When two hospitals merge, they do not only create a new organization. They also face a fundamental question: how do you build a single, coherent digital ecosystem from two historically grown organizations to support the healthcare of tomorrow?
This was exactly the challenge AZ Ganda faced following the merger of AZ Jan Palfijn Ghent and AZ Sint-Lucas Ghent. Behind the organizational integration were hundreds of applications, different technology platforms, digital workplaces, processes, identities, integrations and separate data center environments.
The question was therefore not just which systems needed to be technically integrated. The real strategic challenge was how to develop a target digital architecture that would support the new organization, guide future decision-making and safeguard the continuity of both healthcare delivery and business operations.
Customer Success Stories
Enterprise Architecture as the foundation for AZ Ganda’s digital transformation
Published: 04/08/2026
From merger challenge to architecture vision
AZ Ganda chose not to start with individual technology decisions or isolated migration projects. Instead, an Enterprise Architecture initiative was launched to systematically map the existing landscape, the interdependencies and the desired future state.
Together with Inetum, a comprehensive analysis was conducted of both organizations and their digital foundations. This assessment revealed areas of overlap, complexity, risk, dependencies and opportunities for rationalization. As a result, a shared understanding emerged of the digital reality behind the merger.
Based on these insights, a common architecture vision was developed. This vision became the framework within which decisions regarding workplace services, identity management, connectivity, datacenters, applications, integrations and governance could be made in a coherent and aligned way.
Designing a target digital architecture
The initiative went beyond a traditional IT assessment. The architecture team developed a functional and digital target architecture for the future AZ Ganda organization. This included defining how employees would collaborate, how identities and access would be managed, how digital components would interact, and how infrastructure, connectivity and business services should evolve.
Several scenarios were evaluated and validated to make the impact on costs, risks, manageability, continuity and future innovation opportunities visible. This enabled more objective decision-making and provided stronger governance support for strategic choices.
Rather than connecting two existing environments, the objective was to design a single integrated digital organization. This distinction is important: Enterprise Architecture made it possible not only to execute the merger technically, but also to shape it around a shared vision for the future.
From architecture to an executable roadmap
Architecture only creates value when it guides concrete change. For that reason, the target architecture was translated into a multi-year roadmap supporting AZ Ganda’s digital transformation.
The roadmap not only describes the required initiatives but also combines dependencies, risks, priorities and investment logic into a single view. It provides AZ Ganda with an integrated overview of the transformation efforts needed to make the merger digitally manageable and future-ready.
As a result, the roadmap became more than a planning document. It evolved into a governance instrument that helps phase digital decisions, allocate resources effectively, manage dependencies and align execution with AZ Ganda’s long-term ambitions.
Enterprise architecture as a lasting capability
An important outcome of the initiative is that Enterprise Architecture is not limited to a temporary project approach. With the support of Inetum, AZ Ganda simultaneously established its own architecture function, enabling architecture to continue playing a structural role in decision-making, project prioritization and digital governance beyond the initial merger phase. This capability was embedded within the department’s governance model.
This is what makes the initiative strategically relevant. Its value lies not only in the deliverables produced, but in providing AZ Ganda with a framework that enables future digital decisions to be made more transparently, consistently and effectively.
A digital foundation for the future
For AZ Ganda, the Enterprise Architecture initiative represented far more than preparation for an IT integration. It created a shared vision for the future, an aligned decision-making framework and a concrete path toward a single integrated digital organization.
The target architecture, validated scenarios, roadmap and embedded architecture governance together form the digital foundation on which AZ Ganda can continue to build. This foundation supports collaboration across campuses, improves the manageability of the digital landscape and creates room for future innovation.
Inetum demonstrates through this project how Enterprise Architecture helps organizations manage complex transformations. In environments where organizations merge, transform or redesign their digital future, Enterprise Architecture provides a strategic framework for informed decision-making, complexity management and sustainable innovation. The focus is not technology itself, but the future of the organization.
Francky Deleu: CIO, AZ Ganda
“Enterprise Architecture helped us translate the digital complexity of the merger into a shared vision for the future and an executable roadmap. As a result, we were able not only to integrate systems but also to build a single digital organization with a clear long-term direction.”
Related success stories
- Title
- Description
- Date
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6