design (DDD) and its role in modern IT delivery organizations. It demonstrates how DDD fosters effective collaboration between engineering, business stakeholders, and product management, establishes clear system and team boundaries, and integrates seamlessly with approaches such as Agile, DevOps, and digital product design. Participants will also learn how DDD helps align IT and business architecture and how it can be used as a deliberate tool to guide transformation efforts in complex IT landscapes.
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Team Topologies Deep Dive

A first Team Topologies model is quickly sketched and the topologies are easy to grasp – but that alone doesn't come close to resolving the complexity of today's IT organizations. In this training, we go beyond the basics of Team Topologies and dive into more complex real-world challenges.
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Dive deeper

Report

Technology Briefing

The essential report for technology decision-makers – where we not only share our expertise, but also highlight opportunities and practical use cases across industries, including topics such as legacy modernization, sociotechnical architectures, and digital sovereignty.

Networking

Technology Circle

We bring IT decision-makers together to discuss current challenges and cross-industry perspectives as peers.

Podcast

CTO NEED TO KNOW

Our podcast brings IT decision-makers from a wide range of industries to the same table – straightforward, direct, and to the point. Gain authentic insights into the digitization of business models in the German-speaking world and learn how companies are tackling both technical and organizational challenges.

Conference

Technology Day

Our online conference: a full day (and evening) of talks, discussion, and networking on software architecture, software development, and architecture strategy.

Confernece

Agile meets Architecture

Software Architecture Meets the Reality of Modern Organizations.

Focus

Digital Sovereignty

Digital sovereignty is no longer just a political buzzword – it has very real implications for companies: Who controls our data? Who makes decisions about our infrastructure? And how independent are we really from external vendors? Explore our articles, podcasts, talks, and more on the topic.

Podcast

Evolution von Teamstrukturen

Den Wandel von IT-Organisationen erfolgreich gestalten

Anja Kammer
Jakob Oswald
Article

Common Approaches in the Field of Socio-Technical Architectures

In the age of digitalization and modernization, companies face the challenge of not only keeping up with technological advancements but also optimizing their organizational structures. Socio-technical architectures play a crucial role in this process by focusing on the flow of work, team collaboration, and the seamless integration of technical and social systems. This article explores two key approaches—Team Topologies and Domain-Driven Design (DDD)—and demonstrates how they can help organizations take the first steps toward consciously designing their socio-technical architecture.

Article

Internal Development Platforms

Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) help us accelerate software development. They represent the natural evolution of developments over the past decades. We’d like to show why this is the case with a historical overview and then examine current challenges.

Podcast

20 Jahre arc42

Dokumentation im Wandel

Sven Johann
Dr. Gernot Starke
Podcast

Architektur-Reviews

Systematisch Risiken und Probleme aufdecken

Dr. Gernot Starke
Anja Kammer
Article

Enabling Stakeholders as a Success Factor

Sociotechnical architectures consider both technical and human-organizational aspects and promote their effective collaboration. To ensure the successful design and implementation of these systems, it is crucial to actively involve stakeholders and address their interests. In this article, we explore why enabling stakeholders represents a key function in sociotechnical projects and how you can implement this approach effectively.

Article

Don’t Forget the People

On paper, the architecture vision is perfect. It addresses all pressing deficiencies of the existing system, aligns seamlessly with the business domain, and enables teams to retain more work within their boundaries. Finally, we will enjoy higher speed-to-market and a significant reduction in (non-value-adding, tedious) coordination efforts between teams. Surely, everyone will immediately see how much better our new architectural vision is. Not quite.

Podcast

Enabling Teams

Feature Teams erfolgreich mit Spezialwissen unterstützen

Michael Plöd
Sven Johann
Anja Kammer