SOA is Mainstream
Posted on 01. Feb, 2010 by vbrown in Enterprise Architecture, Feature, SOA
SOA is growing up. In fact, for many of SOA’s early or mid-term adopters, SOA is in late adolescence or early adulthood. By that I mean that the application and disciplines of service-based architecture and applications have matured and are being applied to realize most of the benefits we were promised in the beginning, including:
- System and application integration – across heterogeneous platforms
- Reuse of common functions – consistency and quality
- Agility and Flexibility – possibly the highest value proposition for the business
- Policy automation and enforcement – more-effective policy governance
- Federated access – cross-domain authentication and authorization, and federated data services
- Productivity and quality improvements – faster time to market and lower support costs
One industry that saw the promise early was the telecommunications industry. Facing challenges created by numerous acquisitions and a very complex portfolio of products, telcos had enormous issues around integration and consistency. Many of the companies started early to bridge and integrate those diverse systems and to manage their complex information requirements by developing common services.
Other early and strong SOA adopters were the thought leaders in financial services. Initially, services to support call center and account management applications proved to be high-value opportunities to leverage SOA. As these services demonstrated the value of adopting SOA principles, the approach became mainstream for most.
So for those who, for whatever reason, have not yet adopted the principles of Service Oriented Architecture now would be a good time! If introduced and managed properly the long-term benefits are significant. And the road to realizing those benefits is no longer fraught with risk (admittedly, early adopters did have to manage the risks associated with lack of experience and best practices).
A few fundamental secrets to success:
- Make adoption of SOA an aspect of your business strategy, not just a focus for your IT organization. Understand and communicate to stakeholders how and where services will support the company’s mission. Identify both hard and soft ROI.
- Develop a roadmap to adoption, including a vision of the target state (a Service Oriented Enterprise (SOE)) and high-value milestones along the way. Build in a feedback and learning process.
- Gain experience and define relevant best practices by implementing a few services that demonstrate significant value. The choice of these initial services might be driven by risk management concerns, opportunities for immediate benefit, or competitive advantages.
Service Oriented Architecture is a proven and effective approach. And while there are probably no enterprises of any significant size that won’t benefit from its use, like any architecture, it shouldn’t be seen as a universal answer and shouldn’t be adopted blindly. Adopt the approach and principles where they make sense — but get started! The benefits are there for the taking!
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