Knowledge · Getting started
What is BEIA and when is it worth it?
BEIA, the Business Enterprise Infrastructure Assessment, is the direct entry point of SIMO GmbH: the Executive Fast Track. It condenses the enterprise view of business, organization, data and IT into one day on site with two SIMO experts, prepared with documents from your team. The result is the Enterprise Assessment Book with ten building blocks, up to a decision paper. BEIA is worth it before a major decision, investment, acquisition or succession.
Author Thomas Wassum, Managing PartnerLast reviewed
Legal information as of 7 October 2026. This article is not legal advice.
Scope
Eight layers, two cross-cutting views.
BEIA answers the guiding question: how is our company set up today, what risks exist, and which target architecture do we need for our business vision? It looks at eight layers: business context at the top, below it capabilities, operating model, governance and service providers, and data, applications and technology as the foundation. Security, Risk & Compliance runs across all layers, AI readiness across business, data and technology.
The business sits at the top, organization and steering below it, data and technology as the foundation. That way every technical finding is traced back to what it means for goals and business model.
Process
Before, on the day, after.
The Executive Fast Track condenses the full enterprise view into a single day. That works because your team provides the key documents in advance: organization chart, strategy and current projects, an overview of systems, infrastructure documentation, contracts with key service providers, and security and data protection concepts. On the day itself the focus is on interviews, a walk-through, assessment and prioritization.
Three phases
- Before
Documents and agenda
Your team provides the documents; we review them and agree on the agenda.
- On the day
One day on site
Two SIMO experts run interviews and the walk-through, assess and prioritize.
- After
Assessment Book and presentation
We prepare the Enterprise Assessment Book and present it to leadership.
Outcome
Ten building blocks, one basis for decisions.
The Enterprise Assessment Book organizes the results around four questions. Today: where do we stand? Target: where do we want to go? Path: what needs to be done? Decision: what follows from it? It opens with an executive summary and closes with the management decision paper, which brings options, impact and effort together for leadership.
Today: where do we stand?
- Executive Summary
- The key findings and recommendations, condensed for leadership.
- Current State Architecture
- The current setup across all eight layers.
- Risk Register
- All risks with assessment, owner and action.
- Risk Heatmap
- Risks mapped by likelihood and impact.
Target and path: what needs to be done?
- Gap Analysis
- Current and target state side by side: what has to change where.
- Target State Architecture
- The target architecture for your business vision.
- Prioritized Action Catalogue
- All actions, ranked by impact, urgency and effort.
- Investment Areas
- Areas where investment has the greatest effect on goals and risks.
- Transformation Roadmap
- The sequence and steps of implementation.
Decision: what follows from it?
- Management Decision Paper
- The decision paper with options, impact and effort.
Questions from leadership
What executives ask about it.
What does my team need to prepare for BEIA?
The key documents, in two stages: ten days before, the organization chart, strategy, current projects and fixed appointments with leadership, IT and business units; five days before, the system overview, infrastructure documentation, contracts with key service providers, security and data protection concepts and known vulnerabilities. Open points come with us as questions for the day.
What happens after BEIA?
You decide, based on the management decision paper, whether and how to proceed. Before major decisions, the Enterprise Variation Method often follows to assess variants of the target architecture, then architecture and implementation. Every phase ends with a result that stands on its own, with no obligation to continue.
Does BEIA replace a legal review or a penetration test?
No. BEIA takes requirements such as those from the GDPR, NIS2 and GoBD into account from an architecture and risk perspective. Legal review, penetration tests, detailed technical design and implementation are not included.
As of October 2026 · not legal advice
Author and sources
Who answers, and what it rests on.
Sources and further reading
- SIMO GmbH: BEIA service description, Business Enterprise Infrastructure Assessment, Executive Fast Track, with glossary, 2026
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) (external site)
- Directive (EU) 2022/2555 (NIS2) (external site)
- German Federal Ministry of Finance: GoBD, principles for the proper keeping and retention of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access
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Read on
The next question and the path behind it.
Related question
How do you evaluate alternative enterprise architectures?
Several feasible variants, future scenarios and ten criteria instead of a premature target architecture.
Related question
What is BISA and when is it worth it?
The modular entry point: first the baseline with risks and immediate actions, later the target picture and roadmap.
Getting started
BISA 1 or BEIA
Two paths, one goal: the modular entry point and the Executive Fast Track compared.
See how SIMO structures and evaluates alternatives.
Your next step
From the answer to the decision.
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