ekera Start from what exists
The analysis starts with the components and solutions already in your IT: possible reuse, dependencies involved, needs that call for a new solution.
Your tools, enterprise architecture and purchasing
Build on what you have rather than rebuild your information system: your tools remain your references, Ekera complements them.
Your tools
Build on what you have rather than rebuild your information system
The initial assessment relies on your documents and exports. To keep the map up to date, Ekera can then use connectors, read-only APIs or a collector installed on your premises, depending on the integrations available; access arrangements are defined with your IT team. Your management, inventory, architecture and compliance tools remain your references: Ekera complements them, and writes to them only after approval, within each tool’s rights and capabilities. One tool is authoritative for each type of object.
Your changes stay under your control: approval, traceability and rollback.
| What is stored | Reference tool | What Ekera reads | What Ekera writes, after approval |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture views and scenarios | Archi | The model, at every save | Proposed views and relationships |
| Applications and flows | Mercator | Applications, flows, owners | Statuses, new applications, building blocks |
| Equipment | GLPI or iTop | Workstations, servers, software and versions | End of life, backups, failover |
| Network | NetBox | Zones and crossings between zones | Crossings to filter |
| Compliance | CISO Assistant | Controls and evidence | NIS2 actions, dated evidence |
| Purchasing and suppliers | Your purchasing software | Quotes, orders, contracts, suppliers, invoices | Quote requests, approved by your purchasing team; never an order |
Do you use other open tools, such as MONARC for risk analysis? Ekera can connect to them on request.
Connector status
With AI, connecting to a new application no longer takes months
The connector is written in a few days from the vendor’s documentation, then tested on your premises before it reads anything.
Supported: some fifty software products, 18 families
- 11 direct: Active Directory, Entra ID, Intune, GLPI, FortiGate, vSphere, Veeam, Tenable, Greenbone, CISO Assistant, Mercator
- 36 more through their exports
- Your PDF, Word and Excel documents, whatever their origin
What has been tested
- The eleven direct connectors were written in a few days
- Then tested on real instances: Samba AD directory, Greenbone, Mercator, GLPI 10, 11 and 12
- Your tool is not on the list? All it needs is an API or an export
Connecting a source
Every connector is tested before reading, and your secrets stay with you
Three ways to read
- An uploaded file: inventory, directory or firewall export, accounting entries file
- A read-only API, with a dedicated account that you create
- A collector installed on your premises, which sends its readings without opening an inbound port
Traceable data: for each source
- Its origin and the information used in the analysis
- A connection test, and a clear reason when it fails (expired certificate, missing permission)
- The date of the last read, and an alert when a source is out of date
- A vault reference instead of the password: Ekera never keeps its value
With your purchasing software
Work priced with real prices, and followed through to the invoice
Ekera prepares, your purchasing team approves and sends
- Once the decision is made, one quote request per selected building block
- Quantities read from your tools: accounts, workstations, servers, sites
- The security requirements and NIS2 clauses to put in the contract
- Possible suppliers
Ekera never places an order.
Ekera reads back
- Quotes, which replace the order of magnitude in the variants
- Orders and delivery dates, which track the roadmap
- Contracts and suppliers, for the NIS2 supply-chain measure
- Invoices, which give the actual cost. Since 1September 2026, every company in France must be able to receive electronic invoices; when your supplier already issues them, the actual cost is read with no re-keying
Your purchasing software is usually the purchasing module of your ERP (Sage X3, Divalto, Cegid, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP) or a procurement suite (Ivalua, Coupa, SAP Ariba). Without a purchasing tool: Dolibarr, French open-source software, or the GLPI Management module.
Your tools Archi, Mercator, GLPI, NetBox, CISO Assistant, purchasing software
→↓ continuous reading: every change triggers a recalculation←↑ approved writes, one by one, reversible
Ekera map, calculation engine, building-block catalogue
→↓ indicators, only within a study under agreement, with your written consent←↑ anonymised claims by the insurer, matched by a trusted third party
Your insurer or your broker
From the conversation The CIO asks a question; Ekera answers with the map, the euros or the tool record, and prepares the changes.
