SOA in Action Blog

Let's face it: the business doesn't have a clue about SOA. Surveys tell us that all the time. But SOA is supposed to be led by the business. Is there anyone out there in the enterprise who can break this impasse?

Miko Matsumura, vice president of webMethods, recently said in an interview that such a person does exist in many enterprises. If they don't exist, they can be cultivated -- enter the "visionary architect."

However, the VAs are going to need some help, as they can't turn around the enterprise by themselves, Miko continues. "Once you get into serious deployment of SOA, part of the scalability of the system requires a scalability of understanding," he says. "Part of what we're seeing is visionary architects that are bringing SOA to their organizations are hitting some boundaries and barriers when it comes to the rest of the organization in terms of really getting it."

The paradox of SOA is that the companies that could really benefit from the enhanced agility and flexibility that SOA provides are the least likely to implement SOA. Why? Because the progressive, forward-thinking organizations that are taking the lead with SOA already have corporate cultures that are open to innovation. Those creaky, hidebound organizations with a lot of well-fortified fiefdoms and a CYA management philosophy simply aren't going to be open-minded enough to want to go the SOA route. If you're an SOA proponent in one of these organizations -- and there are many of you -- you are likely spinning your wheels on Web services projects that are promising but remain confined to a silo. Such organizations need an SOA evangelist who can connect with the C-level suite and sell the SOA concept.

Miko says the visionary architect can fill this role, and proposes helping these individuals from without, "There's a need for this enlightened architect figure to team up with a bigger partner to actually help scale up the education piece," he states. The challenge is "these individuals will be in short supply."