Services oriented architecture value proposition

Abstract

Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) is an software architectural style that supports service orientation, which is a way of integrating business processes as a collection of linked services. In this framework, everyday business applications are broken down into individual business functions and processes, called services. A service is a discrete, repeatable business task, such as a customer credit check or the opening of a new bank account. Business processes are a series of services that are snapped together like building blocks. With SOA its possible to easily assemble and reassemble these "snappable" services into business processes - similar to building with Lego building bricks! Applications built on Web Services share a common protocol, so they can seamlessly communicate with each other even though they speak different languages. This makes it easy to combine and recombine services to meet the needs of customers, suppliers, and business partners. You can have SOA without Web Services, and Web Services without SOA, but it s best to have both. SOA is about componentization and flexibility. But without common connections, that only goes so far. Web Services is about standardization and interoperability. This, too, is good but this too goes only so far on its own. When both are combined, it gives an optimal IT environment, one that supports the client's business goals, even when those goals change. Web Services takes SOA to a whole new level by introducing open standards. Open standards make it much easier to expose services to partners, because instead of having to wire and rewire each connection, something a lot closer to plug-and-play can be achieved. It s then no wonder that Information Technology companies are excited about the prospects of SOA. Gartner predicts that 80% of new development work in 2008will include SOA principles. The market for SOA is predicted to be about $180 billion in 2008. There may be more to it than what meets the eye. SOA enables the creation of industry specific assets that can be quickly customized for each customer. That has game changing implications for IT service providers who have been building custom applications all along. A strong player with a large asset base of open standards based solutions may be able to improve cycle time dramatically for IT solutions and price his offering lower than competition as he benefits from reuse. Why would customers want it so bad though? Surely, just IT systems that promise to be more flexible and based on open standards cannot merit a $180 billion spend without a more forceful argument. So we look at the market forces that are forcing business leaders to build flexibility and agility into their business processes and IT systems. The logic is forceful. Innovation is fundamental to business growth and even survival in the long term. Product, service and operational innovations remain important for businesses, but competitive pressures have pushed business model innovation much higher on CEO s innovation agenda. CEOs are looking beyond new products and services to achieve growth they are increasingly focused on innovation in their business models and operations. Organizations depend more and more on IT, as they do, their IT infrastructures can constrain or enable their business processes. Organizations that depend on IT-enabled business services are only as flexible and responsive as the IT infrastructure and systems that support them. Often times, business leaders find that their ability to innovate is limited by inflexible systems that are difficult to enhance and costly to replace. To move forward, they must find ways to increase their infrastructure flexibility. SOA enables businesses to be more flexible and enables innovation in a world of IT complexity. In an IT sense, this involves delivering system and application integration across heterogeneous IT environments. In a business sense, it means delivering what customers need to compete and innovative in their competitive environment IT that supports, not inhibits, business process innovation and change. SOA makes that promise. But does it hold, what do the customer engagements tell us? What are the pitfalls? We take a hard look.