From your tool The architect selects objects in Archi; Ekera analyses impacts, proposes scenarios, prepares the opinion and fills in the technical architecture document.
An architecture ontology The agent reasons on linked concepts: “Sage X3”, “sales management” and “SRV-ERP-01” are one and the same ERP.
You do not have these tools? Ekera can recommend open-source software, on an equal footing with commercial offers: GLPI, Mercator, NetBox, CISO Assistant, and Dolibarr for purchasing. Your team, a partner IT services firm or the vendor installs it; it remains yours, even if you leave Ekera.
Enterprise architecture
From business need to target architecture, taking what exists into account
IT projects must respect the company’s business, technical, economic and security constraints. Ekera links these constraints to the map to prepare architecture scenarios and assess their consequences.
Scored scenarios
Scenarios are compared by their consequences on architecture, risks, costs and identified constraints; the engine prices each variant.
Your deliverables, filled from the map
Technical architecture documents, security accreditation file, HLD, EBIOS RM: Ekera fills what the map establishes, each value with its source, and marks the rest “to be completed”; the responsible architects review and approve in Ekera before any publication.
Complement development tools
The target architecture and your constraints are handed to your code or infrastructure generation tools, or to your teams. Generation, verification and release to production stay separate, with a check at each step.
An Ekera panel inside the Archi tool and the building-block catalogue are shown in the screens; the need-to-application journey, in its screens, fictitious data.
Catalogue and purchasing
Compare solutions before investing
A security measure can be implemented in several ways: the choice depends on requirements, tools already in place, costs and constraints. Ekera structures this comparison, starting from the need, what exists and the company’s constraints.
What is needed, and with what
ABBs state what is needed (“remote access with two-factor authentication”), SBBs state with which solution and at what cost. Each building block is linked to security measures, NIS2 controls and the calculation: putting it in place changes the euros. A monitoring agent, an assistant that watches ends of support, vulnerabilities and prices, proposes updates; an Ekera architect approves them before publication.
What the work really cost
Each building block put in place produces a feedback record: planned and actual cost and lead time, difficulties met, observed effect. Anonymised and aggregated, with each customer’s written consent, these records will make estimates more accurate for the next customers: everyone benefits from the others’ experience.
What must be ensured
Backup out of reach, control of remote access, vulnerability monitoring: the architecture needs (ABBs), common to all, linked to the NIS2 measures and the calculation.
What the market offers
The solutions (SBBs) that meet the need, with their features, limits, ANSSI qualifications and list prices recorded and dated; otherwise “on quotation”, rather than an invented figure.
What you already have
Solutions installed, licences held, approved suppliers and your negotiated prices. This catalogue belongs to you alone.
Sourcing, in this order
- What you already have. A feature included in your licences, an under-used tool: often the cheapest and fastest.
- What your purchasing team has approved. Existing contract, supplier already assessed.
- The market. Two or three options compared on the same need, with sourced prices and lead times.
- A documented decision. Options kept and set aside are recorded with their reasons; indicative costs are replaced by quotes as soon as they arrive. Final selection and orders stay under your control.
At 3, 6 and 12 months
Actual cost and lead time, difficulties met, observed effect on the calculation. Your feedback first enriches your own catalogue. It only serves other customers anonymised, aggregated over at least five companies, and with your written consent.
Request an assessment
A first 30-minute call: framing your need, the possible scope and the list of information needed for the assessment. The initial assessment starts from your documents and exports, with no direct access to your information system.
Read next
- The product in screensThe workspace, the screens, the deliverables and continuous monitoring.
- Security and sovereigntyWhat is in place, what is planned, and shared security.
- For the CIOUnderstand the information system and prepare its changes.